Uber: UI + UX Critique
Uber, since it was introduced in 2009, has transformed the way people commute and has quickly become one of the world’s most popular companies. This article serves as a critique of the digital interface that is Uber’s main product offering — the Uber app.
Target Audience
Uber’s primary users are tech-savvy students and professionals who commute regularly and don’t own a vehicle of their own.
Secondary users include those who travel occasionally or rely on others to book them a cab (normally very young kids or older adults who aren’t able to operate the technology and often have an accompanying person during the ride).
While drivers also need an interface to accept and service rides, that is done on a separate Uber driver app which is not covered in this article.
Problem + Value Proposition
Traditionally, to book a cab you either have to spot and stop one on the street, or have to book one through a series of phone calls. The problems with these is that getting a cab on demand is often only an option on main streets (hard to access). To book one through call means time spent on sharing information and waiting for it to arrive (inefficient).
Uber offers a very easy way to get a ride to anywhere you want, at any time, from any location.
Information Architecture
Information architecture is the organization of information that allows users to access and interact with different information on the app. When the app is launched, we enter a main screen that is divided into two parts:
- A map showing our current location and cabs nearby
- A search box to enter destination along with two recommendations of destinations based on travel history
The search bar on the home page has a button to be able to schedule rides for a later time, making the option just one tap away and very obvious to the user.
Something that I’ve never noticed before but definitely adds a large amount of functionality and convenience is the Uber Eats integration that allows users to order food within the Uber app. This is done by clicking the order food icon, placed beside the ride icon (which is automatically selected when entering the app) on a bottom navigation bar.
To do anything other than book a ride or order food — view past trips, get help, access the wallet, etc. — you click the the hamburger icon on the top left corner:
Interaction
For most of the app, scrolling is horizontal. This is with the exception of the map displayed on the main screen, which can be navigated in all directions.
User Interface
The clean, minimalistic user interface works really well for the Uber app and allows for easy navigation all round. The light color and sans serif font makes it easy to read text. Additionally, the variation in font size helps emphasize details while also giving users extra information.
Improvements + Suggestions
- One very obvious improvement to me would be to add a floating shape behind the hamburger icon to guide users towards the navigation options. The current layout (transparent background) is not very obvious and can go unnoticed, especially for new users.
- A way to reduce the number of clicks and speed up the user experience would be to add a universal hamburger icon that can be accessed from any of the navigation pages. The current form has a back button on each page that takes the user to the main page, from where they can navigate to other pages.
- An idea inspired from Lyft’s app would be to add a scrolling option on the home page to list more suggested locations. This would help the user skip many steps when booking a cab.