Uber kickstarts its second redesign in just three years with an all-new font designed to dispel its ‘hyper masculine’ reputation
- Uber wants to to move away from its elitist and ‘masculine dominated’ roots
- It commissioned a design firm to create a new softer font – dubbed Uber Move
- The redesign includes new logos for Uber app and its sister food delivery service
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Uber has undergone its second rebrand in three years in an attempt to dispel its ‘hyper masculine’ reputation.
As well as a specially commissioned font – dubbed Uber Move – the redesign includes new logos for the ride sharing app and its food delivery service.
The changes will begin to roll out this week, with the app logos already updated for many users.
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Uber has undergone its second rebrand in three years in an attempt to dispel its ‘hyper masculine’ reputation. The top image shows the new logo compared to the old, pictured bottom
Uber began life as a black car service for 100 friends in San Francisco.
Today, it’s a transportation network spanning 400 cities in 68 countries that delivers food and packages, as well as people, all at the push of a button.
Services like uberX and uberPOOL have taken it from a luxury to an everyday transportation option for millions of people worldwide.
The firm says it wants to to move away from its elitist and masculine dominated roots, as evoked by its branding, in favour of a more inclusive feel.
‘You’re talking about adrenaline, letters that live on a grill. The letters are squareish and hyper masculine,’ designer Forest Young, creative director at Wolff Olins who came up with the rebranding, told FastCompany,
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As well as a specially commissioned font – dubbed Uber Move – the redesign includes new logos for the ride sharing app and its food delivery service. The changes will begin to roll out this week, with the app logos already updated for many users. This is how they appear on the iPhone
Uber previously unveiled a radical new look, replacing the familiar U with colourful geometric shapes, back in February 2016 (left). The geometric design has now been replaced by a simple black circle with containing the word Uber in the new font (right).
A specially commissioned font – dubbed Uber Move (pictured above) – has been created in an attempt to dispel its ‘hyper masculine’ reputation
Uber previously unveiled a radical new look, replacing the familiar U with colourful geometric shapes, back in February 2016.
However, the logo caused uproar online, with users deriding it as a ‘wrong turn’ for the car firm.
The man behind it, Head of Design & Brand Andrew Crow, left the company shortly after the new look rolled-out to customers worldwide.
The geometric design has now been replaced by a simple black circle with containing the word Uber in the new font.
Animations show how the font may appear in a variety of settings. The top image shows how it may look in non western alphabets. The middle shows in bold and light font and the bottom shows how destinations around the world would look
Uber will also be hoping to move beyond a number of controversies that have hit the firm in recent years.
CEO Travis Kalanick announced he was stepping down in June last year, following heavy pressure from a large group of shareholders.
The company was hit by allegations of sexual assaults by drivers, disputes over driver pay and a corporate culture of sexual harassment.
On March 19 this year, a self-driving Uber vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian in the first death involving a fully autonomous test vehicle, further tarnishing the company’s standing.
HOW DID AN UBER AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE HIT AND KILL A WOMAN IN ARIZONA?
A self-driving Uber vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian in the first death involving a fully autonomous test vehicle on March 19, 2018.
The accident prompted the ride-hailing company to suspend road-testing of such cars in the US and Canada.
The Volvo SUV was in self-driving mode with a human back-up operator behind the wheel in Tempe when a woman walking a bicycle was hit.
Elaine Herzberg, 49, died in hospital.
Police have said that the victim, 49 year old Elaine Herzberg, stepped out in front of the car suddenly and they do not believe the car was to blame.
Uber suspended its self-driving vehicle testing in the Phoenix area, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto.
The testing has been going on for months as car makers and technology companies compete to be the first with cars that operate on their own.
Uber’s self-driving car crash that led to the death of a mother-of-two could have been avoided, driverless vehicle experts have claimed.
Cortica, a firm that develops artificial intelligence for autonomous vehicles, has analysed the dash cam video.
The company concludes the car, which failed to brake or swerve before the collision, had enough time to react and potentially save Ms Herzberg’s life.
Speaking to CNET, Cortica’s CEO Igal Raichelgauz said the firm’s self-driving AI system detected Ms Herzberg 0.9 seconds before impact.
At this point the car was around 50 feet (15 metres) away.
He said the autonomous car’s cameras and radar system should have had enough time to pick up the pedestrian and react to the situation.
Driverless cars are fitted with a system of cameras, radar and lidar sensors that allow them to ‘see’ their surroundings and detect traffic, pedestrians and other objects.
An AI computer system then decides what actions the car takes to avoid a collision – a setup that is supposed to work as well at night as during the day.
A top executive for the maker of Lidar sensors used on Uber’s self-driving car said she was ‘baffled’ as to why the vehicle failed to recognise Ms Herzberg.
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