Goodbye Uber Singapore: A Designer's Farewell

Uber's Global Rebrand (2016)

To set the tone for the rest of the campaigns and graphics featured, we have to look at the time when Uber underwent a massive overhaul in its visual identity to achieve its look today. Regardless of what you think of Uber's current brand identity, we should give them props for trying to personalise different experiences based on location, for Uber communities to call certain elements in the identity exclusively theirs. 

Singapore's pattern - top left

The pattern in action

Moodboards which inspired the different country patterns

Singapore's pattern was one of the 70 unique patterns created by Uber, each representing a country where Uber was operating as of 2016. Sadly, with Uber's exit from Southeast Asia, we would no longer be seeing these patterns on ads and the app again.

National Pool Day (August 2017)

Uber Singapore partnered (well, attempted to) with public transportation services, bike sharing companies and even its biggest rival Grab in the spirit of patriotism. 



The idea was to leave your cars in the car park on National Day and use transport alternatives instead. Was it feasible? Duh, no, Uber was not being naive; it was being a marketing genius instead. Competitors supporting Uber meant giving them free publicity, and the 52% discount on August 9 would have surely helped to influence new sign-ups. 

Don't you just love tree-farting cars

Uber also came up with some cute flat design vehicles of their competitors, from the orange MoBikes to SBS buses.

The companies which responded to Uber's offer

Sadly, this was the furthest Uber was willing to go to partner with its competitors, especially the taxi companies, until it realised it was too late. 

If <insert a bad but relatable situation>, Uber. (August 2017)

The idea was to plaster these ads in MRT stations and promote a train/bus + Uber habit. 



Uber knows how hot Singapore is; it understands us. That was why this campaign was so relatable. 



Uber also knows that we cannot really trust the trains to be running on time, so UBER.



For those who are not in the know, this ad is trying to tell you that at MRT breakdowns can earn you a lecture when you reach work late. But someone made this ad more bluntly.



Naturally, it went viral, and Uber had to clarify that it was a spoof and #fakenews.



Shady indeed.

Unlocking Singapore (November 2017)

In a regional marketing push with the purpose of "unlocking cities", Uber banked on academic studies to prove that sharing our vehicles could save us spaces the size of 2 CBDs.





It seemed like an ambitious goal for them to tackle the issue of Singapore's land woes, going as far to say that using apps like Uber can indirectly free up land. Still, the animated site is worth a visit, and it should be noted that Grab has yet to create an animated site yet.

This is like.

An outdoor campaign depicting how hard it is to find parking space in Singapore.

UberFlash: The Inevitable Alliance (January 2018)

Initially, legacy taxi companies were at odds with apps like Uber. In some countries, taxi companies successfully lobbied for Uber to be banned.

However, in Singapore, Grab was quick to woo all the taxi companies and successfully did so, adding their services to its GrabTaxi service. ComfortDelGro was the only cab company which did not partner with Grab, and after seeing the success of Grab's partnerships, it partnered with Uber to create an Uber service known as UberFlash.



UberFlash's cute car graphics actually made me look forward to Uber marketing emails, as they nailed every animation which emphasised speed - although additional promo codes would have made the email more enjoyable. 

RIP Uber Singapore, 25 March 2018

I'm going to miss the graphics by Uber, particularly the iconography. What better way is there to say goodbye than to celebrate their best graphics of Uber. I have saved all the websites linked from this article on the Internet Archive, which would allow anyone to access the sites even after the site gets taken down. Be inspired sometime, and respect the effort put in by the OGs of private hire transport.



Stay tuned for design reviews on Ryde and MVL, the 'made in SG' companies aiming to capture the market share previously owned by Uber.

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