Uber's Atomic Meltdown (elischiff.com)
over 7 years ago from Carlos M, student
over 7 years ago from Carlos M, student
The post sponsor is great… uBar…
I can't help thinking that was planned carefully.
CEOs in charge of rebrands. We still haven't learned.
they still haven't learned. I'm pretty sure you wont find a designer that thinks it's a good idea. ;)
but they still let it happen
I am a bit surprised that the entire Uber design team didn't quit or revolt during this process.
Their head of design left.
Really? I mean, really? You'd leave a job at [industry leader] because someone higher up didn't listen to you?
Because if so, good on you. Not all of us have that luxury.
I swear, every post I've made these last few days has had the same theme: I find the lack of empathy this community shows frightening.
We all judge and "know how things SHOULD have been done".
And if we disagree with something, the people responsible for it should be sacked, quit on their own accord or just generally move into a different industry.
Empathy. Learn it. Practice it.
Really? I mean, really? You'd leave a job at [industry leader] because someone higher up didn't listen to you?
As someone who's had that job at [industry leader] you're talking about (not uber, but a giant US tech company), I left because I didn't like the politics, micromanagement and some elements of the culture.
When you have the job at [industry leader], you don't sit around thinking 'cool, I work for [industry leader]!' everyday, you asses the work and your enjoyment of it in the same way you would do any job, and if it isn't stacking up you leave, like you would do any job.
If you're consistently over-awed about the fact you work at such a company and let that cloud your subjectivity when assessing the quality of the work, your enjoyment of the role or the future effect on your career, you're probably doing it wrong.
We all judge and "know how things SHOULD have been done".
I believe that is because we have educated people new to our industry, to blindly follow what celebrity industry insiders have to say. Besides, much of the content that our industry outputs to our own people is not anymore to educate them or to offer them advice, but to monetize their attention. Advertising always works on the deep underlying belief in ourselves that we are in a way inadequate and that the solution that is advertised can fill this gap in ourselves.
Really? I mean, really? You'd leave a job at [industry leader] because someone higher up didn't listen to you?
With that always comes a sense of desired accomplishment for working at [industry leader]. A lot of people inside our industry see their ultimate goal reached when they work at [industry leader]. Maybe, because we tend to idolize a lot of our industry.
Because if so, good on you. Not all of us have that luxury.
For me, it's not "luxury" to leave a job. It is my commitment to the values I live by, that makes leaving a job that wastes my energy and time mandatory. Yes, in order to maintain our lives, we need money, but a person who is determined enough to not endure a destructive circumstance in their life that makes them unhappy, is very likely to find a way to sustain themselves and also make them happy. They might have several attempts while trying to find the right one or even finding out what truly motivates them, but once you make decisions based on your values and not on external values, you might realize, that money or even stability are not things that can make you happy.
I personally criticize our industry, especially designers and productivity-porn stars a lot and often people tell me, that I do that because I envy their status, their success or their popularity. When they do that, they apply their value system on my situation and the same might be happening in your sentence. The person that left their job over the whole situation might have totally different values in their life. You might base all of your life upon all aspects of that job. Your social and financial situation, maybe you see your career ladder leading to a job like that. But this person might see it very differently. I have very different values in my life and in my work as well, which is the reason why I do things differently and I have left my last job because I was unsatisfied, even though it sustained me.
And btw, without trying to attack you, but understanding that people do not all operate on the same values is also part of empathy.
"Uber's redesign contained an unprecedented level of micromanagement of the design team by Kalanick".
It looks & feels very much this way.
Logo's always seem to go this route. It is such an important part of the company that leadership, especially founders, can't help but be heavily hands on.
I wonder what the proper level of involvement should be. Micromanagement is definitely a hinderance but if you involve them too late they reject interesting ideas.
I think a high level of involvement is great, but it needs an equal level of respect. Respect for the opinion of experts and respect for the process.
Always love a Schiff post :)
I'm gonna start using Schiff as a word
like
"man! you totally took a schiff all over that logo!"
It could even be used as a replacement for "skeuomorphic design", "That's such a schiff design"
Schiff just got real.
Said no-one ever.
I don't think I've ever read a positive article written by Eli. Always with the negativity...
Contradiction of authority and negativity aren't the same thing. Whether calling out shit work as shit is "negative" doesn't matter; it's truth and worth discussing.
Uber has lost its recognizability as a brand.
Isn't that the point of a re-brand? Lose one brand and create another?
Not always. At times it's more beneficial to simply adjust your current brand. Case-in-point: Pepsi's logos over the years. Ever since 1950 they've simply been updating their existing identity to appeal to the changing market. All successful rebrandings, but none of them lost sight of where they came from.
That's an incredible bit of satire. Spot on.
It's not satire it's the 100% real actual branding document. (and not really any more silly than Uber's cocainefuelled rebrand waffle to be honest)
One Identity, Multiple Emotions
none of them lost sight of where they came from
That's why I would differentiate Pepsi's (Apple, Google, Shell, Twitter) logo update from a re-brand. Twitter is a perfect example: In 2012 they did a logo update, then in 2014 they did a re-brand -- two separate things. If you read the Uber Brand Experience page, it says it started off as a black car service. Many people today still think that Uber is competing with Taxi's but it's a "transportation network" of which the taxi aspect is a small piece. The whole goal of the re-brand is to literally lose the old brand (and nearly everything about it) and re-brand to better represent what we were going to become (as the site says).
No more melodramatic posts from Eli, please.
Yeah, reading through this article made me dislike Uber's new brand even more. What a shitshow.
Is it really that bad? It has it flaws, but it's not a shitshow.
"The design review took ten minutes. He [Kalanick] was like, 'that's good.'"
Fantastic article but still disappointed in Uber's execution with this rebrand.
that's kind of the point
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