Uber Carshare Design System
Redesigning the Car Next Door Design System with the Uber look and feel
Overview
Car Next Door is an Australian car-sharing startup which was acquired by Uber in January 2022. In order to fit into the suite of Uber products, Car Next Door was renamed as Uber Carshare and a new app and website was planned to launch. Uber saw Car Next Door as a growth bet and it aimed to grow the business rapidly and expand the service globally.
Problem
Uber wanted Car Next Door to rebrand swiftly and expand internationally. In order to rebrand, we needed to redesign all the components of our design system. Uber of course has it’s own robust Design System but it would take too long to develop all new components on our tech stack.
Solution
In order to launch quickly, the MVP approach was to update the Car Next Door Design System to match the look and feel of the Uber Design System. This would allow Car Next Door to update the app and website quickly. The idea was to expand, meet Uber’s demand as a growing business before moving onto other nice to have tasks.
My role
When I joined Car Next Door, process of redesigning the components had started and I was asked to take on the rest of project. My role involved understanding each component, its use, redesign and test . As each component was approved, I asked engineering to develop them and I tested its functionality in Storybook to ensure it matched our needs.
1
Discovery
2
Design
3
Testing
Discovery
I needed to gain a deep understanding of the components and their intended use quickly. To do this, I started using the app and all it’s featues. I signed up to the service, listed my car on the platform, and started borrowing cars. What is interesting is that Car Next Door is a simple concept, but the depth of the service is quite vast, from pick up and drop off flows, fuel refund, infringement reassignment, car management, verification and much more. I studied how the components were used in all of these features and mapped out various parts of the product.
Designs
Designing these components ranged from very simple to quite complex. First I designed the components and would bring them to a product design collaboration session to discuss its function, effectiveness and edge cases. During these sessions we had started to question some of the original use of the components. I started to document the outcomes of these discussions within the Design System to create a clear and defined use of the components.
Testing
Each component was tested with Storybook after development before release. This ensured they were developed according to spec.
Reflection
I found this to be a fun project starting out at Car Next Door, it was a great way to get to know the product and understand all its complexities and how it was strung together. This process also taught me the importance of testing and communicating with engineers. I also gained an appreciation for how powerful a Design System can be to ensure all the designers are using the components correctly resulting in a product that is cohesive and intuitive.
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