DesignCrowd offers to redesign Uber's logo

Sydney, Australia, 10 February, 2015: You would have seen that Uber now has a new logo, that's inspired by 'the bit' and 'the atom.

The logo bears very little resemblance to the brand and in short, it has left everyone confused. CEO Travis Kalanick personally helped to design the logo, with a less than positive reception.

Noticing the backlash, DesignCrowd, one of the world’s largest creative design marketplaces where freelancers complete work, decided to run a contest. They asked their community to create a new logo for Uber, that would more clearly represent the brand and resonate with customers.

DesignCrowd CEO and co-founder Alec Lynch had some advice to share on the rebrand:

"Rebranding is not an easy thing to get right. For a high profile and well-liked brand like Uber, it can be even harder and a dramatic change can be risky. Many of the world’s largest brands get criticised when they rebrand. Sometimes criticism of a rebrand is unfair. However, in this case, I think Uber have got it wrong.

"While Uber's new logo, app icons and rebrand might have meaning internally, externally the change hasn't been received well. Uber's rebrand has attracted a lot of criticism from the public, designers and the press with comments ranging from it is 'confusing' to it looks like 'pac-man'. I think the level of criticism reflects two things: one - how much people love and care about the Uber brand; and two - how wide of the mark the rebrand is.

"It's such a shame because Uber is an amazing brand and company. Furthermore, there would be millions of designers around the world that would've loved to have worked on such an iconic brand. If the reports are true, it's also a shame that Uber decided to do the rebrand internally. Maybe this is where it all went wrong.

"Either way, as a bit of fun, our website DesignCrowd is crowdsourcing new ideas for Uber by running a contest and offering $1000 to designers from around the world. We received 165 entries from our 500,000 designers in the first 24 hours and we think we've received at least a dozen ideas that are better than Uber's new logo and icons.

"We'd be happy to donate a new logo to Uber if they want it.

"In the meantime, I will continue using Uber. I just won't update the app so I can keep the old app icon."

You can find all the contest designs, and download and publish any you like, here.

Please credit DesignCrowd.com.au.

About DesignCrowd:

DesignCrowd is a crowdsourcing marketplace where graphic designers complete a range of jobs, like logo, website and business card design, for businesses around the world. DesignCrowd has a community of more than 500,000 people, spanning 124 countries. The average project cost is 50% less than an agency, and customers receive designs within hours with the choice of over 100 different designs.

Since launching in 2008, DesignCrowd has raised more than $12 million in funding. In February last year the crowdsourcing marketplace took on $6 million in funding, from AirTree Ventures and Starfish Ventures.

DesignCrowd is based in Surry Hills, and has offices in Manila, Philippines, and San Francisco, USA.