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Lyft Brand Phase 1 (2013-2014)

The year is 2013. Side Car is one of our major competitors and almost no one outside of San Francisco has heard of ride-sharing, much less "Your Friend with a Car".

We are the crunchy, friendly, human, driver-loving ones in minty green with the pink mustache. I reveled in hand drawn type and humanistic illustration. As the second visual communications hire after the brilliant intern turned logo designer (hi Harrison!), I was able to craft many a fundamental element including email templates, our explainer, lyft.com, training videos, shwag, ads, and numerous graphic identities for video promotions.

It was the wild west and absolutely everything was up for grabs. We were all kraft paper, texture, and love.

The year is 2013.

Side Car is one of our major competitors and almost no one outside of San Francisco has heard of ride-sharing, much less "Your Friend with a Car". 

In contrast to “Everyone’s Private Driver” at Uber, we are the crunchy, friendly, human, driver-loving ones in minty green with the pink mustache.  I reveled in hand drawn type and humanistic illustration. 

It was the wild west and absolutely everything was up for grabs. We were all kraft paper, texture, and love.


DESIGN: Meghan Newell. MOTION: Meghan Newell & Mark Teater

Lyft Brand Reel 2013-2014:

A personal and poignant collection of my work during my first year at Lyft - the times they were a-changing!

Initially brought in to work on the Lyft Explainer, I was asked to stay and help them develop their brand. My background in motion and obsession with hand drawn typography became a foundation of this first phase.

As Senior Designer, I managed four designers and reported to the Head of Brand. I developed our first email templates, designed much of our marketing site, and spent a lot of time on our many video assets including promos and training videos.


Shared ride branding concepts

Email templates

Motion graphics

Process began with a sketch and ended in animation


“It sends the message that getting a ride from someone you’ve never met is safe and fun. And nothing like hitchhiking.”

 

Strange to look back on how whacky a tech company could be, but it was an important phase. Though hard to remember now, convincing people to get in cars with a random stranger in a Corolla was a big leap! The rituals and silliness helped make us relatable and prove out the category.

We all know this evolved. And I was lucky enough to be a part of it – it doesn’t get boring in house when you are a new company every year for 5 years!


Check out the next evolution: Lyft phase 2 (2015-2016).