It is fun bashing uber but I am not sure this is quite as bad in all respects as this article makes out. In particular I like the black square icon, it is bold and unique. Their Android and ios icons though are pretty bad. Too bad they couldn't have stayed with the bold black square for those as well with some way to ensure it has good visibility.
The logo of the app looks like a Chinese bank logo. A lot of Chinese - and to a certain point Vietnamese - banks have logos with square inside a circle, since that's how Chinese money used to look like.
When Uber updated, I wondered what is that Chinese bank app doing on my Android.
> Maybe take a closer look at where Uber's capital is sourced from
Eeh, I don't think it's deliberate, they just didn't really think it through. It's not a bank and it's not, majorly, for Chinese audience. In Chinese culture, these round coins with square hole inside are a symbol of money (and luck, but mainly money), even on religious statues and the like. It's not a good fit for a taxi app.
Right but for them it would just be an abstract but still recognizable design. For the rest it's the U in Uber that's a classic recognizable design. Their new icon seems like a major shift and while I don't particularly like or dislike it I think they could have done a bit more with the U before throwing it out entirely.
OP likes it too, unless he's being sarcastic. Really, it's hard to tell sometimes.
> The bit makes for a great favicon, and reminds us of the great work of early modernist painters. Left, Kazimir Malevich, Black Square, 1915. Right, Uber Favicon, 2016.
> Of all the brands based on squares, Uber's is the most exciting.
The comparison of the solid black square to famous art, and a description of the level of excitement about a brand "based on squares" where the brand is exactly only a square: those are the sarcastic components here.
These might even be interpreted as parody ("here is a great work of art by Uber, which is comparable in insight and execution to this work by a lesser known artist.")
Black monolith icon -- I like it.