Designing confident rider decisions for large-scale events
Project Type
Uber-Sponsored Capstone Project
Team
3 Product Designers, 1 Software Engineer
My Role
Product Designer (UX Research & Design)
Timeline
6 months (Jan–Jun 2026)
Overview
As the FIFA World Cup 2026 approaches, Uber is exploring ways to improve rider experiences during large-scale events. Our goal was to help riders navigate crowded pickup environments with greater confidence, reduce uncertainty, and improve pickup coordination.
What I did
Led end-to-end user research and synthesis
Designed the primary rider experience and key user flows
Built and deployed the interactive prototype with Cursor and Vercel
Served as the primary contact between the team and Uber stakeholders
my Impact
Our solution could help riders navigate crowded pickup environments with greater confidence and control.
39%
43%
690K+
Potential riders supported during Seattle FIFA events
Final Design Preview
Key Feature 1/3
Make more informed pickup decisions.
Compare recommended pickup locations based on walking time, wait time, and price tradeoffs.
Key Feature 2/3
Track queue progress and unlock rewards while waiting.
Stay informed about your position in line and see how waiting longer can earn additional rewards.
Key Feature 3/3
Find your driver with guided navigation.
Real-time orientation cues and directional guidance help riders locate driver faster.
The Problem
At large-scale events, riders struggle to understand where to go, what to expect, and whether they're making the right pickup decision.
RESEARCH
We conducted a mix of research methods to uncover the underlying problem:
03
Interviews
5 preliminary interviews and 6 in-depth interviews to uncover hidden insights from riders
KEY RESEARCH insights
3 recurring moments of uncertainty during the pickup journey.
After synthesizing the research findings, we found that most pain points and challenges fell into three recurring areas: evaluating pickup trade-offs, understanding matching progress, and locating drivers in crowded environments.
Design Goal
Help riders make confident decisions and reduce uncertainty throughout pickup journey.
Riders - Reduce anxiety and make more confident decisions
Uber - Reduce cancellations and increase successful pickups
Design Principles
Throughout the project, these three principles guided our design decisions:
01
Balance transparency with comfort
02
Preserve map clarity and readability
Maintain a clear hierarchy while introducing new layers of information.
03
Create a sense of progress and control
Help riders understand what is happening throughout the pickup journey.
Solution
Stage 1 — Choosing a ride
insight
Riders are doing the app's job by finding their own ways to overcome limitations.
→ Riders try to call earlier and walk further to get a faster ride.
OpportunitY
How might we help riders evaluate pickup trade-offs without requiring guesswork?
DESIGN HYPOTHESIs
If riders can see the trade-offs between walking distance, wait time, and price, they can make more confident pickup decisions.
Decision 1: How to display congestion?
Rather than relying on static mockups, I built an interactive prototype to test how different congestion visualizations affected rider understanding. The heatmap was consistently the easiest to scan and interpret, especially across different zoom levels.
Decision 2: How should we present pickup tradeoffs?
To understand which information riders prioritized when comparing pickup options, we tested different ways of presenting tradeoffs. Riders consistently preferred seeing the final ride price, as it eliminated the need for mental math and made decisions faster.
Solution
Stage 2&3 — Waiting for a match/ride
insight
Riders aren't frustrated by waiting, they're frustrated by the feeling of waiting passively.
→ Riders have nothing to do but check the app until they get matched.
OpportunitY
How might we make waiting feel more transparent and worthwhile?
DESIGN HYPOTHESIs
If riders understand that progress is being made, waiting will feel less passive and frustrating.
Decision 3: When should different types of support appear during the wait?
While there isn't a "real" queue on the engineering side, riders wanted visibility into what was happening behind the scenes. We explored ways to make waiting feel more worthwhile by introducing queue status, alternative actions, and rewards as wait times increased.
Solution
Stage 4 — Finding the ride
insight
Riders struggle to translate map-based information into real-world navigation when the driver is nearby.
OpportunitY
How might we help riders locate their driver in crowded environments?
DESIGN HYPOTHESIs
If riders receive directional guidance in the real world, they can locate their driver more easily than relying on the map alone.
Decision 4: How can we provide guidance without disrupting existing behaviors?
To balance directional guidance across the arrow, vehicle details, and instructions, I explored and tested several versions with users while keeping the map as the primary focus. I also incorporated feedback from Uber, as dynamic elements are not used in their existing banners.
Impact
Prototype testing improved both rider trust and sense of control.
While our work was exploratory, our Uber sponsors responded positively to the concepts and findings. I led the final presentation to Uber stakeholders, sharing our research insights, design rationale, and prototype outcomes. Seeing similar patterns reflected in later product updates reinforced the importance of using research to validate assumptions and uncover opportunities that matter to both users and the business.
39%
Increased rider trust
Riders felt more confident about what was happening and what to expect during pickup.
Based on post-test interviews (n=10)
43%
Increased rider perceived control
Riders felt they had a clearer sense of what to do and more control while waiting for a match.
Based on post-test interviews (n=10)
Reflection
Beyond the metrics, this project shaped how I think about product design:
Design for context, not completeness.
I learned that more information doesn't always create more confidence. What mattered most was showing the right information at the right moment. By adapting what riders saw based on factors like wait stage, pickup status, and proximity to the driver, we reduced uncertainty without overwhelming the experience.
Research is most valuable when it changes the problem.
Through rapid prototyping, iterative testing, and ongoing sponsor feedback, we continuously questioned our assumptions and refined our direction. Reframing the problem from waiting time to uncertainty helped us uncover more impactful opportunities for design.
Learn More
There's so much more behind the scene!
02
Process Book
See the entired process of research, synthesis, iterations, and design rationale.
