Caravan

Less fuel, less pollution, less stress: these are some of the many benefits of carpooling. And when it comes to traveling long-distance, saving gas and money becomes exponentially more important per mile.

Caravan is a long-distance ride-sharing app concepted by YouTube intern Shane Smith. Along with UI designer Christian Bergstrom, I helped create the branding identity for the carpooling platform. My deliverables included designing the logo, website, supergraphics and illustrations for a compelling product.

• Mission

  To make sure our collaboration started off on the right foot, I handed Smith and Bergstrom a branding questionnaire to help me get a better understanding of Caravan's identity. I compiled the answers before sketching out ideas and generated the following consensus:

  • The mission is about connecting people who need to commute long distsances together in a friendly, trustworthy, and straightforward experience.
  • Benefits include long distance, automatic matching, and pick-up/drop-off coordination.
  • Friendliness and trustworthiness are important qualities. Caravan can be seen as a carpool with fun coworkers or a road trip.
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• Logo

  I avoided using a predictable car logo that would look like any generic ride-sharing app. Instead, I leaned heavily towards incorporating wheels, since they are universal for any modes of transportation and essential tools for moving people forward. After going through several rounds of iterations, my team and I finalized the logo as it is today. I incorporated these qualities:

  • Location marker icon. Rather than the previous wheel iterations, I chose to portray a location marker because it clearly conveyed the app's function without being too abstract.
  • Dot size variations. The dots from the initial iterations remained here because of their strong resonance for connectivity. This time, I varied the dot sizes to make the 'C' of the logo stand out more.
  • Warm color scheme. The red and orange hues are reminiscent of a sunset, incorporating the unique experience of long-distance rides, in which users are likely to see sunsets during their long hours together. The colors also give a vintage vibe, which influenced my illustrations.