Designing for Safety at Every Scale
Reimagining Uber’s safety experience through inch-to-yard interactions
Concept Project
For solo riders traveling alone at night or through unfamiliar areas, feeling safe shouldn't require feeling stressed.
Current safety measures place the burden of vigilance entirely on the rider, leaving many to rely on improvised workarounds — like staying on the phone with a friend — just to feel secure enough to reach their destination.
Year
2025
Role
Interaction Design
Design Systems
Product Strategy
Design Critique
3 Scales. 3 Scenarios. One goal
This project explores one goal: helping riders feel safe without having to stay on high alert. I designed for it at three interaction scales: inch (an Apple Watch), foot (an iPad), and yard (a large information TV ). Each scale follows a different scenario for a different kind of user.
Inch
Apple Watch
User: Rider
Scenario: Riding home at night, on a call
What it does: Flags a detour
Foot
iPad
User: Parent of a teenage rider
Scenario: Traveling through an unfamiliar area
What it does: Suggests a safer route
Yard
Display board
User: Rider + Crowd
Scenario: Arriving at a busy airport
What it does: Guides rider to the right pickup lane
Why does this matter?
Ride-sharing app safety features assume riders are fully attentive, calm, and actively monitoring their phones.
In reality, moments when safety matters most are when attention is limited. Constantly checking a screen, tracking routes, or deciding when to escalate a concern can increase cognitive load rather than reduce it.
This problem disproportionately affects young solo riders who rely on informal workarounds like calling a trusted person, memorizing routes, or avoiding certain areas altogether—to feel safe.
The challenge is not adding more safety features, but designing safety systems that support riders quietly, contextually, and across devices—without demanding constant vigilance.
Inch
Independent, cautious, and constantly managing attention while on the move
When uncertainty creeps in, Connie creates her own safety net. She'll start a phone call with her emergency contact, inform trusted contacts of her ETA, or stay hyper-vigilant of her surroundings.
The Ride Share App’s built-in safety features exist, but she rarely engages with them unless something feels actively wrong—they feel reactive rather than supportive.
Connie needs safety tools that work quietly in the background, offering reassurance without demanding attention or creating alarm
Meet Connie
Scenario:
Connie is traveling through an unfamiliar neighborhood at night. She’s on a call with a trusted contact and wants to ensure her driver is following the right route simultaneously.
Sticking to a pre-selected route
Since Connie isn’t familiar with the area, she wants to make sure the driver is following the correct freeway exits and not deviating from a pre-selected route.
Connie needs a way to get home safely in an Uber at night
How does she ensure this?
Keeping someone informed
As a safety measure, Connie keeps a trusted contact on the phone during the Uber ride. This also subtly signals to the driver that someone is tracking her ride.
However, because her phone is by her ear during the call, she needs a way to monitor her ride using her Apple Watch. She doesn’t need constant updates just a heads up if there’s a detour.
When there is a detour the apple watch vibrates
10 seconds to press “okay” or her emergency contact gets an alert message/call.
Prototyping
Design Lens
Micro-interactions for passive reassurance during low attention.
Critique that shifted my approach
During critique, Professor Scott Klemmer asked whether the inch-scale interaction could be reduced to a simple red/green indicator.
To which I replied: Well no, the user needs more information than that to…
Prof. Klemmer: Awesome! Now what exactly does the user need to know and what happens if they don't have access to that information?
That question reframed my thinking. Instead of simplifying from the top down, I began asking:
What is the minimum information my user needs to make a decision?
Design Learning
At the inch scale, simplification isn’t about removing features — it’s about validating the purpose of every pixel.
A top-down mindset risks enforcing designer assumptions about what users “should” understand, while a bottom-up approach evaluates how each visual cue supports real judgment and trust.
Foot
Meet Jojo’s Dad, a teenager's parent
Jojo is a teenager who has just started traveling on her own. Her dad wants her to explore and be independent, but also wants peace of mind knowing she’s safe, especially in a new part of town.
The fastest route isn't always the safest
When Jojo is heading to a new part of town, her dad checks in to make sure she’s on a safe route.
Jojo
Hey Dad, sorry I was in a rush so I couldn’t pick up, but my Uber is going to be here in a minute.
Dad
No worries, you have your Uber sharing on, right?
Jojo
Yeah, you should get an automatic message.
Jojo’s ride is on the way
View Jojo’s live location
You can also view this directly from the app.
Dad
Jojo, I want you to take a different route. It might be longer, but it is safer.
New route from Dad
Jojo
Okay, thanks, Dad.
Dad
Anytime, kiddo. Have fun, but stay safe.
How can I quickly recommend a safe route to Jojo?
Where is Jojo’s Uber?
Jojo's Dad needs a way to ensure that Jojo travels through safe parts of town when she is exploring a new city
Which routes are safe?
What does safety mean?
Prototyping
Design Lens
Reframing route selection as a collaborative decision, rather than an isolated, time-pressured choice.
What factors signify safety?
- Are the shops still open in the area?
- Police Checks
- Crowd? More people = safer
- Street lights
- Other people's review of safety in the area
Critique that shifted my approach
I wish I could understand this map better with respect to where Jojo is right now
Is this ETA from Jojo's current location or where she started from?
Where is Tenderloin on the map?
Seeing the Preview of each route as a separate visual is confusing
Changes in Information Architecture
Inspired by Prof. Xia's Malleable interfaces paper
"Unlike static and rigid interfaces, generative and malleable ones offer the potential to respond to diverse users' goals and tasks."
Safety means different things to different people, and users should be able to find the best route according to the factors that matter most to them. The interface should adapt generatively to reflect those priorities.
A few iterations later………
Design Learning
Knowing or understanding is never a real user goal
The user wants to achieve something, and knowing helps them do that. So it’s important to ask: what is that something?
Yard
Meet Sasha!
Sasha is a UCSD student returning to San Diego after spending the holidays at home. Traveling on a student budget, he wants an affordable way to get back to campus but feels uncomfortable sharing rides with strangers. He’s noticed that students often approach people wearing UCSD hoodies at the airport to ask if they’d like to split an Uber, but he finds the idea of approaching strangers awkward. He wishes there were an easier and more systematic way to find a compatible safe group to travel with.
Scenario:
Sasha has just landed at San Diego International Airport and needs to get back to campus. Booking an Uber alone is expensive, so he looks around for other students near the baggage carousel who might be heading in the same direction.
Design Lens
Shared context and group decision-making in public environments.
Critique that shifted my approach
On a yard scale design information should be prominent even without interaction
Design Learning
The “I wish” method is a fantastic way to communicate improvements that can be made to a design. It shows that you're on the same team as the person whose work you're critiquing, rather than just pointing out flaws.
Designing for Safety at Every Scale
Reimagining Uber’s safety experience through inch-to-yard interactions
Concept Project
Role
Interaction Design
Design Systems
Product Strategy
Design Critique
Year
2025
For solo riders traveling alone at night or through unfamiliar areas, feeling safe shouldn't require feeling stressed.
Current safety measures place the burden of vigilance entirely on the rider, leaving many to rely on improvised workarounds — like staying on the phone with a friend — just to feel secure enough to reach their destination.
3 Scales. 3 Scenarios. One goal
This project explores one goal: helping riders feel safe without having to stay on high alert. I designed for it at three interaction scales: inch (an Apple Watch), foot (an iPad), and yard (a large information TV ). Each scale follows a different scenario for a different kind of user.
Inch
Apple Watch
User: Rider
Scenario: Riding home at night, on a call
What it does: Flags a detour
Foot
iPad
User: Parent of a teenage rider
Scenario: Traveling through an unfamiliar area
What it does: Suggests a safer route
Yard
Display board
User: Rider + Crowd
Scenario: Arriving at a busy airport
What it does: Guides rider to the right pickup lane
Why does this matter?
Ride-sharing app safety features assume riders are fully attentive, calm, and actively monitoring their phones.
In reality, moments when safety matters most are when attention is limited. Constantly checking a screen, tracking routes, or deciding when to escalate a concern can increase cognitive load rather than reduce it.
This problem disproportionately affects young solo riders who rely on informal workarounds like calling a trusted person, memorizing routes, or avoiding certain areas altogether—to feel safe.
The challenge is not adding more safety features, but designing safety systems that support riders quietly, contextually, and across devices—without demanding constant vigilance.
Meet Connie
Independent, cautious, and constantly managing attention while on the move
When uncertainty creeps in, Connie creates her own safety net. She'll start a phone call with her emergency contact, inform trusted contacts of her ETA, or stay hyper-vigilant of her surroundings.
The Ride Share App’s built-in safety features exist, but she rarely engages with them unless something feels actively wrong—they feel reactive rather than supportive.
Connie needs safety tools that work quietly in the background, offering reassurance without demanding attention or creating alarm
Inch
Scenario:
Connie is traveling through an unfamiliar neighborhood at night. She’s on a call with a trusted contact and wants to ensure her driver is following the right route simultaneously.
Connie needs a way to get home safely in an Uber at night
How does she ensure this?
Keeping someone informed
As a safety measure, Connie keeps a trusted contact on the phone during the Uber ride. This also subtly signals to the driver that someone is tracking her ride.
Sticking to a pre-selected route
Since Connie isn’t familiar with the area, she wants to make sure the driver is following the correct freeway exits and not deviating from a pre-selected route.
However, because her phone is by her ear during the call, she needs a way to monitor her ride using her Apple Watch. She doesn’t need constant updates just a heads up if there’s a detour.
When there is a detour the apple watch vibrates
10 seconds to press “okay” or her emergency contact gets an alert message/call.
Prototyping
Design Lens
Micro-interactions for passive reassurance during low attention.
Critique that shifted my approach
During critique, Professor Scott Klemmer asked whether the inch-scale interaction could be reduced to a simple red/green indicator.
To which I replied: Well no, the user needs more information than that to…
Prof. Klemmer: Awesome! Now what exactly does the user need to know and what happens if they don't have access to that information?
That question reframed my thinking. Instead of simplifying from the top down, I began asking:
What is the minimum information my user needs to make a decision?
Design Learning
At the inch scale, simplification isn’t about removing features — it’s about validating the purpose of every pixel.
A top-down mindset risks enforcing designer assumptions about what users “should” understand, while a bottom-up approach evaluates how each visual cue supports real judgment and trust.
Foot
Meet Jojo’s Dad, a teenager's parent
Jojo is a teenager who has just started traveling on her own. Her dad wants her to explore and be independent, but also wants peace of mind knowing she’s safe, especially in a new part of town.
The fastest route isn't always the safest
When Jojo is heading to a new part of town, her dad checks in to make sure she’s on a safe route.
Jojo
Hey Dad, sorry I was in a rush so I couldn’t pick up, but my Uber is going to be here in a minute.
Dad
No worries, you have your Uber sharing on, right?
Jojo
Yeah, you should get an automatic message.
Jojo’s ride is on the way
View Jojo’s live location
You can also view this directly from the app.
Dad
Jojo, I want you to take a different route. It might be longer, but it is safer.
New route from Dad
Jojo
Okay, thanks, Dad.
Dad
Anytime, kiddo. Have fun, but stay safe.
Jojo’s Dad needs a way to ensure that Jojo travels through safe parts of town when she is exploring a new city
How can I quickly recommend a safe route to Jojo?
What does safety mean?
Which routes are safe?
Where is Jojo’s Uber?
Prototyping
Design Lens
Reframing route selection as a collaborative decision, rather than an isolated, time-pressured choice.
What factors signify safety?
- Are the shops still open in the area?
- Police Checks
- Crowd? More people = safer
- Street lights
- Other people's review of safety in the area
Critique that shifted my approach
I wish I could understand this map better with respect to where Jojo is right now
Is this ETA from Jojo's current location or where she started from?
Seeing the Preview of each route as a separate visual is confusing
Where is Tenderloin on the map?
Changes in Information Architecture
Inspired by Prof. Xia's Malleable interfaces paper
"Unlike static and rigid interfaces, generative and malleable ones offer the potential to respond to diverse users' goals and tasks."
Safety means different things to different people, and users should be able to find the best route according to the factors that matter most to them. The interface should adapt generatively to reflect those priorities.
A few iterations later………
Design Learning
Knowing or understanding is never a real user goal
The user wants to achieve something, and knowing helps them do that. So it’s important to ask: what is that something?
Yard
Meet Sasha!
Sasha is a UCSD student returning to San Diego after spending the holidays at home. Traveling on a student budget, he wants an affordable way to get back to campus but feels uncomfortable sharing rides with strangers. He’s noticed that students often approach people wearing UCSD hoodies at the airport to ask if they’d like to split an Uber, but he finds the idea of approaching strangers awkward. He wishes there were an easier and more systematic way to find a compatible safe group to travel with.
Scenario:
Sasha has just landed at San Diego International Airport and needs to get back to campus. Booking an Uber alone is expensive, so he looks around for other students near the baggage carousel who might be heading in the same direction.
Design Lens
Shared context and group decision-making in public environments.
Critique that shifted my approach
On a yard scale design information should be prominent even without interaction
Design Learning
The “I wish” method is a fantastic way to communicate improvements that can be made to a design. It shows that you're on the same team as the person whose work you're critiquing, rather than just pointing out flaws.
A special thanks to Professor Scott Klemmer for crafting such an interactive studio course that has taught me about user-centric design and effective communication in more ways than I can count :)
Designing for Safety at Every Scale
Reimagining Uber’s safety experience through inch-to-yard interactions
Concept Project
Role
Interaction Design
Design Systems
Product Strategy
Design Critique
Year
2025
For solo riders traveling alone at night or through unfamiliar areas, feeling safe shouldn't require feeling stressed.
Current safety measures place the burden of vigilance entirely on the rider, leaving many to rely on improvised workarounds — like staying on the phone with a friend — just to feel secure enough to reach their destination.
3 Scales. 3 Scenarios. One goal
This project explores one goal: helping riders feel safe without having to stay on high alert. I designed for it at three interaction scales: inch (an Apple Watch), foot (an iPad), and yard (a large information TV ). Each scale follows a different scenario for a different kind of user.
Inch
Apple Watch
User: Rider
Scenario: Riding home at night, on a call
What it does: Flags a detour
Foot
iPad
User: Parent of a teenage rider
Scenario: Traveling through an unfamiliar area
What it does: Suggests a safer route
Yard
Display board
User: Rider + Crowd
Scenario: Arriving at a busy airport
What it does: Guides rider to the right pickup lane
Why does this matter?
Ride-sharing app safety features assume riders are fully attentive, calm, and actively monitoring their phones.
In reality, moments when safety matters most are when attention is limited. Constantly checking a screen, tracking routes, or deciding when to escalate a concern can increase cognitive load rather than reduce it.
This problem disproportionately affects young solo riders who rely on informal workarounds like calling a trusted person, memorizing routes, or avoiding certain areas altogether—to feel safe.
The challenge is not adding more safety features, but designing safety systems that support riders quietly, contextually, and across devices—without demanding constant vigilance.
Meet Connie
Independent, cautious, and constantly managing attention while on the move
When uncertainty creeps in, Connie creates her own safety net. She'll start a phone call with her emergency contact, inform trusted contacts of her ETA, or stay hyper-vigilant of her surroundings.
The Ride Share App’s built-in safety features exist, but she rarely engages with them unless something feels actively wrong—they feel reactive rather than supportive.
Connie needs safety tools that work quietly in the background, offering reassurance without demanding attention or creating alarm
Inch
Scenario:
Connie is traveling through an unfamiliar neighborhood at night. She’s on a call with a trusted contact and wants to ensure her driver is following the right route simultaneously.
Connie needs a way to get home safely in an Uber at night
How does she ensure this?
Keeping someone informed
As a safety measure, Connie keeps a trusted contact on the phone during the Uber ride. This also subtly signals to the driver that someone is tracking her ride.
Sticking to a pre-selected route
Since Connie isn’t familiar with the area, she wants to make sure the driver is following the correct freeway exits and not deviating from a pre-selected route.
However, because her phone is by her ear during the call, she needs a way to monitor her ride using her Apple Watch. She doesn’t need constant updates just a heads up if there’s a detour.
When there is a detour the apple watch vibrates
10 seconds to press “okay” or her emergency contact gets an alert message/call.
Prototyping
Design Lens
Micro-interactions for passive reassurance during low attention.
Critique that shifted my approach
During critique, Professor Scott Klemmer asked whether the inch-scale interaction could be reduced to a simple red/green indicator.
To which I replied: Well no, the user needs more information than that to…
Prof. Klemmer: Awesome! Now what exactly does the user need to know and what happens if they don't have access to that information?
That question reframed my thinking. Instead of simplifying from the top down, I began asking:
What is the minimum information my user needs to make a decision?
Design Learning
At the inch scale, simplification isn’t about removing features — it’s about validating the purpose of every pixel.
A top-down mindset risks enforcing designer assumptions about what users “should” understand, while a bottom-up approach evaluates how each visual cue supports real judgment and trust.
Foot
Meet Jojo’s Dad, a teenager's parent
Jojo is a teenager who has just started traveling on her own. Her dad wants her to explore and be independent, but also wants peace of mind knowing she’s safe, especially in a new part of town.
The fastest route isn't always the safest
When Jojo is heading to a new part of town, her dad checks in to make sure she’s on a safe route.
Jojo
Hey Dad, sorry I was in a rush so I couldn’t pick up, but my Uber is going to be here in a minute.
Dad
No worries, you have your Uber sharing on, right?
Jojo
Yeah, you should get an automatic message.
Jojo’s ride is on the way
View Jojo’s live location
You can also view this directly from the app.
Dad
Jojo, I want you to take a different route. It might be longer, but it is safer.
New route from Dad
Jojo
Okay, thanks, Dad.
Dad
Anytime, kiddo. Have fun, but stay safe.
Jojo’s Dad needs a way to ensure that Jojo travels through safe parts of town when she is exploring a new city
How can I quickly recommend a safe route to Jojo?
What does safety mean?
Which routes are safe?
Where is Jojo’s Uber?
Prototyping
Design Lens
Reframing route selection as a collaborative decision, rather than an isolated, time-pressured choice.
What factors signify safety?
- Are the shops still open in the area?
- Police Checks
- Crowd? More people = safer
- Street lights
- Other people's review of safety in the area
Critique that shifted my approach
I wish I could understand this map better with respect to where Jojo is right now
Is this ETA from Jojo's current location or where she started from?
Seeing the Preview of each route as a separate visual is confusing
Where is Tenderloin on the map?
Changes in Information Architecture
Inspired by Prof. Xia's Malleable interfaces paper
"Unlike static and rigid interfaces, generative and malleable ones offer the potential to respond to diverse users' goals and tasks."
Safety means different things to different people, and users should be able to find the best route according to the factors that matter most to them. The interface should adapt generatively to reflect those priorities.
A few iterations later………
Design Learning
Knowing or understanding is never a real user goal
The user wants to achieve something, and knowing helps them do that. So it’s important to ask: what is that something?
Yard
Meet Sasha!
Sasha is a UCSD student returning to San Diego after spending the holidays at home. Traveling on a student budget, he wants an affordable way to get back to campus but feels uncomfortable sharing rides with strangers. He’s noticed that students often approach people wearing UCSD hoodies at the airport to ask if they’d like to split an Uber, but he finds the idea of approaching strangers awkward. He wishes there were an easier and more systematic way to find a compatible safe group to travel with.
Scenario:
Sasha has just landed at San Diego International Airport and needs to get back to campus. Booking an Uber alone is expensive, so he looks around for other students near the baggage carousel who might be heading in the same direction.
Design Lens
Shared context and group decision-making in public environments.
Critique that shifted my approach
On a yard scale design information should be prominent even without interaction
Design Learning
The “I wish” method is a fantastic way to communicate improvements that can be made to a design. It shows that you're on the same team as the person whose work you're critiquing, rather than just pointing out flaws.
A special thanks to Professor Scott Klemmer for crafting such an interactive studio course that has taught me about user-centric design and effective communication in more ways than I can count :)