Grab product design

What Grab says

Problem

Grab says the main challenge for its consumers is finding a reliable network, and that many use prepaid plans and switch data off after a ride.

Change

It designs blank, loading, partial and error states alongside the happy path. The app opens with loading skeletons. A video tutorial became an SVG animation, and autoplay is off on the home feed.

Stated reasoning or result

The article advises keeping screens alive through visual cues, messaging and cached content, and preferring simple animation because elaborate transitions look choppy on older phones.

UX principle

The non-happy states are the product for people on a poor connection. Design them first, not last.

Why it fits the context

A ride or food order is often placed on the move, on a low-cost phone. A screen that waits for the network is a screen that fails.

What Grab says

Problem

Grab describes the region as mobile-only, not mobile-first, and notes that some consumers are not fully comfortable reading English even when it is their chosen language.

Change

Sign-up puts the phone number first and social accounts second. Icons are paired with text. Designs are tested with translated strings and with local date, address and phone formats.

Stated reasoning or result

The article recommends designing for small screens first and testing on in-market devices, including ones with cracked screens.

UX principle

Never let an icon or a colour carry meaning alone, and test with the longest translated strings before the layout is fixed.

Why it fits the context

Across Southeast Asia one product serves several languages and scripts. Pairing icon and label works whichever one the person reads faster.

What Grab says

Problem

Users needing help had to phone and queue, and chat sessions dropped. Grab also found agents ignored reply templates: 85% of replies were typed freehand because templates felt impersonal.

Change

Grab built chat into the app, with file and picture sharing. Agents get autocomplete suggestions as they type, a colour-coded timer and prompts when others are waiting. A queue limit sends people to another channel when the wait would be too long.

Stated reasoning or result

Grab reports the queue limit cut waiting time by about 30%, autocomplete cut average chat time by 12%, and timers and nudges cut it by 22%. The team writes: "we are not our users."

UX principle

When people work around a feature, study the workaround. Autocomplete kept the speed of templates and the personal tone agents wanted.

Why it fits the context

Shadowing agents revealed the template problem. It would not have shown up in usage numbers alone.

What Grab says

Problem

Grab's study found working parents ordering for a family found choosing many items before checkout stressful.

Change

It added bundle creation to the merchant app. An algorithm suggests complementary items, and the merchant creates a bundle with one tap.

Stated reasoning or result

Grab says thousands of restaurants added bundles, which removed an obstacle for parents choosing GrabFood.

UX principle

The fix for a consumer problem can sit in a different product. Here the consumer's anxiety was solved by making something easy for merchants.

Why it fits the context

A marketplace has two sets of users. Lowering effort for one side is sometimes the only way to improve the experience of the other.