By Day 3, I was sold.

What was fascinating to me is how well Lyft designed its experience to directly dictate its philosophy. Lyft is illustrated as a flowing pink balloon, which is an obvious representation of getting lifted. The visual for requesting a lift is front and center, it is Lyft’s way of saying that requesting a lyft is the main priority. By clearly entering my start and end points, Lyft Line is potentially drawing a real time bus route – combining and hybridizing riders' destinations. When matching and finding a ride, the nifty animation of people’s friendly faces illustrate Lyft is friendly and community driven.

By the end of week 1, I was fully embedded in the culture that Lyft had cultivated.

Lyft’s casual branding identity is perfectly suited for car-sharing. Lyft drivers’ cars are marked with a pink mustache on their grilles, and when you get in, you are supposed to sit in the front seat, not the back. You are greeted with a fist bump, an implicit invitation to chat, and sometimes goodies. Sometimes drivers display their other jobs/passions/hobbies with brochures and decoration. Albeit sometimes campy, it made me excited to see what my next driver was interested in.