A deep dive into Grab’s approach to app design

Think about the experience of using the Grab app. Be it calling for a ride or looking to order lunch, navigating the app is pretty straightforward and has become second nature for many people in Southeast Asia, whether they’re in Singapore, Bali, or Siem Reap.

This consistent user experience is intentional. It’s the work of the Nasdaq-listed super app’s design team, which combines product design, content, research, design operations, and user-experience engineering to create an app that truly meets user needs.

Grab’s guiding principles

“Design is embedded in product development from the onset,” says Patrick Jean, head of design at Grab. “It’s about deeply understanding the user to ensure we are solving the problems that matter the most and solving them the right way. We strive to create experiences that are hyper relevant and simultaneously deliver business value.”

Patrick Jean, head of design at Grab / Photo credit: Grab

Being able to fulfil those objectives is essential for Grab, as it has to meet the needs of users across all the eight markets it operates in. Powering the design process is a team of designers all around the region, who work closely with other departments, such as product, data analytics, and marketing.

With so many teams involved in the process, Grab’s mission during the early days of development was to create a universal, recognizable, and consistent experience across the three apps it offers to consumers, driver-partners, and merchants.

“When we were building our design system, we realized we needed a set of principles to anchor ourselves on,” shares Jean.

Firstly, minimalism is key. A design has to communicate what it needs to without any extraneous details or clutter. This makes it easy for the user to process information.

Next, any design must be scalable. Every element must be built upon and adapted for multiple purposes so that it can address various use cases in the app.

Grab also works to ensure that there is unity within each platform and across all of its three apps. No matter what service one is using, or which of Grab’s apps they’re on, there’s a consistency in terms of how it looks, feels, and operates.

The last principle brings the previous tenets together, and that is elegance. It’s not enough to just build something that works – Jean emphasizes that it has to also delight the customers.

“We want to make it something that texturally and visually appeals, versus just being like, ‘Hey, let’s put something together,’” he says.

Building for Southeast Asia

With these four tenets driving all of its design processes, Grab has been able to rapidly innovate for the countries it serves.

“We anchor ourselves on our mission to drive Southeast Asia forward by creating economic empowerment for everyone,” says Jean. “How do we drive impact for 700 million people in a region that’s so incredibly diverse?”

Many considerations are taken into account when it comes to developing apps for Southeast Asia. For starters, while the region is expected to see its number of smartphone users rise to 335.6 million in 2023, many people don’t have access to the latest devices, so they often use older smartphone models. At the same time, internet connectivity isn’t always stable.

“When we design, we cannot design some super bombastic, complicated experience that requires a massive download that will take you, yes, maybe two minutes in Singapore, but half an hour and eight attempts in some parts of the Philippines,” Jean explains. “We also can’t let the app get too big because these devices don’t have the space for it.”

There are also more specific local nuances in each of Grab’s markets to account for. Jean mentions language as an example.

“Thai, as a language, is not just different visually, it’s also long,” he shares. “This has a profound impact on the way you design screens.”

Grab’s custom typeface for Thai / Photo credit: Grab

The same sentence that takes up one line in English may go on for two or even three lines in Thai, causing unexpected shifts in layouts and making it difficult for Grab to keep things unified and minimal.

“We have invested money and time into building a custom typeface for just that particular purpose,” Jean adds. “With this, we can specifically predict and better articulate our design language in the various markets.”

There are also differences in aesthetic preferences. For example, users in Singapore prefer a more “clean” layout with big pictures and fine lines, whereas the Indonesian market favors a more “crowded” arrangement that allows them to see many pieces of information at one time.

“Go to Kuala Lumpur, go to Hanoi, go to Bangkok – open the app there, and it’s going to look different,” Jean says.

Users first

Grab’s design process emphasizes understanding user needs, preferences, and behaviors, which guides the development of its apps and ecosystem.

“We’re anchored in ‘ground truths,’ in what’s really happening on the ground,” Jean says.

Photo credit: Grab

The company’s design strategy and research team runs a variety of user studies to identify insights for Grab to explore further. These include conducting fundamental research to identify new opportunities, holding in-depth interviews, and shadowing drivers and merchants while on the job. Researchers also run concept tests to explore different solutions to a problem, as well as usability tests to ensure that the user journey is intuitive before a new product is rolled out.

Grab also places an emphasis on “immersions,” in which employees put themselves into the shoes of their users.

“On my first day at Grab, I was actually delivering food, and on the second day, I was seated next to a driver and participated in half a day of driving,” shares Jean.

The firm has also recently launched a user experience lab at its One-North office in Singapore, where teams such as the designers and engineers can effectively test prototypes. Customers are recruited to participate in concept and usability tests, allowing the teams to quickly iterate and improve their offerings, building greater customer centricity into Grab’s development process.

As the world opens up in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Jean hopes to be able to engage in more immersive research and experiences so that Grab can continue to refine its apps for its users.

“The core of our company culture is the spirit of continuous improvement – what is true today may not be true tomorrow, and it’s OK, we have to change and adapt,” he says. “We are anchored in ‘ground truths’ and we will continue serving our customers in the region of Southeast Asia.”

Grab is Southeast Asia’s leading super app, offering a suite of services consisting of deliveries, mobility, financial services, enterprise, and others.

Learn more about Grab on its website.

This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia’s tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.