Make the app as easy as the bike
An app redesign for Cascade Ride, ready before Denver and Minneapolis open in September.
Prepared by
Fernway Studio, Portland
Date
April 12, 2027
Fee
From $168,300
Your bikes are great. Your app is the leak.
You raised a $14M Series A in February to take Cascade Ride from two cities to four. The bikes are not the problem. The first week in the app is.
You asked for a redesign of the iOS and Android apps and a design system your engineers can own. Denver and Minneapolis open on September 21, and every new rider there meets the app before they meet a bike.
We think the brief undersells it. Onboarding and churn are one problem, and we would design them together. If that is wrong, tell us now.
Where Cascade Ride stands
From your Amplitude and Stripe exports, trailing six months to the end of February.
0
Riders in two cities
0%
Lost before first ride
0.0%
Monthly churn today
0.0
App Store rating
Where riders leave
Most of the loss happens between choosing a plan and booking delivery. That is a scheduling screen, not a pricing problem.
Trial riders reaching each step
Percent of downloads, Amplitude, last six months
Monthly churn
Percent of active subscribers, Stripe
Route A, the ride is the home screen
Open the app and you are one tap from unlocking. Battery, range and the nearest swap station sit on a single card. This is the route we recommend.
Route B, delivery in two taps
Booking the bike becomes a calendar with real van slots, confirmed by text. It attacks the 12 point drop between plan and delivery head on.
Route C, the garage
For households with two bikes or more: one view for both, shared billing and swaps. Smaller audience, highest lifetime value in your data.
We have fixed this exact leak before
Four subscription apps where the first week decided the business. Every number below is from the client's own dashboard.
Wend Transit
iOS and Android Onboarding
Onboarding rebuilt in six weeks. First-week activation went from 41 to 63 percent.
Kiln Fitness
Design system React Native
A React Native design system with 38 components that their engineers have run alone since handover.
Northgate Climbing
Membership Booking
Booking and membership in one app. App Store rating up from 3.4 to 4.7 in one release.
Brisk Scooters
Mobility Hardware pairing
Unlock-to-ride time cut from 41 seconds to 9. Ride frequency rose 22 percent in the first month.
Twenty weeks to Denver
Kick-off Monday May 3. The new app ships to both stores on September 7, two weeks before the first Denver rider unlocks a bike.
Ride along, weeks 1 to 2
We ride with 24 subscribers, read 1,800 support tickets and sit with your dispatch team for a delivery day.
Three routes, weeks 3 to 5
Each route is a clickable prototype tested with 30 trial riders. You pick one with data, not taste.
Design system, weeks 6 to 11
Tokens and components in Figma and React Native, then onboarding, ride, swap and account flows.
Build, weeks 12 to 18
We sit in your sprints. Your engineers build, we review every pull request that touches the interface.
Ship, weeks 19 to 20
TestFlight to 200 riders, store submission, release on September 7, then a two-week watch on the funnel.
The fee
All figures in USD. Fixed for the scope above, built from our day rates: designer $1,150, design lead $1,450, researcher $1,050. App Store and TestFlight accounts stay yours.
Redesign and design system
Weeks 1 to 20, ending two weeks after release.
Redesign and design system
Weeks 1 to 20, ending two weeks after release.
Rider research and analytics audit
24 ride-alongs, support tickets, Amplitude funnels.
Three routes, prototyped and tested
30 trial riders, one route recommended.
Design system for React Native
Tokens, 40 or so components, Figma and code.
Core flows
Onboarding, delivery booking, ride, swap, account.
Build support in your sprints
Seven weeks, interface pull request reviews.
Accessibility audit, WCAG 2.2 AA
VoiceOver and TalkBack, fixes logged.
Project management
Eight percent of fees.
Optional add-ons
Tick what you want. The total updates as you go.
Optional add-ons
Tick what you want. The total updates as you go.
Apple Watch companion
Unlock, battery and range on the wrist.
App Store creative
Screenshots and a 30 second preview video.
Post-launch iteration sprint
Two weeks in October, driven by Denver data.
Founders who hired us for the same problem
Sign by April 23 and we start May 3
After April 23 the next team opening is mid-June, which puts the release after the Denver launch. We would rather say that now.
Prepared by
Kit Ashby Founder and Design Lead, Fernway Studio
1120 SE Morrison St, Portland, OR 97214 kit@fernway.studio
For approval by
Dana Whitlock VP Product, Cascade Ride
We have held Tuesday April 20 to walk your team through the routes in person.
Start the redesign
By signing, you approve the scope and fee above: $168,300 plus any add-ons ticked, from May 3 to September 21, 2027. We invoice 40 percent on signature and hold the May 3 kick-off.