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A NEW AGE INCLUSIVE VOICE ASSISTANT FOR KIDS THAT AIMS AT ENCOURAGING HUMAN CONVERSATIONS. DESIGNED BASED ON RAPID PROTOTYPING AND TESTING. 


A one-year thesis study on how Voice Interfaces can be emotive, imaginative and as well-built as our touch interfaces. A product that’s built on rigorous real-life testing and low-cost prototyping.
ROLE
  • Ideation
  • Writing Conversation samples and testing them with real users
  • User Research 
  • Product Startegy
  • Product Sketching and Visual Design 
  • Prototyping and Testing physical product
  • Voice User Interface Design for Mobile app 
  • UX for Mobile app
  • Prototyping for Mobile app

MENTORS
Ellen Lupton, MICA
Abraham Burickson, MICA
Michael Dedrick, Google

DURATION
1 Year




PRODUCT VIDEO








FINAL RENDERS


Product that looks like an animal from a fictional storybook, accessories such as scarves, jackets that not only add to the form, but also function as Speakers. The detailing of dots, & lines on these speakers work as LED lights that show the Volume.

All in all, Form+Function embedded into Contextual Design ︎︎︎ according to me, what future of Design should look like





DESIGN PROCESS






CONVERSATION SAMPLES


Returning user conversation Edge case






SKETCHES/PROTOTYPES



The Visual Design started with rough sketches of products, finally landing into the pet form. The rainbow colors for the product are not only inspired by children’s drawings but also made to seem gender neutral (in the age when pink is associated with girls and blue with boys, it felt important to make sure teh color palette is gender neutral)

The Interactions are seamlessly weaved into the product form - the feedback lights are shown as the pet’s ears, the volume indicators are shown as a pattern on the pet volume speaker, to make sure the design is not just utilitarian but also contextual.







UI FOR VOICE INTERACTIONS


Using the colors from the product to create a Visual for Voice Interaction, maintaining the same brand language across platforms. Adopting the features of the pet into recognisable icons, such as using a triangular shape for the record icon and whiskers on the press state to mimic the nose of the pet.  










KEY USER FLOWS AND FEATURES




Chose to record a prewritten or personal story Record the story, one paragraph at a time Answer a few questions the kid might ask Send it to the pet, and await the feedback.




ONBOARDING


Inclusive onboarding questions that do not assume a classic Mom, Dad situation.

A small well-known tale at the end to make the parents comfortable with recording stories. 




NARRATION GUIDE 


User Tests revealed that not everyone is comfortable recording a story. So, a guide that helps the nervous narrator. 





RECORD A STORY


Recording a story, one short paragraph at a time. Type styles that indicate which word/line you are in & recording icons that look like an abstract pet. 





FEEDBACK SYSTEM 


A feedback system that shows an alert when the user’s voice is too low or if the surrounding noise is too high.