Pria health companion
Challenge
This project was committed by Stanley Black & Decker, a leading global diversified industrial. SBD focuses on developing Pria, a health voice assistant capable of dispensing pills according to a specific schedule. Our challenge was turning Pria into a companion. She had to be more human, useful and present in day-to-day life.
Result
We started with a set of voice functionalities called “RATs” (Reminders, Alarms and Timers). We wanted Pria to be able to complete daily errands, like reminding people at what time they needed to drink water, setting up an alarm for specific days or timing their reps. The feature “RATs” was launched in June 2020 and Pria was able to complete these tasks successfully, by being more appealing and present in users life.
Timeline: 1 month (RATs 0.1)
Collaborations: Senior VUI Designer, Researcher, Dev team (HW; SW)
Platforms: Pria
Tools: Protopie, Abstract, Sketch, Miro, Confluence, Illustrator, After Effects, DevOps, Trello
Process
Qualitative interviews and VUI documentation
Our research was focused on understanding our user habits and routine. We collected data through qualitative research: face-to-face interviews. By placing Pria in front of a potential user, we were able to test its functionalities. At the end of each session, we asked people specific questions about their desirable features according to their needs. It’s crucial to point out that, in Jan 2020 voice user interaction (VUI) changed the way we thought of digital devices, but in comparison to user interaction (UI), there was a lack of documentation in this field. As there were no libraries to take inspiration from, we had to create our process and partially build our own assets.
Diagram flows and conversion samples
Once the data were collected, we figured out how to respond to these needs with an accessible language. The first step was creating a diagram flow for each functionality. Now, RATs was a feature based on a multi-turn conversion: the user asks something to Pria; Pria requires additional information to answer properly; the user responds. So, the diagrams had to include all possible exit points to a specific voice command and they required a wide conversation documentation and several mock ups before achieving an acceptable result.
Prototype and high fidelity wireframes
When we were sure the diagrams covered all potential user journeys, we started prototyping. This consisted of testing a sample of conversation, by designing the screens and reproducing the voice commands. This way we were able to refine the language, the interaction elements (elements size and colours, motion graphics, screen transitions etc.) and to test everything on the bot. From a UI point of view, our challenge was taking Pria to a next level of interaction by keeping her original look and feel. All working features were designed according to a specific style guideline. So we had to improve her layout without going too far from her graphics.
Design documentation and follow up
Not to forget that we were coworking with a team of hardware and software developers, we delivered a wide functional sheet which included all design objectives, VUI assets and instructions. Our job included following up the entire development of this feature until its release.