Fire TV Design
Reinventing the voice search experience on Amazon Fire TV
Background
Amazon UX Design Internship Summer 2021
Duration: 12 weeks
Role: UX Design Intern
References: Vishal Juneja (Manager - Head of Design) & Yonius Saritoh (Mentor - UX Designer)
Overview
I had one of the greatest summers working in Seattle, Washington with the Amazon Appstore/CST team as a UX Design Intern to improve voice education on Fire TV (FTV)! I first identified different primary scenarios that have the most potential for greater customer benefit, then specifically honed in on the voice search experience as the greatest opportunity to help customers not only discover voice, but also understand how to keep on learning about Alexa's capabilities on FTV. I collected extensive internal and external research on key user and business needs in order to reimagine the visual, interaction, and voice user interface design of the current experience. My approach ultimately aimed to serve a more immersive voice search customer experience that inspires customers to use voice, and delivers customers the content they want quickly. I hypothesize that this will lead to increased customer delight and usage of Voice Search, which will be see to be true when reported monthly customer satisfaction and engagement in FTV Voice Search increases.
Read extensive research specs on existing Voice Search explorations
Collaborate and communicate closely with design, engineering, and product partners to brainstorm new voice initiatives and establish voice education goals
Utilized Sketch and Keynote for designs and prototypes
Created wireframes and prototypes after continuously integrating feedback
Leveraged existing Fire TV UI design systems to maintain consistency
Conducted internal usability tests on Amazon Chime
Presented designs biweekly in UX Review Sessions and organized presentation meetings to collect feedback from other Appstore designers and all Voice Education stakeholders
Consolidated my designs and documentation on the cloud to ensure smooth hand-off to Appstore team
Key Deliverables
Telling my story…
It was intimidating working in such a unique problem space. Voice design is NOT easy, and I felt completely out of my comfort zone working on such an ambiguous project. Arguably, the hardest part was trying to communicate everything that I have learned and done.
My mentor once drew me a visual of what UX design “is”: it’s about being able to take this messy, scrappy process and communicating it effectively as one, cohesive story. Working on a high-visibility, high-impact project, I learned that story-telling is one of the most important skills I can have as a designer who is trying to advocate customer solutions and effectively explain the process behind it to large, varying audiences of stakeholders.
Self-reflection!
Closed mouths don’t get fed.
I’m still battling the beast that is imposter syndrome, but I truly am growing in conviction to respectfully challenge others' ideas or decisions, no matter who they may be. After gaining some mentorship from my senior coworkers, I learned that everyone has the great responsibility to contribute, no matter your role or job title, otherwise you have no voice at the table.
Maximize efficiency.
I initially thought that to be bold, you always have to start from the ground up. However, this dismisses the opportunity to be resourceful and to make use of the work others’ have already done. After familiarizing myself with our comprehensive design system and practicing how to effectively utilize existing components and symbols, I became greatly more efficient with my work. Utilizing existing resources and building off others’ work and knowledge allowed me to create even more impactful designs and molded me as a better team player.
Think big!
Early in my internship, I became attached to a design idea that I had. By constraining my thinking to one design solution, it was difficult for me to explore other opportunities. I learned that innovation never comes from playing it safe. Once I gained a blue-sky mentality, I was able to design new concepts that inspired better and better solutions for the customer. For future project success, I aim to approach problems with a no limits, 360 degree view from the beginning. I believe that dreaming bigger and more creatively is essential in innovating the best design solutions, especially early on.