How do you choose a wine when all you know is red vs. white? This is a common problem when ordering wine at a restaurant that Wine Me is looking to solve.
Wine Me is a personal sommelier voice assistant crafting a custom experience by finding a wine fit for the occasion. Try it out and let me know which wines and features you want to see next:
Family Refugee Services (FRS) is part of a larger organization where teams juggle multiple projects at once that overlap with various departments.
I defined the scope of a UX designer early on since FRS had not worked with one before. I defended my project plan through user research and frequent stakeholder meetings
To help refugee families, we must first help their mentors. It is difficult to design digital tools for the families due to language barriers and inconsistent internet access.
FRS sends closing surveys to volunteers at the end of their 6 month commitment, but many had not been analyzed. I reviewed the results of 64 previous volunteers to understand historical issues.
Since the current volunteers are in a different circumstance, I also created and sent a survey focused on digital communication preferences to 30 active volunteers and interviewed 3.
"I felt like there were resources that we don't know about that can be utilized"
"Because we [volunteers] experienced difficulty in communication, we were not able to see our family as much"
Building personal relationships is one of the most effective ways to offer cultural mentorship
Using documentation from FRS on the current volunteer process along with survey results and a typical user in mind, I began affinity mapping the journey and possible interventions. This would inform where FRS could make interactions more meaningful and personal.
After aligning with the FRS manager, I demonstrated findings using a 5 step journey map with representative user quotes and recommendations for digital tools and resources
I consolidated the recommendations into a prioritization matrix. Focusing on "quick wins" I began sketching wireframes for a new homepage.
To further strengthen communication between FRS and volunteers, I recommended redesigning the website with the following goals:
The organization recently rolled out their self-paced mentor training after my recommendation to streamline communication.
The website development team is also building their landing page based on my prototypes.
It is important to test website usability with volunteers and other potential users such as employees and refugee families. Responsive mobile prototypes could also be created and tested.
Beyond user testing, it will be important to monitor volunteer closing surveys for engagement metrics, retention rates, and general feedback.
"You have been and continue to be instrumental in the conception and development of this project."
My role was to translate the needs of volunteers into valuable insights for management at Family Refugee Services. While advocating for volunteers, I also had to prove the value of user experience to the client since they were unfamiliar with UX's scope.
Through user research, frequent communication and human-centered design principles, I learned to manage client expectations and deliver actionable recommendations.
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Scrolling client logos and engaging microinteractions create a more delightful user experience
Family Refugee Services (FRS) is part of a larger organization where teams juggle multiple projects at once that overlap with various departments.
I defined the scope of a UX designer early on since FRS had not worked with one before. I defended my project plan through user research and frequent stakeholder meetings
To help refugee families, we must first help their mentors. It is difficult to design digital tools for the families due to language barriers and inconsistent internet access.
Family Refugee Services (FRS) is part of a larger organization where teams juggle multiple projects at once that overlap with various departments.
I defined the scope of a UX designer early on since FRS had not worked with one before. I defended my project plan through user research and frequent stakeholder meetings
To help refugee families, we must first help their mentors. It is difficult to design digital tools for the families due to language barriers and inconsistent internet access.
To construct this design system, I used the atomic design methodology. Its modular approach treats design as a group of closely related features that can be broken down into “molecules” and “atoms.”
How does the team take a static style guide and turn it into a dynamic system?
After compiling all desktop and mobile screens, the designers spent several meetings reviewing current styles and proposing changes. Following iterations, we compiled the new system in Figma and Zeroheight.
Using Figma to create the design components and Zeroheight to document them, there is now a place to reference all design. I also wrote a process (see last slide) and guide explaining how to use Zeroheight. Existing prototypes now use components that update whenever the system changes.
Design systems are always a work in progress. Throughout this process, I learned the value of teamwork, communication and iteration. While I am no longer part of this project, the groundwork is set for new designs to flourish.
Wine anxiety is a common phenomenon amongst diners. Not all restaurants have waiters with the time and knowledge to personalize recommendations
Family Refugee Services (FRS) is part of a larger organization where teams juggle multiple projects at once that overlap with various departments.
I defined the scope of a UX designer early on since FRS had not worked with one before. I defended my project plan through user research and frequent stakeholder meetings
To help refugee families, we must first help their mentors. It is difficult to design digital tools for the families due to language barriers and inconsistent internet access.
This use case passes Google's checklist to determine if the experience will be enhanced through voice first technology.
Ensuring that the goals of the restaurant are aligned with the goals of the voice assistant and customers will create a more natural conversation.
Restaurants want to associate their brand with a personalized dining experience
System should not come off as snobby, boring, or unintelligent
Customers want a perceptive, savvy, and polite voice assistant
Brilliant sommeliers hold key characteristics that the system should be designed to emulate. Customers are assumed to have tried wine before and expect something high quality.
The Wine Me MVP is live on Voiceflow. Sample dialogs show what is done and what is yet to come.
The next iteration is currently being designed thanks to feedback from people like you! Interested in helping? Try Wine Me to:
The average American wastes 17 hours a year trying to find parking. In Los Angeles, that costs drivers nearly $1800 annually.
We dream of self-driving cars, so why not self-parking ones?
During a 24 hour Hackathon, my team conceptualized a screen-less, all-voice parking companion.
With fewer distractions and frustrations, this technology could save millions of hours and dollars.
The market for an AI-based parking system is growing. Smart cities are the next infrastructure frontier, using integrated software and hardware to reshape transportation.
Given time constraints, we focused on key aspects of the user journey
