Voice Interfaces – Cheryl Platz

Chatbots, Conversational UI, Leadership, Voice Interfaces

Conversational UI: Design Education

Since beginning my journey in voice user interfaces, I've been deeply passionate about the space. One of my motivations for leaving Amazon was to gain the freedom to engage with the broader community about conversational UI theory, since I was largely prevented from that kind of outreach when working on…

Consumer Products, Conversational UI, Cross-Channel Experiences, Information Architecture, Leadership, Multimodal Interfaces, Prototyping + Development, Research, Touch & Tablet UI, UX and Product Design, Voice Interfaces

Echo Look (Product and VUI Design)

I was hired to help a fledgling product team transform their initial concept lab pitch into a production-worthy multimodal design for an entirely new hardware product category at Amazon. Problem statement How might we create a completely new experience that helps customers manage their wardrobes, combining natural user interfaces with…

Cloud Services, Consumer Products, Prototyping + Development, UX and Product Design, Voice Interfaces

Alexa Skill: My Countdown

My second published Alexa skill was born from a request from a dear friend. We were planning a joint family trip to Disney World, and my goddaughter wanted to know how long until the big day. Wouldn't it be nice to have a skill to make it easier for her…

Conversational UI, Game Design, Leadership, Management, Multimodal Interfaces, Research, Touch & Tablet UI, UX and Product Design, Video Games, Voice Interfaces

Disney Friends DS

As Lead Producer on Disney Friends, I owned the vision and delivery of an ambitious new game that blended four unique cinematic universes with a single, cohesive gameplay mechanic. We became one of the first Nintendo DS titles to incorporate speech recognition, but had to do so in a way…

Chatbots, Cloud Services, Consumer Products, Conversational UI, Cross-Channel Experiences, Information Architecture, Leadership, Multimodal Interfaces, Service Design, Touch & Tablet UI, UX and Product Design, Voice Interfaces

Alexa Notifications and Interruption Model

Upon joining the central Alexa Voice Design team in late 2015, my first order of business was to tackle a complicated systems design problem: how could we adapt a primarily single-threaded, voice-forward, reactive experience to allow proactive notifications? There was a great deal of caution surrounding the effort, as our…

Cloud Services, Consumer Products, Conversational UI, Cross-Channel Experiences, Multimodal Interfaces, Touch & Tablet UI, UX and Product Design, Voice Interfaces

Alexa: Do Not Disturb

In parallel with our efforts on Alexa Notifications, I was asked to drive the completion of the Do Not Disturb feature. DND applied not just to Notifications but to Communications (calls/messaging), which meant a separate team of stakeholders and faster deadlines than the longer-term Notifications project. As with Alexa Notifications,…

Cloud Services, Consumer Products, Conversational UI, Leadership, Prototyping + Development, UX and Product Design, Voice Interfaces

Alexa Skill: Trainer Tips

When I joined the Alexa team, the Skills store was still in its infancy. One of my first responsibilities on the team was to perform skill submission reviews, which gave me a unique perspective on the strengths and weaknesses of the early Skills platform. Still, I wanted to learn more…

Consumer Products, Conversational UI, Multimodal Interfaces, Touch & Tablet UI, UX and Product Design, Voice Interfaces

Windows Automotive Notifications

Many of our in-vehicle apps needed to provide information to the driver, and expected the same interruption models they enjoy on mobile phones. However, in an automotive environment, interruptions threaten the driver’s safety. Our solutions had to work in a multimodal environment, with potential touch, voice or hardware input. We…

Cloud Services, Consumer Products, Conversational UI, Management, Multimodal Interfaces, Touch & Tablet UI, UX and Product Design, Voice Interfaces

Cortana in the Car: VUI for Windows Automotive

Design a new voice user interface (VUI) for use in the car that passes all automotive industry distracted driving safety standards. In addition, guide all 5 major feature teams on the appropriate use of speech within their areas (Start, Navigation, Media, Communications, and Car) CONTRIBUTORS: Myself (design owner) / 2…