Working with the new business and tech teams, I spearheaded an effort to bring rapid prototyping, Lean UX methodologies, and collaborative design workshops to AKQA Portland.
Role: Curriculum Creator, Mentor, Facilitator, Creative Lead
Deliverables: Storyboards, Validated Prototypes
The first rule of Spark was no decks. The agency would vote on the brief it was most interested in, and we’d create a validated product concept in a month—arming the new business team with sales collateral in the form of an interactive prototype.
Spark brought together people from across disciplines in the agency for Design Sprints, as we collaboratively decided what idea we wanted to bring to life and test.
The first brief was to solve the problem of “skill discovery” for Alexa. Unlike the app store, it wasn’t easy for people to learn all the things they could do with Alexa.
We built a skill for Alexa that synchs to social data and uses the tried and true methods of real life “psychics” to read your fortune. Like a lot of cat photos? Alexa sees you have an affinity for furry friends and recommends pet skills. Testing each week helped us refine the Voice Design and create an experience that was engaging and consistently got laughs.
For episode two the brief was to enhance the experience at the swanky Starbucks Roastery location that has just opened in Seattle. After visiting the location we learned temperature was essential to the tasting profile of coffee.
We decided to create a tray in the style of the wood trays already used at the Roastery, but with embedded LEDs and hardware that connects to a sensor in the cup. The result would be a subtle and soothing light that lets you know the best time to drink to get different tasting profiles over time.
The team utilized laser cutters and 3D printers to fabricate the tray.
The result was an interaction that added to, but didn’t distract, from the tasting experience. The Roastery logo lights up periodically to indicate when the tasting profile has shifted.