The Ava App
Ava is designed to bridge the daily communication gaps between the deaf and hard-of-hearing community and the hearing world. Ava connects multiple devices to capture audio from a conversation, and translates spoken words into text so that the deaf or hard-of-hearing person can see on their device, "who" says "what."
AVA was using AI-based speech recognition technology to be in service of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. The mobile app worked by connecting multiple smart devices to capture the audio from a conversation. It then used speech recognition and speaker identification technologies to translate spoken words into text.
Team and role
I joined Ava as a UX design intern in the summer of 2017. The company was international, small, and agile, based both in San Francisco and Paris. I was part of their team in San Francisco, together with the CEO, COO, CTO, two additional developers, and three other interns working on business strategy, customer support, and translation. The CEO was doing the designs of their app at this time, and we worked closely together while I was a part of Ava.
Problem
The app's onboarding was unintuitive and needed improvements, especially the process for friends and acquaintances of a deaf or hard-of-hearing Ava, who were their main users. Friends and acquaintances were put through the same onboarding as deaf and hard-of-hearing people, and it did not seem to fit, as their needs relating to the app were completely different. As this complexity was unsolved it rendered the app less effective for the main users and for those seeking to engage with them.
Friends and acquaintances were put through the same onboarding as deaf and hard-of-hearing people, and it did not seem to fit, as their needs relating to the app were completely different.
Goal
The goal was to enable friends and acquaintances, who were secondary users of Ava, to effortlessly participate in Ava conversations through the app on an ad hoc basis, without the requirement of creating an account.
User research and discovery
Together with the CEO I conducted usability tests and user interviews, both in-person and online, with users within the deaf community and the public.
We quickly discovered that joining a conversation through Ava was too cumbersome for those who did not rely on the app on a daily basis. They might not even be a fit for an account, but the app wouldn't allow them to engage in an Ava-aided conversation without setting one up, so they would simply abstain from doing so.
Reframing the problem
The onboarding of the app was not the problem per see. We needed to solve for different ways of joining a conversation, and onboard new users according to their use cases and needs.
Were they deaf or hard of hearing and would use the app on a daily basis? Were they friends, coworkers, or family, and would use the app whenever they would converse with their deaf or hard-of-hearing person? Were they the person behind the counter or a restaurant employee taking an order from an Ava user, who wanted to talk to them by using their Ava app?
We needed to solve for different ways of joining a conversation, and onboard new users according to their use cases and needs.
Outcome
I worked on the design of the AVA mobile application and created prototypes and interfaces for the new onboarding, profile, and app-sharing pages.
Reflections
This job was my first UI/UX endeavor. Looking back I wish I had worked closer with the developers, something I have made sure to do ever since. And be able to understand better the appropriate activities in such a small and young team. I conducted a brand personality workshop with the team that did not lead anywhere and wanted to change the design of the app radically, but it was not at all what they needed at the time. In the end, I helped gather user research and made prototypes and appropriate onboarding designs that would solve user problems with the app, but I do not know how or if they were implemented.