Designing the next generation of Alexa
Company
Amazon
Timeline
2023
—
2024
Role
Sr. Product Designer & Art Director
Duration
12 months
Team
Product · UX · User Research · Engineering · Design Systems · Content Design · Creative Technologist · Art Direction
Overview
The launch of Alexa+ marked a fundamental shift in how people interact with Alexa. Instead of relying on one-off wake word commands, customers could engage in natural, ongoing conversations powered by generative AI, making interactions feel more fluid, contextual and human.
Challenge
Traditional voice assistants depended on customers knowing exactly what to say.
Alexa+ set out to change this by replacing command-based interactions with natural, contextual conversations. This introduced a new UI challenge: how do you design an interface for conversations that are different every time?
Working closely with UX designers, voice designers and engineers, I helped create a scalable, component-driven UI system that could adapt to evolving AI responses, surface relevant content and follow-up actions, and seamlessly bridge voice and touch while preserving clarity and conversational context across the Alexa ecosystem.
Designing the foundation
The programme began with an intensive cross-functional vision phase involving Product, UX, Voice Design, Engineering, Research and Content Design. Together, we defined Alexa+'s conversational principles, interaction model and long-term product vision.
Over the following 18 months, multiple teams worked in parallel to transform those principles into production-ready experiences. Through continuous prototyping, customer testing and close collaboration across disciplines, we refined interaction patterns, validated new concepts and evolved a shared design system capable of supporting an expanding set of AI-powered experiences.
Option 01. Conversation View as a panel over native UI.
Option 02. Agent embedded in a left-hand nav rail.
Option 03. Floating Action Button above all UI.
Option 4. Mid-fidelity concept. Widgets, content and smart home in one view.
Final design before public launch interface.
The result was a scalable, component-driven UI framework centred around adaptive cards. Designed to accommodate dynamic AI responses, the system surfaces relevant content, recommendations, contextual information and next actions while preserving clarity throughout the conversation. It creates a seamless bridge between voice and touch, providing a flexible foundation that scales consistently across mobile, Echo devices, Fire TV and the web.
200M+ Prime members reached with the global launch of Alexa+.
Post-Launch Challenges
Customers who subscribed to Alexa Plus were overwhelmed into a long and un-intuitive onboarding process, requiring them to set up features that did not align with their goals (i.e Motivation).
Without understanding customer motivations, such as why they subscribed to Alexa Plus, the onboarding experience felt unfulfilling and unintentional. It was like shooting a dart blindly in the dark, hoping it hits the target.
Post-Launch Challenges
Customers who subscribed to Alexa Plus were overwhelmed into a long and un-intuitive onboarding process, requiring them to set up features that did not align with their goals (i.e Motivation)
Designing the next generation of Alexa
Company
Amazon
Timeline
2023
—
2024
Role
Sr. Product Designer & Art Director
Duration
12 months
Team
Product · UX · User Research · Engineering · Design Systems · Content Design · Creative Technologist · Art Direction
Overview
The launch of Alexa+ marked a fundamental shift in how people interact with Alexa. Instead of relying on one-off wake word commands, customers could engage in natural, ongoing conversations powered by generative AI, making interactions feel more fluid, contextual and human.
Challenge
Traditional voice assistants depended on customers knowing exactly what to say.
Alexa+ set out to change this by replacing command-based interactions with natural, contextual conversations. This introduced a new UI challenge: how do you design an interface for conversations that are different every time?
Working closely with UX designers, voice designers and engineers, I helped create a scalable, component-driven UI system that could adapt to evolving AI responses, surface relevant content and follow-up actions, and seamlessly bridge voice and touch while preserving clarity and conversational context across the Alexa ecosystem.
Designing the foundation
The programme began with an intensive cross-functional vision phase involving Product, UX, Voice Design, Engineering, Research and Content Design. Together, we defined Alexa+'s conversational principles, interaction model and long-term product vision.
Over the following 18 months, multiple teams worked in parallel to transform those principles into production-ready experiences. Through continuous prototyping, customer testing and close collaboration across disciplines, we refined interaction patterns, validated new concepts and evolved a shared design system capable of supporting an expanding set of AI-powered experiences.
Option 01. Conversation View as a panel over native UI.
Option 02. Agent embedded in a left-hand nav rail.
Option 03. Floating Action Button above all UI.
Option 4. Mid-fidelity concept. Widgets, content and smart home in one view.
Final design before public launch interface.
The result was a scalable, component-driven UI framework centred around adaptive cards. Designed to accommodate dynamic AI responses, the system surfaces relevant content, recommendations, contextual information and next actions while preserving clarity throughout the conversation. It creates a seamless bridge between voice and touch, providing a flexible foundation that scales consistently across mobile, Echo devices, Fire TV and the web.
200M+ Prime members reached with the global launch of Alexa+.
Post-Launch Challenges
Customers who subscribed to Alexa Plus were overwhelmed into a long and un-intuitive onboarding process, requiring them to set up features that did not align with their goals (i.e Motivation).
Without understanding customer motivations, such as why they subscribed to Alexa Plus, the onboarding experience felt unfulfilling and unintentional. It was like shooting a dart blindly in the dark, hoping it hits the target.
Post-Launch Challenges
Customers who subscribed to Alexa Plus were overwhelmed into a long and un-intuitive onboarding process, requiring them to set up features that did not align with their goals (i.e Motivation)