Sad Bunny
Overview
The current state of voice technology is often applied on practical use cases such as commanding Alexa to turn on the lights or purchase items on Amazon. How can we design this emerging interface outside of the convention?
Context
Hello Computer, ITP Fall 2018
Tools
Dialogflow, Google Home, Actions on Google, Javascript
Timeline
September-October 2018, 1.5 months
Ideation
As online dating has become the norm of how people fall in love, I speculate that voice technology will soon be integrated into dating apps. I further experimented my speculations in three ways:
Replacing text biography with audio.
Replacing swipe interaction with voice.
Asking virtual assistant for relationship advice.
Observation
After three iterations, I noticed that voice assistants’ role is often the receiver of our complaints and commands. I wonder how we, as users, would respond if we reverse the emotional labor dynamic between human and voice assistant.
The Result
Using Dialogflow, Javascript and Actions on Google, I created a Google Home persona “Sad Bunny” who makes you patiently listen to the intimate details of her romantic experience and give her advice.
Next Step
During user testing, it was pleasant to see how much joy Sad Bunny has brought into my users’ life yet unexpected that many users also empathized with Sad Bunny despite her synthetic voice. I realized the power of delivering human emotions through voice and hoped to continue working with this emerging medium.