Prismo
Overview
2019
Client
Self initiated
(Previously İş Bankası)
Just a canceled project that I wanted to finish.
Prismo is a banking bot with a hybrid VUI that assists users in managing their finances and expenses more with proactive suggestions.
Process and Methods
VUI research and analysis ..to understand how it works
User interviews & Surveys ..about their experience, mental models, pain points, and motivations on VUI and Online banking
Choose and Evolve a skill ..a non-linear, reactive, and user-initiated interaction
Spending patterns ..banking assistant skill that helps users monitor their habits and trends in allocating their money by account, amount, date, date range, merchant, and category.
Evolve and expand capabilities and features ..with a proactive scenario with the help of use case matrix
Dialog flow ..the model for the conversation with filter slots
UX Choreography ..feedback leading cues to guide user focus and increase spatial awareness
Prototype & Testing
Research & Exploration Notes
Building a rich and detailed personality makes the bot more relatable, believable, and relevant to users
According to a study(this MIT Press study), humans use the same parts of their brains to interact with robots as they do with other humans.
Users may interact with the VUI in a non-linear way, but that doesn’t mean they are doing things out of order
In conversational experience, users don’t have to follow a path or a flow. But, they have a more or less clear idea about how to do a task if they had experience with it.
The devil in the detail is leading cues
Leading cues(visual or audio) should act immediately and briefly.
(i.e. after an appropriate trigger, the screen should immediately transform into a state of listening and the cue should prompt as quickly as possible)
Offering different ways of interaction with the bot gives users flexibility
Different modes of interaction should be available (e.g., hands-free, tactile and a hybrid) and the users should be able to switch between these easily and quickly. Having different alternatives and able to switch between them gives users flexibility while using the bot in their cars, at their homes or in the public.
Tutorials and discoverability scenarios
The invisible nature of VUIs and their high cognitive load make users struggle to learn VUI’s intents (features) and the utterances (verbal commands) that trigger them.
Prismo & Dashboard
Prismo is part of a banking app greets users in the dashboard. The dashboard consists of accounts&cards, personal notification&report cards, and bottom navigation to do banking operations.
VUI Settings
Different modes of interaction (e.g., hands-free, tactile, and hybrid) are easily accessible and users can switch between them while using Prismo in their cars, at their homes, or in the public.
Spending patterns
I chose the ‘Spending patterns’ skill which helps users to see their transactions by account, amount, date, date range, merchant, or category.
This new skill also gives users more insights into their spending. This can be a comparison of the amount spent that month to the monthly average or a comparison with another category, city, or merchant spending.
Setting limit alert
When Prismo sees something unusual proactively suggests new skills to engage with users, assist them to control their spending, and also make them discover new abilities when needed the most.
In the ‘Spending Patterns’ skill case, Prismo suggests a ‘Limit alert’ when the user exceeds the average monthly spending. Then, the user can set an alert by simply saying the limit amount or using the slider.
Things to do/think further
Adaptable skills with customizable utterances
This is one of the things that I want to test how user experience is affected by allowing users to change(update, add, and delete) the VUI’s utterances while keeping intents the same.
Designing in-app tutorials and discoverability scenarios
The invisible nature of VUIs and their high cognitive load make users struggle to learn VUI’s intents (features) and the utterances (verbal commands) that trigger them.
UI Sounds
UI sounds can support the leading cues for the VUIs. Of course, testing the UI sounds is crucial like everything else and then continually iterate them until finding the sweet spot between suitable ability and pleasant sound.
Customizable bot personality
I need to research personality traits to make Prismo more engaging. I think mirroring a user’s personality and talking to them the way they would interact with their friends is key to engagement. So maybe there is a way to build a customizable bot personality to engage with more users without damaging the brand.
Evolving more skills
I will add more skills after analyzing user patterns and evolving the features with more proactive scenarios.
Test more
So far I’ve tested this skill on ten people. I’m planning to test it on more people with more features. After prototype testing, users found new features and capabilities informative. However, the importance of these new features varies from user to user.
