Devices Design Group
Overview
Create for the 2023 Smart Home Forward redesign for the Alexa Mobile application. Alexa mobile functions as a hub for Alexa product users to access their devices, settings, and create their own smart home. This project was started to redirect the vision of the mobile application to become a foundational tool for users to customize their homes with ease.
100+
100M+
5+
#7
Process
This year-long project required the collaboration between many different orgs and on a micro level, continual communication and working sessions with people from various teams. Many teams dedicated the whole year to commit to this project and rework the application to provide better vision and experiences to users.
Key Issues
With the exponential growth of Alexa capabilities and devices throughout the years, the initial structure and build of the mobile application no longer served as an efficient and seamless experience for current users.
Lack of clear direction and purpose of the mobile application - with overflow of options and unknown capabilities
Confusing and complicated user paths & experiences
User mental model's consisted of just set-up experiences
Deep Dive - Mobile App Audit
As a part of the initial process in better understanding the current state of the mobile app and its architecture, I worked alongside another designer to put together an extensive audit of Alexa Mobile. We identified all the connections and flows, including unexpected and questionable flows. This audit informed the simplified architecture for the redesign of the mobile app.
Simplification
The redesign simplifies the mobile app from 5 channels to 3 top level channels: Home, Devices, and More. This simplification emphasizes the team's priority to encourage ease of use and create unique experiences for each user.
Since two top-level channels were deprecated, this created the need for new components that would provide users easy access to all available features and capabilities that are important to them. The most significant and new changes brought to the application can be found through the Home channel experience.
I helped to deliver 4+ components to this page while working with other designers to brainstorm and iterate on best representations of our key functionalities:
Favorites
Completed extensive studies of favoriting patterns, including current implementations of the Favorites section, in order to identify which patterns are more intuitive and efficient.
The Favorites section creates opportunities for users to personalize their experiences and have easy access to the actions and skills of Alexa that they use the most. This design pattern specifies between Device Favorites and Non-Device Favorites.
I also specifically worked alongside partnering teams in Entertainment and Communications to create designs for Non-Device Favorite tiles, balancing the need for simplicity and function for users.
Jessica Lim
2024