Voice-first video

Overview

The Echo smart speaker had just launched and we were in the early stages of designing a first-in-class experience, The Echo Show: Your personal assistant with a screen. 

This work would bring the familiar experience of browsing and watching video to a new, voice-first modality. Additionally, we would do this at scale across device sizes and video streaming partners.

My role

  • Owned end-to-end customer experience of video search, browse, and playback on Echo Show devices and TVs

  • Drove partner alignment with Amazon Video and leadership up to the SVP level

Impact

Echo Show launched with support for our 1P partner (Amazon Video) as well as skill experiences that now support myriad streaming service providers across all Alexa endpoints (Echo Show, Alexa for PC, and Fire TV).

The search and playback patterns I designed were adopted across the device platform.

Approach

  • Dived deep into existing touch-forward video experiences

  • Worked closely with 1P video service/content area experts to understand the key customer pain points

  • Created prototypes and conducted in-person testing with customers to validate design

  • Worked closely with engineering during development to ensure interactions worked across service types and were delightful to use with voice

Search, browse, purchase, and playback had to scale across all content types and all video services.