Hound Voice AI

Mobile App Redesign

Project Overview

CHALLENGE

Users need a compelling reason to choose Hound over default voice assistants like Google Assistant and Siri, which excel as generalized tools. Hound sets itself apart by emphasizing specific use cases while offering a comprehensive feature set. However, this approach presents key challenges:

Increased complexity and feature diversification.
Lack of a centralized conversational hub, leading to fragmented development efforts and user confusion.

GOALS

Our objective is to redesign the app structure to create a unified space for voice interactions with Hound. This will streamline development, enhance focus on core use cases, and improve user experience. Additionally, the redesign offers opportunities to strengthen product features aligned with our roadmap by:

Simplifying partner integrations.
Improve education and personalization features.
Promoting and optimizing Car Mode.

MY ROLE

Product Strategy
Ideation
Wireframing
Design mocks
Visual design
Graphics

The Cost of Focusing on Use Cases

While focusing on specific use cases sets Hound apart from competitors, the current app structure creates inefficiencies. Voice conversations are stored in different areas based on use cases, increasing complexity for developers and making the app harder for users to navigate. This inconsistency introduces unnecessary learning curves and confusion, undermining the user experience.

Conversation view UI (Not in-car)

Optimized UI for in-car (Bottom sheet)

CONSISTENT AREA FOR CONVERSATION

All conversations will be stored in a single location within a panel view, providing a unified and accessible experience.

Trigger voice conversation anywhere in the Hound app

The conversation panel will slide up from the bottom whenever a query is executed. This slide-out panel overlays the main view, keeping the underlying content partially visible so users can interact with the conversation without navigating away.

Simplify Partner App Integrations

The conversation layer can also enhance the Houndify SDK, streamlining the integration process for partner applications.

Proposed Design Solutions

Use Case-Focused Design

Users can switch between different modes tailored to specific environments, focusing on relevant tasks. Each mode will feature the most-used tools, enabling users to complete actions efficiently.

Personalization

Users can add or delete modes.

Modes

Popular use cases will be defined and organized by Hound-supported domains, ensuring functionality is intuitive and targeted.

Implementation Process

High-fidelity wireframes

Dashboard

Home
(Education/Tips)

Car Mode

MOCKS

Once the wireframes were approved by stakeholders, I proceeded to design high-fidelity mocks for the main screens. Early user testing was conducted to gather feedback and refine the design based on insights.

User Testing

OBJECTIVE

To gauge users' response to and comprehension of the new app structure and conversation panel.

METHODOLOGY

Tested 7 internal users not directly involved with the Hound design team.

Focus areas:

Overall usability of the new structure.
Understanding and ease of use of the conversation panel.
Identifying potential areas of confusion or improvement.

INSIGHTS FROM THE TESTING

What's working well

Navigation is highly intuitive, with dots effectively indicating the number of pages and the current page in view.
Top corner icons function as expected.
No confusion regarding the dashboard design; users only expressed a preference for the order of widgets.
The dashboard resonates with users as it consolidates everything they care about.

Room for improvement

7 out of 7 users found the Home (Education/Tips) content overwhelming, stating they would engage with at most 3–4 upward swipes. Education/Tips content is seen as useful only for first-time use but not valuable for regular interaction.
5 out of 7 users tapped initially but noted they would likely swipe in regular use, suggesting potential usability improvements.
Users prefer easy access to the Calendar and Reminders, ideally positioned at the top without the need to scroll, allowing them to quickly view their to-do list for the day and upcoming events.
Users desire a more straightforward way to launch the dashboard. Opening the Hound app from the home screen discourages use of this feature.
The “dashboard” nomenclature was mildly confusing to some users.

Final Design

Refinements driven by user testing feedback.

DAILY EVENT PUSH NOTIFICATION

The daily event summary push notification provides users with a convenient way to review their calendar and reminders in Hound. It consolidates all information into a single menu, eliminating the need to navigate through their calendar to find details. This feature also encourages increased engagement with the Hound app.