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Spot for Target
Virtual voice assistant to enhance the shopping experience at Target
PROJECT BRIEF
Create a voice user interface for a Pittsburgh based business that has an existing mobile and kiosk interface.
CONTEXT
Project at
SoD CMU
TIMELINE
5 weeks
CLIENT
Target
TEAM
Himani Auplish,
Eva YuYun Chung,
Kate Yuwei Guo, Christina Ip,
Zhuoneng Wang
ROLE & RESPONSIBILITY
User Research, Conversation Design,
UI & UX Design
OUTCOME
A friendly and reliable virtual shopping voice assistant for Target that focuses on elevating the current shopping experience.
CONCEPT VIDEO
WHY TARGET?
We conducted customer observation study and user interviews with regular Target customers to learn about their Target runs and why they keep going back. We found the following key points that became the guiding force for Spot
Identifiable patterns
Even though each Target run is unique, we saw recurring behavior. Every regular Target customer would make a grocery run in every 7-10 days to buy their regular staple.
One-stop neighbourhood shop
What makes Target fun for everyone is that all their consumer needs are met under one roof. People like getting lost in the space to explore the new deals and products.
Routine with flexibility
Even though there is a routine but people are also flexibile as per their requirements which reinforces that Target is the go-to neighbourhood store for all requirements.
WHO IS THE USER?
Lily Lin
Designer
Pittsburgh
36 years old
Married with two children
Biography
Lily is a frequent customer at Target. She does a grocery run every week and a complete target run at least twice a month. As she is a mother of two, she often has things to pick up apart from groceries all the time and that makes Target her go to one-stop shopping experience.
Needs
As a working mother, she doesn’t have much time to spare. However, if she does, she loves to explore all sections and sales at Target.
Pain Points
There are often questions about products that she wants to ask but she usually lets it go because there are no available avenues to seeks answers and it can be inconvenient to locate a staff member to help her out.
For these scenarios, Spot is here to help. With his functionalities, Spot becomes Lily’s personal shopping assistant for all her questions and can even provide recommendations based on her shopping patterns and history.
It is very important for me to get everything I need for my family regularly.
USER JOURNEY
BEFORE AND DURING SHOPPING SCENARIOS
We explored the opportunities further by creating storyboards that helped us identify key features
Before Shopping (at home)
Reaching Target (welcome)
While Shopping (at Target)
Completing Shopping (at check-out)
Artwork credits: Christina Ip
A user's journey is divided in four main parts - At home, exploratory shopping, rushed shopping and checkout. The Target run actually starts at home, before shopping, where users can create their shopping list, check for promotions and plan their trip to Target. It then leads to while shopping at Target with three clear distinctions. First where shoppers can exploring and second where they are in a rush to pick everything they need and lastly when they are at check-out and interacting with the kiosk.
KEY FEATURES
Utility
Notifications for sales and products
Creating Shopping List
Auto applying coupons and gift card
Recommendation
Tracking shopping history
Gift ideas and questions
Personalized Shopping Experience
Map
Fastest route to tick off the shopping list
Locate products and all the deals
Bright
Spot matches Target's visual style
Attentive
Spot cares about the users' needs
Friendly
Spot invites users to interact
Efficient
Spot calculates results for users quickly
LET'S MEET SPOT
SPOT’S STATES
We gave a 3D twist to the Target logo to create Spot and gave her a partner in form of a small yellow ball to show her loyal, friendly and playful side.
Activate
Idle
Listen
Speaking
Processing
Celebration
Error
Exiting
SPOT’s LANGUAGE
Defining the emotional level of each state gave us the basis to create the language and the script for Spot.
THE MOBILE INTERFACE
Our focus was to enhance the current shopping experience hence we took the same branding principles and the current UI system to add Spot to it. Spot works on three levels of interaction as shown below
Collapsed view
When the user doesn’t need Spot, she rests in a collapsed red bar
Short feedbacks and commands
When user asks direct questions, Spot’s window opens up halfway through the screen
Conversations
When Spot needs more information from the user to provide help, Spot opens chat and takes over the screen
UTILITY FEATURES
Shopping List Creation
Easily create shopping list by voice commands or scanning items
Promotions & Reminders
Get notified for sales and any promotional events
Scan for reviews
View price, ratings, general information and more
Shipping & Delivery
Add items straight to your cart for delivery
Asking for Assistance
Call in-store help for locked items and more
RECOMMENDATION FEATURES
Personalised Suggestions Based on Shopping History
Receive personalized suggestions for products
Gifting Advice
Get advice for products as per your requirements
Recipe Ideas
Browse recipes based on your preferences
Select preferences through smart filters
Select from a wide range of recipes
Browse through and add only required ingredients using smart sorting
MAP FEATURES
Promotional and Clearance Areas
Find promotions and special event areas at your local store
Rush Mode
Find the shortest route to checkout with an estimated exit time
Default map with all promotional areas and corresponding product list under it
Full screen map view of the shopping list. Especially helpful in rush mode
THE KIOSK INTERFACE
The current kiosk interface is extremely cluttered and looks very different from the mobile interface. Keeping the basic structure similar, we updated the UI for the kiosk to make it more coherent and added Spot to it.
Original v/s Update UI
FEATURE AND SCENARIO
Continue the personalised experience
Scan your phone to get your Spot on the checkout kiosk who can also auto apply your saved coupons
Adding products without barcode
Skip the steps and use voice command to identify and add products without a barcode
PROJECT TAKEAWAY
Conversation Design
We learned about the nuances of designing with voice. We had a lot of thought and discussion on giving Spot a personality through not just visuals and motions but also dialogues and scripts. We played close attention to quality of voice, tonality, usage of kind of vocabulary and sentence construction. Multiple class activities and workshops helped us gain an insight into the complexities of working with voice interfaces.
Understanding AI capabilities and limitations
We discussed and understood what artificial intelligence is capable of and should or should not do. We had deeper discussions on what can be considered “creepy” and where permissions are required by Spot to access data and personalise the experience. As designers we had the power in our hand to create a product that helps the user but at the same time is not intrusive and provides a personalised experience ethically.
Difference in public and private spaces
Since we have scenarios both at home and the store it was extremely important to differentiate the experience. For example, Spot would not shout out your preferences or shopping history in a store setting but it would be alright to do so in a home setting. This helped us discuss and create layers of functionality for Spot depending on the context of her use.
Cross-device experience
We learnt how to design an ecosystem by creating a cross-device experience instead of just working on a single product. All branding material and experience on both devices is strongly connected and we did not want to lose the coherency in design in physical store, the app and the kiosk.
Team work
Lastly, we had a great team that was organised and extremely pro-active. One of our members got COVID in the middle of the project and yet we kept up with the discussions, documentation, team work etc. We managed to keep it up by deciding on tasks and agendas before and after each meeting and having strong and transparent communication.
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