Alexa Presentation Language (APL)

Project Goal:

To create a GUI framework with a set of new capabilities to make it easy for first-party (1P) and third-party (3P) skill developers to create rich, engaging multimodal experiences with a wide reach across all Alexa endpoints. This new framework should also enable parity of device capabilities and visual output between 1P and 3P.

Project Deliverables:

APL includes components, templates, and APIs that enable developers to easily target the increasingly variable landscape of visual Alexa devices.

Summary:

As the ASK UX design lead on the APL project, I have been a contributing member of a cross-org design team made up of UX Designers, Voice Designers, Visual Designers, Design Technologists, UX Writers, Product Managers, and Producers. My individual responsibilities included conducting deep dive interviews of 3P developers' needs and pain points in multimodal skill development, translating those needs into concept storyboards, writing user stories and narratives, and presenting to Senior Leadership for prioritization of the deliverables roadmap. 

I was also the design contact for 18 external partners (including brands such as Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Food Network, NHL, CNBC, FX Network, Kayak, Best Buy, and Activision), and worked directly with each to design the best VUI/GUI experiences for their multimodal skills on this new framework. This included consulting on GUI and VUI designs, producing sample mocks, conducting UX reviews, and providing detailed feedback and guidance