Bringing an AI Avatar to Life
I architected the interface and user flow for the Delphina Digital Person.
This concierge technology has the protential to provide crucial support to overextended healthcare professionals, but new interfaces often feel clunky, unintuitive, and overwhelming.
We needed to ground this innovation in patterns users already trusted. We needed to make the new feel familiar.
Our team combined UX and CX best practices with groundbreaking AI avatars to design and build an innovative, immersive, user-friendly experience for Novartis Pharmaceuticals.
This concierge technology has the protential to provide crucial support to overextended healthcare professionals, but new interfaces often feel clunky, unintuitive, and overwhelming.
We needed to ground this innovation in patterns users already trusted. We needed to make the new feel familiar.
Our team combined UX and CX best practices with groundbreaking AI avatars to design and build an innovative, immersive, user-friendly experience for Novartis Pharmaceuticals.
Lead Designer
Directed 5 teamates
2024-2025
Problem
Consumers want chatbots to feel human, but most are rigid, confusing, and forgettable.
Users often abandon chatbots when the flow feels unclear or repetitive.
Medical practitioners use these tools in loud environments with limited time.
Reference materials and abbreviations are necessary in the medical field, but often overwhelm users.
Goal
Establish clear, predictable conversation models that reduce friction and build trust.
Ground the avatar in trusted UI patterns that support, rather than distract from, the interaction.
Offer multiple modes of interaction (typing, voice, transcripts) and design every feature to meet WCAG AA standards.
Integrate ISI, references, and abbreviations into the interface in a scannable and unobtrusive way.
Insight
Users adopt new technology more easily when it mirrors trusted interaction models.
Familiar UI patterns (mute, transcript, pause) inspired our control panel.
Web heuristics such as F-shaped scanning, grouped content, and right-rail blindness guided placement of the avatar, text, and functionality.
Accessibility standards shaped every decision, ensuring inclusivity from day one.
Key Decisions
Reduced Learning Curve
Intuitive control panel: Mapped onto familiar mental models from Zoom, Teams, and Slack to lower the learning curve.
Improved Compliance Readability
Contextual ISI and references: Applied F-shaped scanning to “tuck” compliance info into natural reading flows without overwhelming users.
Supported Immersion
Immersive but grounded: Avatar dominance balanced with proven chat heuristics (Amazon, Amelia, Khan Academy) to maximize engagement.
Increased Inclusivity
Accessible conversation flow: Transcript and input field visible by default, ensuring clarity for new users.
Outcomes
By grounding new technology in trusted interaction models, we delivered an experience that felt familiar yet futuristic, meeting accessibility standards while introducing a brand-new channel of engagement.
Delphina launched as a first-of-its-kind digital person for healthcare, proving AI avatars can be both innovative and intuitive.
The launch validated digital people as a viable product category, positioning the client at the forefront of healthcare innovation.
Delphina launched as a first-of-its-kind digital person for healthcare, proving AI avatars can be both innovative and intuitive.
The launch validated digital people as a viable product category, positioning the client at the forefront of healthcare innovation.
