Theory: Faceless Apps

Recently, I have been designing a few new apps all exploring faceless interfaces. Basically, that just means I am experimenting with new ways to design apps that are less traditional. Here are a few of the apps that made the final cut:

Alexa, tell me a story

Tiny Tales is a "skill", or, app for Alexa which means you interact with the app with voice. You ask Alexa to tell you a story and the Tiny Tales app starts up, and starts a choose your own adventure type children's story.  Here is the intro:

The first story is Red, a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, and throughout the story you get to pick what happens in the middle. The Tiny Tales are fables, they all teach a lesson, and are under 5 minutes long. For Red, this is basically how the decision tree works:

There are other, more traditional Tiny Tales, too, that you can just listen to from start to finish, like Jill the Jelly. 

Tiny Tales for the Amazon Echo is a way to tell stories, which I love, and to explore voice interfaces and interactions. Story apps are a perfect use for voice interfaces. That's the theory at least.

We could just lay around.

Sweatband for iOS is a way to try and make working out so easy and entertaining that you just can't help but do it. The whole app is done through sarcastic demotivating notifications. The point? Set the bar hilariously low so that anyone could do it. Basically, get people who aren't really active, to be slightly more active.

Human psychology is funny, and Sweatband is designed to play to it. If the bar is set at 1 sit up, we are more likely to do that many sit ups than someone who sets their goal as many sit ups. If the barrier to entry is low, more people will do it. That's the theory at least.

Hey, we haven't talked to Pavel for a while, maybe we should reach out.

Cairo is a cat bot (it's part of my other theory, that Characters as a Service will be a thing in the future; more on that sometime later), or, chat bot where the agent you are chatting with is a cat. Cairo is an all around nice guy that helps you maximize your time. The idea is that conversational companionship can help personal productivity.

Cairo can help you be more active, and reach personal workout goals. After hours of inactivity Cairo might says: Hey, I don't want to either, but maybe we should go for a walk. 

During periods of availability, Cairo can help you stay in touch with your friends. Once outside on your walk Cairo might say: We haven't talked to Pavel for a while, maybe we should reach out.

Familiar with your preferences, Cairo can also help you unwind, explore, or learn more about your city. On Wednesday, in the middle of a work week, Cairo might say: DJ Snake is coming to Seattle this weekend, and I was thinking, if you were't busy, we could go.

Having a personable companion, can inspire, and encourage you to do things you wouldn't have otherwise. Things you should do but don't want to, things you always forget to do, or things you didn't even know about. That's the theory at least.

Faceless lego family by Dave James