About Haiku Granny
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Brings warmth and wisdom through haikus
Simply ask for a poem and Haiku Granny will provide a haiku for you, as a break during your day.
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For anyone needing a touch of poetry
The target audience is very broad; Haiku Granny is for every individual with an Alexa device.
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Project timeline, tools used, and my role
Timeline: October - November 2024
Tools used: Alexa, JavaScript, Figma, Google Sheets
My role: Voice Designer
Background
The idea behind Haiku Granny is that the skill gives users haikus related to life and nature. The skill should give users a feeling of warmth and comfort, like it’s their granny telling them poems back in the day. That’s how I came up with the name Haiku Granny. Additionally, I was inspired by Studio Ghibli movies, since haikus originate from Japan and Hayao Miyazaki’s Ghibli films share pieces of wisdom related to life and nature.
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What is a haiku?
A traditional form of Japanese poetry, usually consisting of three lines with a 5-7-5 syllable structure.
Goal of this project
Create a casual voice skill specialized in generating haikus that's simple and intuitive to use.
Deliverables: Workflow, intents, user testing, and haikus.
How I worked
I started defining the look and feel of the skill using UI design. This helped me to visualize the skill and gain some early ideas of content I could use. Then, I stepped into the shoes of my user and wrote out sample utterances they'd use to activate the skill. After I wrote the haikus too, I conducted usability testing in the AWS platform, which is the host of my skill. I iterated on the skill by fixing errors. The end result can be discovered on Alexa!
UI design
To match the name of the skill, I designed a logo of a happy-looking grandmother-figure in Figma, accompanied by colors that represent the feeling of ‘coziness’. These are natural, earth-toned colors like beige, soft yellow, and brown.
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​Here are all the colors used in Haiku Granny:
Sample utterances
Haiku Granny is a simple single-utterance skill. Users just have to say one utterance to launch Haiku Granny on Alexa. However, the utterances they say have to be supported by the system.
I emphasized with users and, together, we thought of every single utterance they’d say to talk to Haiku Granny.
Below you can find the sample utterances I have highlighted in the Alexa Store, but many more are supported.
Haikus
What would Haiku Granny be without haikus? Writing haikus was a crucial part of the design process. I wrote all of these haikus myself to kickstart the skill; in the future, I plan to expand this database with more haikus.
After defining the utterances and haikus, I built the skill on AWS Lambda and prepared it for usability testing.
Usability testing
The utterances were tested in the AWS Lambda test environment for proper functionality.
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Test objectives:
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Evaluate haiku clarity and usability
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Identify any issues with launch words and errors in punctuation
Discovered issues
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There seemed to be an issue with the launch words ‘open’ and ‘hear’ because it gives me instructions on the Audible app rather than staying in Haiku Granny. This could be a bug within Alexa itself.
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A punctuation error in the haiku on the far right, a comma at the end of a sentence instead of a dot. This caused Alexa to not take a pause between sentences, which would cause confusion for users.
Through the test, I was able to identify three haikus that were malfunctioning. These were rephrased in my iteration.
Design iteration
I reached out to users once again to ask for alternative utterances they'd use to activate Haiku Granny, and these were added into the database:
After implementing these improvements, I submitted Haiku Granny for certification and publishing at Amazon.
Moving forward
To improve on Haiku Granny, I’ll keep on iterating and find out what users think of the live skill and what needs to be improved. These are the future improvements on my agenda:
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Allow customization within the skill, such as the ability to ask for a haiku on a specific subject within the cozy theme. That way, Haiku Granny feels more personal to users, as they can get haikus that really speak to them.
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Expand the skill to European users. To do that, I will have to create a second Haiku Granny skill using the British English locale and adhere the skill to restrictions that apply in the EU, so that it will be made available in Europe.
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Utilize AI to create a voice of a granny. It’d be nicer to have haikus read to you by an actual grandmother instead of Alexa’s default voice.
I had a wonderful time creating Haiku Granny and hope it can help people unwind in these hectic times. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have questions or would like to know more!