2020 Webby Winner
Best Branded Voice Experience
“Voice-enabled apps and devices created on behalf of a brand that offer the most-superior user experience in terms of overall usability and functionality.”
Pandora listeners with iOS and Android mobile devices can control Pandora hands-free using our first-party voice assistant.
Combining Pandora’s Voice Mode with Pandora’s proprietary Music Genome Project allows for a wide range of unique voice commands from super-specific to super-abstract, such as:
“Play album, artist, song, genre,” etc (standard search query)
“Play some music for my workout” (mood based)
“Give this song a thumbs up” (CTA)
“Play a True Crime podcast” (category based)
“Add this song to my 90s Jams playlist” (CTA)
“Play something different” (abstraction on listener’s history)
These commands are not supported by a device’s native voice assistant (Siri or Google Assistant). The Search team saw an opportunity to capitalize on a large market of Pandora users: driving commuters and mobile users.
My responsibilities for Voice Mode included the full product design process:
Ideation and needfinding
Secondary research on Voice assistant usage
Planning and conducting 2 UXR studies, 1 preliminary needfinding session and 1 usability testing session in Pandora’s usability lab
Clear communication and collaboration with PM and engineering managers to set and understand MVP priorities
UX flow explorations and UI design iterations on leading to CPO approval
Redlining and design spec hand-off for engineering
Pre-launch design QA and support with engineering and product
GTM support and asset creation for marketing