Designing a virtual travel assistant for Footmark

A real-life project where I revamped Footmark, a travel app that uses AI to whip up travel itineraries and this is the travel assistant we designed. Writing up a case study for the redesign is on my to-do list, and I'm planning to dive into it soon.

Here’s a quick demo of the app before we jump into the details of the character design

Designing a virtual assistant was not an easy task for me. Given my so-so character design skills and barely-there drawing abilities, I thought this might be a real challenge. But I rolled up my sleeves and dove into researching AI characters and chatbots to figure out how to bring a virtual personality to life.

I dug into research like a pro, combed through just about every article I could find (wink wink), and set up some key parameters for designing this virtual assistant.

Next up was the sketching phase. I scribbled through tons of designs to make sure I hit all the parameters I set, which wasn’t easy for someone with less-than-stellar drawing skills. I aimed for a character that felt human but wasn’t actually human. People often look for human-like qualities in AI, and they don’t want to feel like they’re talking to a robot. So, I wanted a friendly face that’s universally appealing—one that doesn’t pin down any specific race, gender, or age. Plus, I thought about how this character could convey various emotions to match the joy of travel. and here's what I came up with!

I put a lot of effort into making sure the character feels emotionally in tune with all the different travel vibes it’s going to encounter.

This is just a quick peek into how I designed the character. It might look simple, but it took a ton of iterations and sketching to get it right. I’m always open to your feedback and comments!