Early in 2022, while I was employed at the company byrd technologies, I started a passion project to create a memorable and lovable character that could be used not only for Product Design but Marketing / Branding needs as well.
While working on the feature of CSV uploading of customer’s webshop orders, I realised there will be occasional states or errors in the flow when no data will be available. This would result with large UI area empty.
Sure, meaningful error message with clear instructions would help and some skeletal placeholder could indicate expected content in the UI. However, I saw the opportunity here to improve the experience by adding an extra value and possibly create an emotional connection. And yes, B2B SaaS UI should be simple, efficient and professional. But let’s not forget that B2B users are people as well.
So idea started to emerge about a character creation. Something like a feelgood manager of the digital platform. A mascot that could be used in the UI but also for company branding.
So… green box-shaped bird with a human face. Sounds like a cheap horror movie, I know.
Challenge accepted.
Empathic
Easily identifies with users and their current emotional state.
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Supportive
Provides encouragement or emotional help.
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Non-verbal
Communicates through gestures and facial expressions.
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Genderless
Because 2022.
Honest, Kind and… a bit Goofy
Because every character needs a bit of flavour to be real.
Peak Events
When a user reaches the point of emotion peak or valley. Whether positive or negative, those moments are ideal times to create a mind bridge for an emotional connection between the user and the character.
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When help needs help
Boxie can solve occasional moments when we need to provide more context but want to avoid big and boring blocks of instructions.
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When we have nothing
Those dreaded empty states? Boxie can help out with that. Like a good stage performer, Boxie can fill those “in between the songs” moments.
And lastly, not too often!
It’s very important not to overuse Boxie. Keeping the appearance fresh and unexpected can create wonderful moments of delight.
As the last stage in the design phase, I created a short but impactful storytelling presentation. This presentation was used as the project pitch to the management, then during the alignment with the Marketing team, and finally, it was presented in the company-wide all-hands meeting.
The biggest test of the design was, of course, the level of employee adoption and Boxie passed it with flying colors ending up being used anywhere from marketing campaigns, and merchandise to slack emojis.
Perhaps my favorite, Boxie even ended up being 3D printed as a gift to me that I still fondly keep on my working desk.
