Making Preethi:

Designing Conversational Agents That Connect

Role: Lead UX Researcher & Designer
Team: IBM Client Engineering
Audience: 2 Client Conferences, 150+ Executives, including CEO (client anonymized)
Tools Used: IBM watsonx AI, Soul Machines
Timeline: 3 week sprint

The Challenge

A global energy company approached us with a high-visibility request: create a “WOW factor” experience for their executive leadership conference.

They wanted to explore the potential of conversational AI to transform customer support and education. Our task was to prototype a human-like, real-time digital assistant that could demonstrate the future of AI-driven interaction- not just in theory, but live on stage.

The first pass at persona development for Preethi! As you can tell, she changed with later design iterations.

My Role

I designed and customized a digital avatar using Soul Machines, tailoring her facial expressions, personality traits, voice (including accent, tone, pace, and style), and communication style to align with the target audience. I conducted user research, developed the conversational flow, and facilitated collaborative sessions to define success criteria for an intuitive and engaging user experience.

Process

  • Conducted stakeholder interviews to uncover priorities and constraints specific to a high-stakes conference environment

  • Synthesized research into 3 user personas; finally developed the face and voice of “Preethi,” the avatar featured in both client events

  • Designed conversational flows and interaction models using design thinking methods tailored for live audience impact

  • Partnered with design and engineering teams to iteratively test and refine voice interactions and model performance

Outcomes

  • Delivered a live, emotionally expressive AI avatar that captivated executive audiences at two high-profile leadership events

  • Helped demonstrate the practical potential of conversational AI, leading to increased stakeholder interest in customer-facing applications

  • Created a reusable framework for designing future AI personas, which has since informed additional client engagements within IBM

  • Received internal recognition for delivering an experience that balanced technical sophistication with human-centered design

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