An AI Companion for Overcoming Social Anxiety
Designer
Branding, Design, Product Strategy
Wilson Haung
Business
Aot Chanthorn
Development Lead
Rachael Chen
Backend Engineer
48 hours
Figma
Notion
Canva
Python
Conda
ChatGPT
During the 48 hours of Summer AI CalHacks, we created Guppy ε( 'Θ' )∋ ✨ — an AI virtual speech companion that helps people with social anxiety to improve and build confidence in their social interactions with others.
Due to the lingering effects of COVID-19's mass social isolation, social anxiety has made it even harder for individuals to reconnect and communicate confidently. Those with social anxiety often struggle to practice effectively without guidance or support.
I defined brand identity, led design processes, and co-led product strategy alongside our PM to appeal to potential users and create a marketable solution within the span of CalHacks.
This is where we came up with Guppy, THE virtual speech companion people can't resist. Guppy trains you to become a master at the art of communication. The act of impromptu speech presents itself in job interviews, wedding toasts, keynote events, or just plain talking with your friends! We wanted to find a project that any one of all ages can benefit from, including use in education, corporate, social, and personal environments.
During AI CalHacks, we showcased design direction, technical ability, and business strategy. During the demo and judging, we also received a lot of good feedback on design. We also garnered some good attention on LinkedIn! :)
As the sole designer on the team, I was left in charge of everything design-marketing-visual identity related for this guided, yet equally ambiguous idea. I looked at my Pinterest boards and reflected on the conversations with my teammates to try to think of how I could best represent this idea in the form of a straightforward, visual metaphor. I kept on iterating and just playing with shapes + colors to see if anything spoke to me that made sense aligning with the team's vision.
Honestly, after iterating how many times, I finally struck inspiration when I randomly thought of my friend's goldfish who would eat rocks (R.I.P. Munch) while sleep-deprived at 2 am.
The rest was history.
Guppy uses AI to create randomized prompts for the user to read and respond to, providing a new medium for practicing speech and communication.
Figma, Conda, Python, and most importantly, OpenAI.
We initially had a larger vision, but overestimated the amount of time we had to fully execute our plan. It was half of my team's first hackathon and they expressed that the plethora of new knowledge being thrown at them was a bit overwhelming.
social connections made easier
Guppy surprisingly garnered a good amount of attention on LinkedIn and Instagram. I posted Guppy just out of pure joy since I already received a lot of positive feedback at CalHacks saying how people loved the design, so I also just decided to share on social media too just because. A lot of people also followed up with me asking about Guppy since they seemed to be engaged with him and his story. Guppy got some metrics reaching 1,407 users and having 3,832 impressions on LinkedIn alone (in addition to irl at CalHacks and Instagram!). Didn't know Guppy had moves like that 🥺
what a cool idea! and such cute design :)
Guppy deserves more. Even Guppy wants more. In future iterations of Guppy, we wanted to integrate Hume AI's API into our project to better gauge confidence, tone, and expression. We also wanted to integrate motion detection and video to track eye movement, posture, and mannerisms. Another key thing is making Guppy more tailored towards specific audiences such as younger children or seasoned professionals, who find a need to hone their social skills or refine their interactions.