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You know that feeling when you open an app and everything just *clicks*?
It’s smooth, it’s intuitive, and it’s like the designers knew exactly what you needed before you even tapped the screen. But here’s the thing: that seamless experience didn’t just happen by accident. It’s the result of countless hours of brainstorming, sketching, and probably more than a few late-night existential crises over font choices and button placements.
We’re diving into the story behind our bold new design — a revamp that’s not just about looking slick but about fundamentally rethinking accessibility in our Ava live captioning apps.
To get the inside scoop, we sat down with our Lead Designer, Mahdi Farra, the visionary behind the transformation. In this interview, Mahdi spills the tea on everything from the initial spark of inspiration to the nitty-gritty of bringing those ideas to life.
Tell us about yourself! What’s your role at Ava, and how long have you been here?
Mahdi: I’m the Head of Design at Ava and joined the company in January 2024, so I’ve been here for over 9 months now!
In my role, I’m responsible for designing the UX of all Ava apps (Mobile, Web, and Desktop) and also help the marketing team with branding and visual design.
Tell us about the new design for Web & Desktop! What was the main inspiration behind the new design?
Mahdi: The inspiration for the new design came from our users, several of whom I interviewed. By talking with them and understanding their day-to-day experiences and how they use the app, I gained a better understanding of the problems they need to solve. A major theme that emerged was the desire to eliminate distractions and focus more on the captions.
With that in mind, the new app’s UI was designed to put captions front and center while keeping the interface minimal by removing all unnecessary elements. This wasn’t easy, as our app offers many great features, and the main challenge was to keep these features easily accessible without overwhelming the user with a busy and crowded UI.
Can you walk us through the design process from concept to completion?
Mahdi: The design process was iterative and collaborative, and we aimed to stick to the double-diamond process as much as possible. It began with identifying the problem I mentioned earlier: the app’s UI was busy, crowded, and overwhelming, preventing users from fully benefiting from all Ava’s features.
After thoroughly understanding the problem, I conducted a full audit of the app’s functionality and features. Once I had a comprehensive list, I started grouping them into different buckets and categories based on their use cases.
Next, I began creating wireframes with the main goal of simplifying interactions while retaining the existing functionality. It was challenging, but also incredibly fun!
Once the team and I were confident in the wireframes, I moved on to creating a high-fidelity version of the UI, starting with a single screen. I used this screen to conduct multiple user tests to determine if the new changes were improvements and moving us in the right direction.
After several user tests, interviews, and a few iterations, we settled on this design, which simplified the UI and made the overall user experience much smoother.
How does the new design improve the user experience?
Mahdi: There are many improvements, but I’ll highlight a few and let our users discover the rest.
At a high level, the new design simplifies the layout, making it much easier to find what you need. The first thing you’ll notice in the new UI is the clear separation between the captions window and the bottom control bar. Additionally, the control bar is hidden by default and only appears when the user’s cursor hovers over the captions window.
By keeping the control bar hidden until needed, reading the captions becomes much easier and free of distractions, allowing users to focus solely on the captions. When users need to access other features, the UI automatically appears as their cursor moves and hovers over the relevant areas, providing easy access without cluttering the experience.
Zooming in on the control bar, the buttons and UI elements are now grouped and organized based on their use cases. For example, the buttons for controlling the conversation are grouped together, and the toggle for voice messages is placed directly within the text message box. This grouping of UI elements makes it much easier to find the functionality you need.
In addition to organizing the UI elements to enhance the user experience, I’ve also created multiple themes that allow users to choose their preferred look for the app to match their style and mood. The theme colors are inspired by nature and art, with names like Ocean, Starry Night, Fog, and Charcoal.
Why is design an accommodation? How did you approach accessibility and inclusivity in the new design?
Mahdi: I spent a significant amount of time listening to our users, understanding their day-to-day tasks and workflows. A particularly valuable part of this process was spending time with Ava’s co-founder, Skinner Cheng, who is deaf and provided valuable insights and feedback about the community.
In our design, we made several key considerations: ensuring the animation of the captions’ appearance is subtle enough not to disturb users, setting the font size large enough by default while allowing adjustments to accommodate different preferences, and maintaining high contrast in the UI to ensure the captions are sharp and clear.
What are some of the standout features in the new design that users should be excited about?
Mahdi: I’d like to highlight two unique features of our app that are truly life-enhancing for our users. The first is Ava Voice, which allows deaf and non-voicing users to have their own virtual voice to participate in meetings and video calls by simply typing a message and clicking a button to voice it. The best part is that we use natural-sounding human voices, making the experience feel incredibly real.
Another standout feature is SpeakerID, one of our latest additions designed to make group conversations much easier for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. With SpeakerID, users can easily see who said what in group conversations, as each participant is assigned a unique color. Additionally, each identified speaker can be given a custom name that the user can adjust. This feature significantly enhances the experience of group conversations, whether in-person or online.
What advice would you give aspiring designers who want to work on projects like this?
Mahdi: My main advice is to spend as much time as possible listening to and understanding your users. Speak to as many of them as you can to learn about their daily challenges and the tasks they need to complete. Lastly, make sure to test your designs with actual users — don’t assume you got it right on the first try.
Is there anything you wish users would notice or appreciate about the design that they might not immediately see?
Mahdi: There are many small details that make the new experience feel great, but I’ll highlight just one and let our users discover and enjoy the rest.
The detail I want to highlight is the interaction with the microphone icon when the app starts captioning. It shows a small popover to indicate that Ava is picking up audio, which is crucial for letting users, especially those who are Deaf or hard-of-hearing, know that the app is working. After a couple of seconds, the audio indicator becomes more subtle, remaining visible if needed but not as prominent or in the user’s face as the initial popover.
Bringing it All Together: The Final Word on Ava’s New Design
As we wrap up our deep dive into the creative process behind Ava’s redesign, one thing is clear: this wasn’t just a facelift. It was a full-on reinvention, driven by a passion for making technology more intuitive, accessible, and, let’s be honest, just downright modern and cool.
But the story doesn’t end here. The work of design is never really done — it’s a living, breathing thing that evolves as our needs and expectations change. And if there’s one takeaway from our chat with Mahdi, it’s that the best designs aren’t just about what looks good today. They’re about anticipating what we’ll need tomorrow.
So, next time you open Ava, take a moment to appreciate the details, the thought, and yes, the sweat that went into making something that just works. Because in the end, that’s what great design is all about: making the complex feel simple, and turning what could be a headache into something that feels almost magical.
And with this new design, it’s safe to say Mahdi has pulled a little bit of that magic off.
