Echo Show: Home System

UX Creative Direction & Designer   |  Made at Amazon, 2017-2022

Echo Show Home CX:
Designing Ambient Experiences for Alexa Displays

For over six years, I led UX and creative direction for the Echo Show's ambient Home experience, the default customer interface visible when the device is always on. This included the design and evolution of scalable templates, visual and motion frameworks, and the broader multimodal design system used across Alexa-enabled displays.

This system supports dozens of internal and external teams across multiple device formats and across global markets.

The Challenge

The Echo Show Home screen needed to serve as a 24/7 interface that felt personalized, glanceable, and non-intrusive. It also had to scale across a wide range of content types, partner teams, and form factors, all while meeting accessibility, hardware performance, and interaction goals.

Customer Goals:

• Personalized and useful at a glance

• A display that is customizable and visually appealing

Design Goals:

• Scale design systems across product lines and locales

• Influence product development through UX innovation

• Balance creative consistency with flexible partner needs

My Role

As Creative Director, and previously Lead Visual UX Designer, I directed a team and helped to implement the evolution of the Echo Show Home experience across three major redesign cycles.

My scope included:

• Leading a dispersed team of 15 designers across illustration, UX, Motion, and Visual UX

• Defining and evolving the multimodal visual and interaction design system

• Leading cross-functional design collaboration with research, product, and engineering

• Guided 25+ partner teams to scale the system and launch new content

• Developing scalable templates, motion systems, and visual identity guidelines

• Developing a near and far field design system for Adaptive UI

Approach

Built a Scalable Multimodal System
Led the development of a responsive, voice-and-touch optimized design system across a broad range of Alexa-enabled devices and screen sizes. Ensured consistency in interaction patterns while maintaining flexibility for different use cases and unique hardware constraints.

Directed Visual and Motion Language
Created the foundational visual and motion design principles for the Home screen experience. Developed ambient templates, widgets, and UI patterns that balanced utility with aesthetic presence from across the room.

Partnered Across Teams and Orgs
Oversaw coordination and consultation with dozens of internal partner teams. Facilitated design reviews, managed content approvals, and helped partners implement templates that aligned with the system while supporting unique feature needs.

Evolved Through Iteration
Worked closely with UX research to prototype, test, and refine designs. Adapted system rules based on user feedback and platform constraints, allowing the system to evolve while retaining coherence.

Introducing Adaptive UI:
Designing for Proximity Awareness

As the Echo Show matured, we saw an opportunity make the interface more contextually aware. The goal was to create an experience that adapts not just to user preferences but to physical presence. This led to the development of a proximity-based UI that dynamically shifts based on how near or far a user is from the device.

From a distance, the interface presents glanceable, simplified content with larger typography, which is ideal for quick interactions across the room. As the user moves closer, the UI transitions fluidly into a denser and more information-rich layout, optimized for touch and readability at close range. This responsiveness transforms the home screen from static to truly adaptive experience.

Delivering this was no small feat and  required close collaboration between design, engineering, and hardware teams. We reimagined the information architecture, scaled visual assets dynamically, and crafted transitions that feel natural and intuitive. My role focused on leading the UX design vision (and delivery) while defining the interaction model for this feature with a talented team of multidisiplinary designers. 

Ambient Adaptive UI was released with the Echo Show 8 in 2023. The device now not only reacts to presence but also personalizes content through visual ID. For example, it can surface relevant playlists, reminders, or news stories as a recognized user approaches. It marked a foundational step toward more human-centered and dynamic interfaces for Alexa.

The Outcome

The Echo Show Home experience became a cornerstone of the Alexa brand, delivering ambient value at scale across multiple product generations. Through a consistent yet flexible design system, the work improved discoverability, deepened customer engagement, and created a uniquely recognizable experience across the screen-enabled Alexa device portfolio.

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04   Calendar & Weather Card

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