Amazon Glow is a new to world video calling and interactive entertainment system designed to make it easier for children to bond with remote family by allowing users to video-call and play together simultaneously –
As the lead Creative Director for Amazon Glow, I have overseen the direction, management, and creative of over 80 new, device specific games and activities from inception through launch.
Designing for a new to world product means creating everything from the ground up. Using extensive testing and research as our base, my team and I designed entirely new UI systems specific for our product, as well as creating the optimal user flows and UX. Designing for something new is an iterative process, and as we created our desired experience for Glow, we made sure to always incorporate the latest user testing results into this process. Not only did we have the Glow device we had to design for, we also needed to support phones and tablets on the remote-caregiver’s side of the experience as well. With our key demographics not only being 3-12 year olds but as well as older care-givers, having a consistent easy to use UI was imperative.
Due to the nature of the Glow device and the importance of connection, we needed to not only create high fidelity memorable experiences on the device itself, but also ensure that same quality experience was mirrored for the remote caregiver as well. This meant optimizing not only for our own projected display, but also for the most popular phones and tablets as well. Using a data driven approach, I created templates and guidelines for how our games would scale across all the most popular devices on the market, as well as guidelines for how to make sure that same experience looked when projected by the device itself. Not only are all of our games responsive, the mirrored gameplay experience itself is optimized to ensure the video PIP on the remote caregiver’s device doesn’t cover any important gameplay information.
Working with multiple external studios in the development of these activities meant that guidelines, UI tool kits, asset libraries, and templates all needed to be created to ensure visual consistency and fidelity was maintained across all instances. I spearheaded the charge and helped to design, create, and work with all members of our team to provide these invaluable tools and direction to our partners. I also maintained our relationships with leadership, both internally and externally, to ensure our direction was approved, feasible, and maintainable from a development side.
Early customer signal suggested that users not only wanted a large quantity of games available on the platform, but also games they knew. With our core driver being connection, we built a library of 80+ games consisting first of memorable classics as well as new experiences. Games such as Chess, Memory Match, Go Fish, Pinball, Crazy Eights, as well as new takes on old classics like Frogger and Guess Who. As the creative director overseeing these activities, I not only had to ensure the highest fidelity was achieved, but also make sure our design sensibilities were maintained, our UX flow was correct, the UI was consistent, as well as followed our game tenets: Advocate for the players. Focus on the foundation. Push for what’s novel. Reduce friction through consistency. Mind the scope. Defer to discipline owners.
Our third party (3P) content partnerships are aimed to drive customer engagement—particularly when connected on a call with a remote loved one—by delivering kids and RCs content that delights them both and keeps them coming back. We acknowledge that our mission goes beyond just connecting kids and family members to help improve lifelong outcomes for kids and that we should be looking at partnerships that can help deliver on that.
In order to elevate our product, our team partnered to bring many familiar faces and IP’s into our Glow library of games and activities. These third parties include all Disney, Marvel, National Geographic, Nickelodeon, Hasbro, Sesame Workshop, and Mattel. As the single point of contact with these external IP holders, I helped to maintain relationships, handled all external assets, creative direction, and ensured the highest standards of quality were maintained.
Since launching our device in March of 2022, we currently averaging 10,000+ daily users, with 600,000+ weekly minutes of play. Glow currently has a 4.4/5 star rating on Amazon.com, and has made a significant impact on helping loved-ones far away to connect with their family and friends in a meaningful (and fun) way.
