Aida
Redefining reading for casual readers
AI
Research
UX
AI
Research
UX
Role
Experience Designer
Timeline
12 weeks
Team
1 Experience Designer, 1 Industrial Designer
Tools/Skills
UXR, AI-driven UX, Design process exploration, Figma, Validation
Summary
In late 2022, I worked on Aida, a design project later published at IEEE GHTC 2023. The goal was to address why casual readers struggle to sustain reading habits and to design an AI-enabled intervention that encourages consistent and immersive reading.
Using a User-in-the-Loop Engineering Design (UILED) approach, we combined UX research with AI opportunities to create Aida, a foldable, multi-screen reading device offering:
AI-powered translation that preserved literary nuance.
Text-to-speech and audio synthesis for accessibility.
AI-generated personalized visuals to support comprehension and engagement.
This work highlighted how reading can be transformed from a solitary activity into an adaptive, inclusive, and motivating experience.
Identified Problem
Casual readers often lose interest due to limited time, vocabulary challenges, and lack of engaging formats.
How might we design an intervention that makes reading more accessible, engaging, and habit-forming using AI-driven support systems?
Aida at the IEEE GHTC Conference!
Understanding Our Users
Secondary Research
Literature Review: Identified causes of declining reading habits.
Market Survey: Gathered insights into reader demographics and struggles.
Competitor Analysis: Studied e-readers and apps, noting the lack of integrated AI-driven assistance.
Insights from Secondary Research
Primary Research
15+ stakeholder interviews and 50+ survey responses.
Personas & journey maps across 5 age groups.
Insights from Primary Research
User Persona and Journey Mapping to understand user needs
Ideation
We brainstormed multiple solutions and applied a morphological matrix. The strongest outcome was Aida, a device that integrates AI to address cognitive, motivational, and social barriers to reading.
Process of Ideation
Storyboarding to understand use cases
3D Form Renders to understand layout
Home Page
Socials!
Ability to translate books, provide audio books and generate visuals for immersion
The reader is provided an incentive to continue reading regularly through rewards!
Takeaways
Learned to design for users, balancing feasibility and user needs.
Gained skills in synthesizing user feedback into AI-driven features (translation, personalization, nudges).
Understood the ethical and cultural challenges of integrating AI into longstanding habits like reading.
Strengthened ability to bridge UX research with AI opportunities, positioning design as a mediator between human behavior and intelligent systems.
Role
Experience Designer
Timeline
12 weeks
Team
1 Experience Designer, 1 Industrial Designer
Tools/Skills
UXR, AI-driven UX, Design process exploration, Figma, Validation
Role
Experience Designer
Timeline
12 weeks
Team
1 Experience Designer, 1 Industrial Designer
Tools/Skills
UXR, AI-driven UX, Design process exploration, Figma, Validation
Summary
In late 2022, I worked on Aida, a design project later published at IEEE GHTC 2023. The goal was to address why casual readers struggle to sustain reading habits and to design an AI-enabled intervention that encourages consistent and immersive reading.
Using a User-in-the-Loop Engineering Design (UILED) approach, we combined UX research with AI opportunities to create Aida, a foldable, multi-screen reading device offering:
AI-powered translation that preserved literary nuance.
Text-to-speech and audio synthesis for accessibility.
AI-generated personalized visuals to support comprehension and engagement.
This work highlighted how reading can be transformed from a solitary activity into an adaptive, inclusive, and motivating experience.
Identified Problem
Casual readers often lose interest due to limited time, vocabulary challenges, and lack of engaging formats.
How might we design an intervention that makes reading more accessible, engaging, and habit-forming using AI-driven support systems?
How might we design an intervention that makes reading more accessible, engaging, and habit-forming using AI-driven support systems?
Aida at the IEEE GHTC Conference!
Understanding Our Users
Secondary Research
Literature Review: Identified causes of declining reading habits.
Market Survey: Gathered insights into reader demographics and struggles.
Competitor Analysis: Studied e-readers and apps, noting the lack of integrated AI-driven assistance.
Insights from Secondary Research
Primary Research
15+ stakeholder interviews and 50+ survey responses.
Personas & journey maps across 5 age groups.
Insights from Primary Research
User Persona and Journey Mapping to understand user needs
Ideation
We brainstormed multiple solutions and applied a morphological matrix. The strongest outcome was Aida, a device that integrates AI to address cognitive, motivational, and social barriers to reading.
Process of Ideation
Storyboarding to understand use cases
3D Form Renders to understand layout
Home Page
Socials!
Ability to translate books, provide audio books and generate visuals for immersion
The reader is provided an incentive to continue reading regularly through rewards!
3D Form Renders to understand layout
Home Page
Socials!
Ability to translate books, provide audio books and generate visuals for immersion
The reader is provided an incentive to continue reading regularly through rewards!
Takeaways
Learned to design for users, balancing feasibility and user needs.
Gained skills in synthesizing user feedback into AI-driven features (translation, personalization, nudges).
Understood the ethical and cultural challenges of integrating AI into longstanding habits like reading.
Strengthened ability to bridge UX research with AI opportunities, positioning design as a mediator between human behavior and intelligent systems.