Prototypes & Personas - Kasia Ryniak & Rafal Cymerys, Upside

Kasia Ryniak & Rafal Cymerys are the co-founders of Upside, a voice app development agency based in Krakow, Poland, that offer voice interaction design, voice strategy and voice app development. In this episode, you will learn how experienced voice app developers create innovative prototypes, improve voice app engagement, and sell products and services via voice. First, we explore the creation of prototype of an Alexa skill for StarCraft II, which lets players use voice commands to trigger complex actions. We cover the importance of imbuing your voice assistant with a persona, how voice and visuals fit together to create multi-modal experiences, and a quick walkthrough of building the Alexa skill using the Alexa Skills Kit.  Then Kasia and Rafal introduce us to voicecommerce.js, Upside's new open-source voice framework for integrating an eCommerce storefront with voice-enabled assistants such as Alexa and Google Assistant. We cover the benefits of voice commerce to the consumers, Progressive Web Apps (PWA), and a case study for the fashion industry.  It was a really fun conversation with Kasia and Rafal, and our conversation is packed full of interesting ideas and practical advice. You'll definitely want to listen to it all the way through, and keep a notebook handy! Links from the show: Upside homepage: https://upsidelab.ioUpside on Twitter: @UpsideLab  Upside Voice Tech News: @CreateForVoice Upside on Github: https://github.com/upsidelab/voicecommerce  Starcraft skill design: http://bit.ly/2sdxkYWStarcraft skill dev: http://bit.ly/2sbEVqLVoicecommerce.js: http://bit.ly/2sfbNilVue Storefront: https://www.vuestorefront.io  PWAs: http://bit.ly/2seMey9Find us here:WebsiteApple PodcastsSpotifyYouTubeDiscordLinkedInXRedditPatreoncarl@voicetechpodcast.com ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★