General
Hola is an AI healing companion for everyday emotional well-being, developed in collaboration with Nexo Intelligent Technology from concept to MVP (C&A, T&R). Following a Research through Design approach [4] with iterative prototyping [3], expert review identified the risk of unconstrained personalization fostering idealized self-presentation, leading to a redefined framework balancing system guidance and user control. A preliminary study with six participants then explored how system-tailored versus user-tailored personalization affects Anticipated Communication Quality (ACQ) and Communication Willingness (CW) in self-disclosure contexts (U&S, MD&C) [1]. The Business Model Growth Map aligned the research direction with commercial priorities (B&E).
Contribution to PI&V
Joining Hola at an early stage clarified that UX in product development must respond not only to user needs, but also to product priorities, business goals, and technical feasibility. UX deliverables such as personas, user journeys, and prototypes became shared references and targets for implementation, and sustained iteration helped guide the team toward a shared product vision.
Involved Expertise Areas
- U&S: expert review, task-driven usability testing (SUS + VAS), semi-structured interviews, ACQ/CW experimental study (3 conditions: Baseline / System-Tailored / User-Tailored AI), ethics protocol and consent procedure
- T&R: high-fidelity Figma prototyping for product iterations (V2-P0 to MVP) and research prototype
- C&A: 0-1 product interface and interaction design
- MD&C: ACQ/CW scales, SUS scoring and analysis
- B&E: Business Model Growth Map, commercial alignment
Links
Paper (camera ready) - Design Research
Details related to product feature design are not available for this project due to a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).
More project details see Dribble
References
[1]: Croes, E.A.J., Antheunis, M.L., van der Lee, C. and de Wit, J.M.S. 2024. Digital Confessions: The Willingness to Disclose Intimate Information to a Chatbot and its Impact on Emotional Well-Being. Interacting with Computers. 36, 5 (Aug. 2024), 279-292. https://doi.org/10.1093/iwc/iwae016
[2]: Han, L. and Jou, M. 2023. Talking to a bot or a wall? How chatbots vs. human agents affect anticipated communication quality. Computers in Human Behavior. 143, (June 2023), 107674. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2023.107674
[3]: What is Iterative Development? - updated 2025: 2016. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/iterative-development
[4]: Zimmerman, J., Forlizzi, J. and Evenson, S. 2007. Research through design as a method for interaction design research in HCI. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (New York, NY, USA, Apr. 2007), 493-502.