Anki (the startup that built Cozmo) was made up of the brightest roboticists from Carnegie Mellon, the top animators from Pixar and LAIKA, and the Creative Director responsible for Skylanders. To say I was intimidated (but excited!) was an understatement. I spent an intense year grinding alongside UX designers and Unity developers to concept and prototype different visual approaches to Cozmo’s progression. Was the mechanic a literal energy network of brain synapses and heart nodes? Was Cozmo an intergalactic traveler that needed your help reconnecting his star chart? Should we simply emphasize friendship and relationship goals to reward play? Maybe we want to lean more infographic in our visual style and remove all the back story. The constant pivoting taught me to stay agile and curious and to appreciate the subtle balance of story to interaction that will capture and keep a user’s attention.
Creative Direction: Eddie Visser, Joby Otero
UX: Charles Gallant, Matt Rubenstein, Sean Levatino
