First Blueprint

When I started working on the Alexa skill my first objective was to find a blueprint that would somehow match the layout I needed. After checking a couple of blueprints, and listening to their voice recordings I came across three possible options. The first blueprint I tried out was called "Chore Chart" and the blueprint itself allowed me to pair names with specific chores in the house. I thought I could use the layout to pair actors/actresses with movie names. So after pairing the name with movies, it gave me the option to pair my previous choices with individual days of the week; technically it looked like a good match for my skill. Consequently, I proceeded to enter the necessary information for my skill and paired them with specific days of the week, then I continued with the testing phase. Unfortunately, after testing the skill I realized the application came pre-loaded with the word "Chores" and there was no way to remove this word. Having to abandon that blueprint, however, not everything was lost I still had two blueprints I could fall back on.

Second Blueprint

So I move on to my second option which was called "My Questions" this blueprint was simpler and it did not have any pre-loaded words. The layout was basic, I just neede to add a question and then add an answer, it seemed simple enough. However, after I added all the actor/actress names, match them with their proper movies, and proceeded with testing I realized that the skill required specific wording to be used. I realized the skill was going to look for a unique sentence structure, and if the user was not able to speak the exact words the skill would not work causing the experience to fail. Unfortunately, "My Questions" blueprint was not what I was looking for, as I knew the user was going to have problems utilizing the skill, needless to say, I had to abandon that blueprint as well.

Third Blueprint

My last blueprint was called " What to do" and as before, it did not have any pre-loaded words, thankfully, I also noticed that it had categories, and each category had a subcategory. For content, I found this layout quite useful, as it allowed me to add the actor or actress name in each category and their respective movies in each subcategory. As for the experience, the blueprint allowed me to enter a personalized welcome message. This option was a plus for me since I was able to customize the skill to my desire and better yet I was able to introduce the name of the actual app I was designing for. Finally, the skill had a before and after sentences that Alexa would execute when providing the movie suggestion. After I enter the content and personalized the messages I decided to test the skill, with friends and family. To my content, the app was working properly, and the categories and subcategories were acting as if Netflix was picking random movies based on the users viewing history.

So I decided to test drive teh application myself for the first time...

FIRST TESTING ITERATION

The idea behind my desired skill was to mimic an experience where the software would provide movie suggestions based on the user's viewing habits. Hypothetically, Netflix software would create a log of the users previous viewing history and when the skill was activated Netflix would return the name of actors or actresses so the user would have the opportunity to pick. Then after the user picked the name of the actor or actress the Netflix app would provide a movie suggestion which Alexa would execute by reading it to the users. Successfully activating and executing this skill the search option would be less needed and the users would be more inclined to watch movies from their favorite actors or actresses. Eventually, the search option would be incorporated into the skill but for the time being, the movie suggestion skill was a good start.

UPDATE - SECOND ITERATION

When I created the "NETFLIX Movie Night" Skill I wanted for the user to feel that Alexa was interacting on a much more personalized level. I wanted to create the illusion that Alexa knew the viewing behaviors of the user, and by asking a movie genre Netflix could generate a movie suggestion; based on the user's previous viewing history. My first attempt before the update meet the expectations of generating a movie suggestion, however, the vocabulary and adaptability of Alexa through the skill were not connecting appropriately.

After reviewing the skill and receiving some helpful critiques, I was able to update the skill to a more coherent experience. The skill was asking the user to select a choice based on categories, but the options given were names and not categories. So it was more fitting to replace the names of the actors with proper movie genres and provide movie suggestions based on the user's movie genre selection. After the change was made the experience sounded and felt more intuitive and logical. The interaction from Alexa throughout the usage of the skill was on point and felt personalized enough, so there was no need to update the introduction of the skill or the phrases created to present the movie suggestions.

Switching Actor's names to Genres sounded much more coherent, intuitive and relatable during Alexa's introduction of the skill.

Alexa:

It's movie night brought to you by NETFLIX! What type of movie would you like to see? Tell me which Category to pick from...

Switching names of Actors for Movie Genres

Robert Downey Jr -for- Action
Johnny Depp -for- Science Fiction
Matt Damon -for- Drama

THE CHALLENGE

When I started working on the Alexa skill my first objective was to find a blueprint that would somehow match the layout I needed. After checking a couple of blueprints, and listening to their voice recordings I came across three possible options. The first blueprint I tried out was called "Chore Chart" and the blueprint itself allowed me to pair names with specific chores in the house. I thought I could use the layout to pair actors/actresses with movie names. So after pairing the name with movies, it gave me the option to pair my previous choices with individual days of the week; technically it looked like a good match for my skill. Consequently, I proceeded to enter the necessary information for my skill and paired them with specific days of the week, then I continued with the testing phase. Unfortunately, after testing the skill I realized the application came pre-loaded with the word "Chores" and there was no way to remove this word. Having to abandon that blueprint, however, not everything was lost I still had two blueprints I could fall back on.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

When I started working on the Alexa skill my first objective was to find a blueprint that would somehow match the layout I needed. After checking a couple of blueprints, and listening to their voice recordings I came across three possible options. The first blueprint I tried out was called "Chore Chart" and the blueprint itself allowed me to pair names with specific chores in the house. I thought I could use the layout to pair actors/actresses with movie names. So after pairing the name with movies, it gave me the option to pair my previous choices with individual days of the week; technically it looked like a good match for my skill. Consequently, I proceeded to enter the necessary information for my skill and paired them with specific days of the week, then I continued with the testing phase. Unfortunately, after testing the skill I realized the application came pre-loaded with the word "Chores" and there was no way to remove this word. Having to abandon that blueprint, however, not everything was lost I still had two blueprints I could fall back on.

Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed !
MC