STAY AI
Staylien
Conceptualizing and executing on a strategic mascot for the face of a company’s AI.
MAKING GENERIC AI CHAT A FRIENDLY EXPERIENCE
Concept & UX Strategy
During product planning for Stay AI’s in-app chatbot, the initial direction was a fairly standard AI chat experience. Functionally solid, but emotionally neutral. I saw an opportunity to improve the user experience by giving the chatbot a clear personality and face.
I proposed Staylien as the character behind the chat. At the time, sentiment around AI was becoming increasingly negative, with users associating it with job loss, cold automation, and faceless systems. This was less a usability problem and more a perception problem. My goal was to address the emotional side of UX by shaping how users felt before they even sent their first message.
The alien concept was intentional. Aliens often signal curiosity, friendliness, and futuristic knowledge shared openly. A warm, excited alien offering help felt far more approachable than a robot or abstract AI icon. Staylien reframed the chatbot from a generic tool into a character users could trust and engage with.
DESIGNING FOR FRIENDLINESS, CONSISTENCY, & SCALE
Art Direction & System Design
I led the art direction for Staylien, starting with a mood board that translated UX goals into visual decisions. The character needed to feel friendly, optimistic, and intelligent without feeling intimidating or overly tech-forward.
I commissioned and worked closely with an artist through multiple rounds of iteration, refining expression, proportions, lighting, and texture to ensure emotional clarity and brand alignment. Every decision was made with perception in mind.
As a faced-paced start-up, waiting weeks for individual assets or spending years building a robust library wasn’t realistic. After the original 3D render was delivered, I expanded the system by training a custom Google Gemini Gem using the final model. I set clear generation rules so anyone in the company could create new Staylien imagery while preserving visual and emotional consistency. This turned a single character into a scalable, self-serve UX asset.
Staylien’s Initial Rendering
Gemini Generated Image of Staylien Interacting with One of Our Merchant’s Products
EMOTIONAL DESIGN DRIVING ADOPTION
Impact on User Experience
Staylien was met with immediate enthusiasm from both internal teams and customers. The chatbot beta featuring Staylien became one of our most opted-in beta features, signaling strong emotional buy-in alongside functional use.
More importantly, Staylien changed how users experienced the AI. The chatbot felt more approachable, less intimidating, and more human. He added delight and personality to an otherwise utilitarian interaction and brought consistency and character to Stay AI’s brand across channels.
This project reinforced a core UX principle. User experience is not just about flows and efficiency, but about emotion, trust, and perception.
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