Saga Studio lets you play-pretend with your characters in a fun and easy way to create dope stories that you can export across formats. \
\
**Problem**

We generate stories with 'word processors' not 'story processors'. Current language technology is rule based and rigid (like words), struggling with complex linguistic tasks and nuances (that make stories shine). Writing stories is not fun.

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FuNcLRgAMCoaNSAUm81i4MFLQWHG3%2F9Ks9Bd3eGP38JhXorG38%2F5c8bc2a9-2264-4e40-a554-73f0fcbbf8d2.png?alt=media&token=136a66fd-a5ab-4f88-ad14-93098370eaa9","id":"5c8bc2a9-2264-4e40-a554-73f0fcbbf8d2","width":1290,"height":826,"filename":"Screenshot 2024-05-05 at 2.44.26 PM.png","type":"image/png","caption":"Language levels","border":false}]}
```

### **Insights**

Children tell stories as a way to express themselves– they use their hands, bodies across time and space to tell them. *What if we build an interface that echoes this mode of interaction?*\
\
Storytelling is a natural way to learn and communicate. *What if we build a natural and inviting way to tell stories?*\
\
LLMs are great for coherence and not so great for consistency. *What if we build an app that leans into this?*

### **Solution**

**Experience**: Mimicking children play pretend, we made [numerous versions](https://www.mer.ai/thoughts/mygptstorywithme-write-stories-by-playing-with-shapes-let-ai-do-the-rest) of the interface to achieve the right balance between structure and fun. The concept takes inspiration from the [Kurt Vonnegut map](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP3c1h8v2ZQ).

```cv
gallery
{"layout":"hscroll","images":[{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FuNcLRgAMCoaNSAUm81i4MFLQWHG3%2Fsagastudio%2F4cd29275-d424-40aa-8b14-c68c7c1698a3.png?alt=media&token=c00ad7f1-94f5-42f1-ba33-d5c9b406d50e","id":"4cd29275-d424-40aa-8b14-c68c7c1698a3","width":3840,"height":2496,"filename":"1. Story tab.png","type":"image/png","caption":"","border":false},{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FuNcLRgAMCoaNSAUm81i4MFLQWHG3%2Fsagastudio%2Fc9b12b04-354e-40ce-aa99-53375c4f87fc.png?alt=media&token=4fa64ce0-d218-436a-ac77-375f7878af21","id":"c9b12b04-354e-40ce-aa99-53375c4f87fc","width":3840,"height":2496,"filename":"2. Character tab.png","type":"image/png","caption":"","border":false},{"src":"https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/maitake-project.appspot.com/o/pages%2FuNcLRgAMCoaNSAUm81i4MFLQWHG3%2Fsagastudio%2F2287fd28-1ab9-4052-ac52-7f02f15fb756.png?alt=media&token=50b0200b-23c0-412b-a12f-96d7a04ee0e3","id":"2287fd28-1ab9-4052-ac52-7f02f15fb756","width":3840,"height":2496,"filename":"3. Playing.png","type":"image/png","caption":"","border":false}]}
```

**Technical**: Below a screen capture of the front-end. We used Llama 3 & chat-GPT 3.5 along with Firebase. 

```cv
youtube
{"url":"https://youtu.be/4nOSGGuZTDc","width":200,"height":150,"thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4nOSGGuZTDc/hqdefault.jpg"}
```

### **Output**

With a simple click, Saga Studio can export captivating stories, just like the one  below (Audio only) - **produced in Aug 2023.**

```cv
youtube
{"url":"https://youtu.be/6rHuPC4fsDY","width":200,"height":113,"thumbnail":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6rHuPC4fsDY/hqdefault.jpg"}
```

Sagastudio.ai

**Outcome**\
\
Saga studio was built in order to explore the opportunities to develop new kind of creative tools that are discontinuous from the status quo (i.e. that don't require the same concepts or constraints from current generation of tools).

Saga studio enabled kids to express themselves with a level of nuance that previously was inaccessible due to the way language is being taught. From syntax, to semantics, to structure, and so on. Saga Studio leads with a playful structure, ignores syntax, and lets semantics emerge with its usage.

Saga studio was tested with multiple kids (aged 8-12) and in different settings (school, home).

* In all occasions, there was a strong appetite to engage with tools that enable learning and play without relying on the understanding of traditional concepts (like what does a genre means, or what is a type of story).

* Kids welcomed the ability to create resonant stories in multiple formats in a way that felt similar to the way they play pretend.

* Another learning is helping technology draw out nuance from simple concepts (i.e. a position in the screen translates into character emotional changes).

**Next steps**

Explore how to enable storytelling in a more collaborative fashion.

Saga Studio

I’m a humanist first, technologist second. For 20+ years, I’ve been on a mission to make new technologies adapt to people and not the other way around.

**Manager and maker.** I set standards for quality and craft by both directing and designing end-to-end product experiences.

* VP of 0→1 AI universal search tool ([Dropbox Dash](https://dash.dropbox.com/))

* Sr. Director of 300+ FTE team (Head of Design for [Google Search](https://www.google.com/), [Assistant](https://assistant.google.com/), [News](https://news.google.com/home?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en))

* First-ever Distinguished Designer at Google (highest IC level)

* Founder of AI storytelling product ([Saga Studio)](https://read.cv/mrhector/sagastudio)

**Human-centric innovation.** I build information products that work for everyday people by solving real-life needs and desires and developing more intuitive interactions.

* Co-founder of [Google Now](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Now) (Google’s first virtual assistant)- introduced the Card to Google as the new information unit

* Head of Design for [Google Assistant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Assistant) (Google’s second virtual assistant)- scaled answer cards and natural input across devices (car, watch, tv, phone, tablet, desktop)

* Co-founder of [Google SkyMap](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.stardroid&hl=en&pli=1) (multimodal stargazing app)

* Original designer of first [voice action patterns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Voice_Search) - solved for ambiguity, and hands free interactions

* Hold [13 patents](https://patents.google.com/?inventor=Hector+Ouilhet) on novel user experiences

**Build bridges and conviction.** I use my mixed background and soft skills to inspire large organizations to execute against multi-year product visions and strategies.

* Background in Computer Science, Master’s in Design, and Postdoc in Philosophy

* Lived across 18 different cities in 9 countries

* Enabled Google pivot to Youth through immersive experiments and foundational research

* Created a new tech function from scratch (Conversational Design). Evolve it into a Google-wide function.

Approach

Design

I’m a hypocrite. A very good one

What is the force that you need to break out of the inertia of your prior convictions? What is the force you need to break that membrane of the known? For me, it’s curiosity. But for you, that force might be doubt or desire or courage or an unsatiated hunger for a constantly evolving understanding of your world.

Which is why I want to be wrong again and again and again. There’s nothing to lose. It feels great to be wrong on the way to right. Even — or especially — if that right ends up being wrong, too.

Contrary to Popular Belief

A personal tale of managing your career by molding your character.

How Human Interaction is Shaping the Future of Technology

We should just be grateful that we don’t need to learn a new language to interact with this new technology. We just need to get used to speaking it with somebody — or better yet, something — that is still learning to talk. So be patient, be open-minded, and just be yourself. Only then will the future of technology finally take a human shape.This might be the end of the article, but hopefully the beginning of a longer conversation. I’m eager to expand my thinking in this space and would love to hear your perspectives.

The sale of the dead of the human

The concept of human has changed dramatically since it’s conception. From Aristotle, to Decartes, to Hume, Diderot and Kant. Each epoch reframes the notion of human, going through a flux of contraction and expansion of the term- starting from its definition against the cosmos (what makes us human is external to the human) to a metaphysical characterization that lives within the human (Kant). The following NFT captures de dead of the human as we know it and celebrates what’s yet to come.

Connection- 3/3 Humans & Tech

3 part conversation with [Dr. Cynthia Breazeal](https://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthia-breazeal-1792317/) about the relationship of tech and humanity

* [Part 3: ](https://mrhector.medium.com/connection-3-3-humans-tech-4932ecb84cf0)Curiosity, and how little humans embrace the combination of humanities and science.

Google Sky Map- now with time travel

Have you ever wondered how the sky was back in 1900? How the sky looked when the Apollo 11 moon landing happened? Or what the sky will look like next Thursday night for your planned star-gazing trip?\
\
Today, the new version of Google Sky Map lets you time travel to see the sky at a specific date, past or future. After smooth travel to the desired year, you can fast forward or rewind in various speeds and watch how the sky changes.

While viewing another time period, you can still search for your favorite objects.

The force behind stuff

A kids tale about the history of concepts, humans, nature and technology.

Making space for Grace in Technology: Elegance > Efficiency

Why Elegance is more important than efficiency

Expand Your Curiosity To Build a Better World for the Next Generation

Open up your curiosity to what’s happening in places you’ve never considered looking. That way we can better understand those places we’d never thought much about before, and make them better, safer, and healthier for everyone.

Connection- 2/3 Humans & Tech

3 part conversation with [Dr. Cynthia Breazeal](https://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthia-breazeal-1792317/) about the relationship of tech and humanity

* [Part 2:](https://mrhector.medium.com/connection-2-3-humans-tech-a9ba46813f50) Empathy, disappointment, technology role from protagonist to auxiliary, how AI can help people flourish.

More Human Ambiance in Ambient Computing

How to make ambient computing work—for people

Connection- 1/3 Humans & Tech

3 part conversation with [Dr. Cynthia Breazeal](https://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthia-breazeal-1792317/) about the relationship of tech and humanity

* [Part 1: ](https://mrhector.medium.com/connection-1-3-humans-tech-494742f96841)Other dimensions of human experience like emotional and social connection, dance as a metaphor, and how people are emotionally driven.

Responsive Environments book An Interdisciplinary Manifesto on Design, Technology and the Human Experience

What makes an environment “responsive”? This book provides some key concepts in the form of a design manifesto. Critically articulated from the perspective of leading experts, scholars and professionals, the ideas explored are unpacked through speculative urban visions and design projects at different timeframes, contexts and scales ranging from interactive artifacts to augmented cities. Drawing from a multiyear research at the REAL Lab at Harvard GSD and design work by INVIVIA and other innovative practices, the book unfolds the experiential facets of our technologically-mediated relationship with space in the fields of architecture and urbanism, design and art.

Mer.ai

Prototypes and provocations around AI and what does it mean to be human. 

Grand Prize- Best Everyday Utility - Google Now

13 Patents

Granted 13 patents on novel user experiences

At present, a concern for philosophical stakes is absent from technology research and development. The effect is that tech companies disrupt the concepts we live by without noticing the creative potential: the consequence is a missed opportunity to build products and processes that positively shape the new.

Entre las responsabilidades de Héctor Ouilhet está el proceso de interacción de plataformas como Google Assistant, Google Now y Google Search para todas las plataformas y dispositivos.

Este mexicano diseña el futuro de Google

[Hector ](https://www.designandgoodtimes.com/)has been thinking for over 20 years about how the digital interfaces we encounter shape, and are shaped by, human culture. We chatted about the patterns that these algorithmic interactions sometimes lock us into, and how we can redesign them to drive generative discomfort. Access to spreading your own ideas widely, a very recent possibility, Hector notes, is also shifting our relationship to truth; we asked how platforms might design better ways for us to interact with information. Read on for more on design practices for a changing information ecosystem.

Breaking digital patterns with Designer Hector Ouilhet

l ha logrado escalar alto en una de las compañías más valiosas del mundo. Conoce su historia.

Héctor Ouilhet, el mexicano que revoluciona Google Assistant

Launched Dropbox Dash. Find what you need instantly across your digital workspace with Dropbox Dash, AI-powered universal search [Full release here](https://blog.dropbox.com/topics/company/new-solutions-to-secure-organize-and-share-cloud-content)

Dropbox Dash Launch

The IA Collaborative Design for Women Roundtable Series themed “Illuminate + Act,” convened  25+ innovation and business leaders across industries including technology, healthcare, consumer products, financial services and insurance representing companies such as Airbnb, Johnson & Johnson, Google, USAA, and more, to explore challenges and bright spots to champion designing for women, for the benefit of all.

IA Collaborative Convenes Fortune 100 Leaders to Discuss Designing for Women, for the Benefit of All

Inspired by the way his daughter Ana Julia communicates, Hector Ouilhet is trying to make Google’s voice search more human.

How A Designer’s 3-Year-Old Daughter Is Humanizing Google

We asked seven leaders at some of the biggest companies how design impacts their business---here's what they had to say.

How Design Is Shaping the Future at Tech Giants Like Facebook

In Berlin startet heute das Tech Open Air: Überall in der Hauptstadt versammeln sich digitale Vordenker, Tech-Begeisterte und Unternehmer. Im Fokus: Ökonomie, Kunst und Leben in Zeiten des technologischen Fortschritts.

Digitales statt Dosenbier

For people, talking is easy. We’ve been doing it for millennia. But for machines? Not quite, says Hector Ouilhet, Head of Design at Google Search.

If you think of human speech as having been around for 24 hours, Ouilhet says, written word has been around for just eight minutes. [Computers](https://bluenotes.anz.com/posts/2017/04/video-can-sharing-help-us-beat-the-robots?mboxid=session%23992984a3babd46d9959d7a645b52c384%231732023028&adobe_mc=MCORGID%3D67A216D751E567B20A490D4C%2540AdobeOrg%7CTS%3D1732021168) have been here for one millisecond.

Article related to:Tech Soundbytes: the future of communication

There's always this internal debate about how much functionality should we add

The Google exec in charge of designing Search

Tres latinoamericanos trabajan en pulir estas tecnologías de la gigante de Internet y lograr experiencias más satisfactorias

Talento latino lidera mejoramiento de asistente de Google y sus dispositivos

Ecco come Google immagina le nostre interazioni con i dispositivi di domani: più semplici, dirette e condivise. L'intervista di GQ

Il rapporto con la tecnologia? Per Google deve essere più umano

A revolution is happening in the Human-Computer interaction: Soon, devices will finally speak our language.

Let's talk NLP

Hector Ouilhet es el diseñador encargado de Google Search y Assistant

El traductor de mundos que trabaja en Google

On today’s episode, Ari has a conversation with Hector Ouilhet, former VP of Design at Dropbox.

Ari’s chat with Hector covers several topics, including helping teams define themselves as a group and as individuals, operating in the background as a team of coaches to the advantage of the people within an organization, and the idea of aging and patina in digital assets.

The conversation begins with Hector sharing his early experiences with his sense of self, how they shape his perspective on leadership, and how that helps him lead his team through change with understanding and awareness.

Hector Ouilhet on humanizing change around team roles and AI (podcast episode #2)

We are thrilled to announce that Hector Ouilhet will be our first Advanced Interaction Resident. Known to be a trail-blazer, in his time at CIID he will focus on The Future of Design in the Era of AI.

AIR: Advanced Interaction Residency

[Hector Ouilhet](https://medium.com/u/2fe302d8fe28?source=post_page---user_mention--ee5cb2914c5a--------------------------------) is Head of Design for Google Search, Assistant and News family of products. He is originally from Mexico and has lived in 6 countries and 11 cities. He considers himself part of the world. Hector has a degree in Computer engineering and a Masters in interaction design. He taught design to engineers at MIT Media Lab, worked at HP and ran his own company....

Interview with Hector Ouilhet, Head of Design for Google Search, Assistant and News

Google thought leaders in the UX & Design community talk about what it's like to work at Google, our design philosophy, and our take on the future of design.

Google’s Design Philosophy and UX Culture

From inventing fictitious calendar entries to incorporating personal photos in design mocks, listen in to Google designers’ deepest design confessions. In this episode, host Travis Neilson and a panel of Google UX designers discuss and reflect on their peers’ anonymous confessions and offer insight on important topics, quirky habits, and design struggles that don’t often get airtime.

Google UX Confessions

Designers from Google, Argo, Work & Co., ustwo, Sagmeister+Walsh, OKFocus, and more tell us how they stay focused and keep innovating.

32 Productivity Tips From The World’s Top Designers

Google's new chatbot, Google search assistant, helps you discover how you might talk to the virtual assistant as it rolls out to the rest of Google.

Google's New Chatbot Won't Shut Up—And That's a Good Thing

Interacting with technology the same way we interact with people. Voice, the most common interface that mankind has ever developed, is about to undergo a renaissance, and the reasons why are as natural as the technology that is driving it.

Voice speaks up

We’ve gotten used to adapting to technology. But in the future, tech will adapt to us. On this episode, Hector Ouilhet, head of design for Google Search and Google Assistant, shares the latest in people-centric design.

The Ambiguity-Laden March Toward People-Centric Design

In teaching computers how to communicate with people, Hector Ouilhet, Google's head of design for Search sees in the technology the same 'painful yet interesting' learning phases that a young person goes through when becoming an adult. To train computers in the art of questions, Ouilhet looks to the questing period of his own youth and to his four-year-old daughter for models of both simple and complicated questions that he wants computers of the future to understand.

Q&A: Google's Hector Ouilhet

Il designer di Google Hector Ouilhet racconta l’evoluzione prossima dei dispositivi digitali: grazie all’uso del linguaggio naturale saranno più semplici da usare e meno invasivi nella vita di tutti i giorni

Il futuro secondo Google: sarà la tecnologia ad adattarsi all’uomo, non viceversa

Google Now was Google's first assistant- proactive and expressive.

Google Now

Google Assistant is Google's second digital assistant- multimodal and multi device. 

Google Assistant

Dropbox virtual assitant that finds, organizes, and protects company content with AI-powered universal search for work.

Dropbox Dash

Google Search is a search engine that helps users find information on the web

Google Search

Sky Map is an [Android](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system) "Android (operating system)") [planetarium software](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetarium_software "Planetarium software") application

Google Sky Map

The Human based Ambient Computing

Woman in Tech Executive Salon

Strategic & practical advice on how to get comfortable with discomfort while growing in your career. 

Being comfortable with discomfort

Lessons from a self - reinvention journey

Breaking molds in the Age of AI

Next Generation experiences

Portfolio reviews

Making Space for Grace

Building products with customers

A Conversational Future: Making Technology Adapt to Us

Conversation in Design

Making tech adapt to us

Making Tech adapt to us

Comfort in Discomfort

Making tech more natural

By People for People: Making Tech Adapt to Us

Conversation with Hector Ouilhet

The ambience in ambient computing

Good hypocrisy

Technology adapting to us

Art + Tech + Design = Happiness

The new tech

Strategic Design and Management

Future of future panel

Design For Women Roundtable

How people figure things out

UI and the Future of Customer Experience

The future of conversational UIs

The Power of Diversity in Design

Making Space for Grace in Technology

Realizing the future through design

Future State

Interacting with listening machines

More Human Ambience in Ambient Computing

End of Year Examiner

Set the standard and best practices by being Google’s first Distinguished Designer (highest level of IC).

Distinguished Designer

The MIT Mobile Experience Lab research focuses on  reinventing and the connections between people, ideas and physical places in order to improve people's lives through meaningful experiences.

Research fellow

Responsible for leading: Android TV UX, Google Sky Map, supervising design across APAC , and advertising platforms. 

Senior Designer

Head of Design for: Google Now and Voice Search across all  platforms and devices.

Director

Dash is an AI-powered universal search for work. Quickly find, organize and share all your content to save time and focus on the work that matters most.

VP of Design

Researching what Design will be for the next 20 years. 

Teaching Design in the age of AI to the next generation of leaders.

AIR resident

Saga Studio is to storytelling as the word processor is to writing.

Founder

Designing the next generation of assistive applications to help businesses around the world work smarter. 

Head of Design for all Google Search related products: Google Assistant, Google Search, Google News, across all platforms and devices.