Hana: AI Powered Assistant
Hana is an AI-powered assistant built by Hanabi Technologies and integrated directly into Google Chat. She acts as a smart, always-available team member—helping with reminders, tasks, knowledge sharing, and decision-making right inside your chat spaces. Hana automates repetitive work, answers questions, manages information, and streamlines collaboration, all while keeping your data private and secure. Just mention @Hana in any chat to get instant, context-aware help.
1. Aligning Design with Business Goals
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I learned that great design isn’t just about aesthetics or usability—it must directly support business objectives. Every user flow, feature, and visual decision was made with Hana’s growth, user engagement, and market differentiation in mind.
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I became comfortable interpreting business metrics and using them to prioritize design and feature work.
2. Data-Driven Decision Making
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I started using analytics and user feedback to inform product improvements, not just design tweaks. Understanding how to measure product success and interpret user data became second nature.
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I realized the importance of validating assumptions through real user insights and iterating quickly based on evidence.
3. Cross-Functional Collaboration
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Working closely with developers, the CEO/PM, and marketing, I learned how to communicate requirements, negotiate trade-offs, and keep everyone aligned on priorities.
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I developed empathy for engineering and business constraints, and learned to advocate for users while balancing technical feasibility and timelines.
4. Strategic & Systems Thinking
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Transitioning from a feature-focused mindset to thinking about the entire product ecosystem was a key shift. I started considering the long-term scalability of design systems, the impact of new modules, and how each decision fits into Hana’s broader roadmap.
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I became adept at breaking down complex problems into actionable steps and mapping dependencies across teams.
5. Ownership & Accountability
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As the lone designer, I owned not just the UI/UX, but also branding, marketing content, documentation, and even community engagement. This taught me to take full responsibility for outcomes, not just deliverables.
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I learned to set clear goals, track progress, and pivot quickly when priorities changed.
6. User-Centric Mindset
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My design background made me naturally empathetic to user needs, but building Hana taught me to validate those needs through research and ongoing feedback loops.
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I learned to balance user delight with business value and technical constraints.
7. Communication & Storytelling
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Crafting product narratives for landing pages, pitch decks, and community channels taught me the power of clear, persuasive communication. I learned to tailor my message for different audiences - users, stakeholders, and potential investors.
8. Adaptability in a Startup Environment
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I became comfortable wearing multiple hats, shifting between design, product, marketing, and support as needed. This adaptability is crucial for product managers in early-stage companies.
8. Adaptability in a Startup Environment
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I became comfortable wearing multiple hats, shifting between design, product, marketing, and support as needed. This adaptability is crucial for product managers in early-stage companies.
Few Key Challanges I Faced During Journey
1. Challenge: Diagnosing and Reversing a 50% Drop in Daily Active Users
Problem:
A sudden 50% drop in daily active users and usage was observed in Google Analytics. To understand the cause, I rigorously tested Hana and found response times had ballooned to 180–240 seconds—a likely reason for user drop-off.
Hypotheses & Approach:
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Hypothesis 1: Improving Hana’s response quality (by upgrading to the latest OpenAI model) would increase daily usage.
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Hypothesis 2: Reducing response time would have a greater positive impact on user retention and engagement.
Execution:
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First, we upgraded to the latest OpenAI model to boost response quality. Analytics showed no significant change in usage.
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Next, I advocated for and prioritized optimizing Hana’s response time. The dev team implemented backend optimizations, including improved API request handling, parallel processing for long-running tasks, and better caching strategies to minimize wait times.
Outcome:
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After deploying the response time improvements, Hana’s average response time dropped from ~200 seconds to under 20 seconds.
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Within a week, daily active users and daily usage rebounded—growing from the 50% drop back up to a 70% increase over the previous low, surpassing our conservative estimate and returning to healthy growth.
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This data-driven, hypothesis-testing approach directly contributed to product growth and user retention.
2. Challenge: Aligning a Lean Team for Fast, Cross-Functional Delivery
Problem:
As the only designer in a small team, I noticed recurring misalignment between design, development, and business priorities. With everyone wearing multiple hats, communication gaps sometimes slowed progress and led to rework.
Actions Taken:
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Established clear ownership for each module and set up weekly syncs to align on goals and blockers.
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Used FigJam and Figma for transparent flow mapping and hi-fi design reviews, ensuring all stakeholders could easily review and comment.
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Fostered a culture of open communication and quick feedback loops, and maintained shared documentation for clarity.
Outcome:
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Reduced design-to-dev handoff friction and improved the speed of feature releases.
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Created a more collaborative, agile environment that adapted quickly to changing priorities.
1. Research & Discovery
Before jumping into design, I invested significant time in understanding the landscape, users, and opportunities to ensure Hana would stand out as a truly valuable AI teammate
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Defining the Problem & Goals:
We started by clarifying the core challenges remote and hybrid teams face: scattered information, repetitive manual work, and the lack of a context-aware, always-available assistant within team chats. Our goal was to design an AI that feels like a human, solves real productivity pain points, and integrates seamlessly into daily workflows.
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Competitive Analysis:
To position Hana uniquely, I conducted a thorough analysis of leading AI assistants and collaboration tools—including Dailybot, Q-Bot, Emma AI, Bard AI, Jarvis AI, Work AI and others. I benchmarked their strengths and weaknesses, focusing on persona, onboarding flows, feature sets, and dashboard usability. This helped identify clear gaps and opportunities for differentiation, such as persistent memory, multimodal Q&A, and deep Google Workspace integration. Sample Document
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User & Market Research:
I mapped out primary user segments: remote teams, startup founders, project managers, and tech leads. Through secondary research (Surveys and Interviews were out of scope) by reading blogs, reviews etc. I uncovered their daily struggles, must-have features, and unmet needs. Insights from this phase directly influenced the prioritization of features like task automation, reminders, and centralized knowledge recall.
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Feature Analysis & Ideation:
I translated research findings into actionable product requirements, creating feature lists. I also explored emerging trends in AI/automation and discussed with the team to ensure our roadmap was both innovative and grounded in real user needs.
3. Information Architecture & User Flows
Mapping the Experience
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I created the initial information architecture and user flows in FigJam, outlining how users would navigate between modules and accomplish key tasks. The focus was on minimizing friction—making it simple for admins and users to onboard, manage memories, set reminders, and access reports with as few steps as possible.
Collaborative Iteration:
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After presenting the flows to the tech team and product manager, we iteratively refined them based on feasibility and technical constraints. This collaborative process ensured that the MVP was not only user-friendly but also practical to implement within tight timelines.
From Low-Fidelity to High-Fidelity:
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Once the flows were finalized, I transitioned to Figma to develop high-fidelity wireframes and UI designs for the dashboard. Each screen was crafted to maintain clarity, consistency, and scalability—leveraging a modular layout that could easily accommodate future features.
Landing Page for Fast Go-to-Market:
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In parallel, I designed a single-page landing page for Hana, intentionally keeping the structure minimalistic to reduce development complexity and speed up deployment. The landing page highlighted Hana’s core value propositions, provided clear CTAs, and included essential onboarding instructions.
4. Product Design & Delivery
Iterative MVP Expansion
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For the first several months, we retained the original (V1) dashboard design, focusing on building out core modules—Memory, Reminders, Users, Spaces, and Report Groups—directly for Google Workspace teams. Each new feature followed a consistent process: mapping user flows, aligning with tech/PM on feasibility, and then crafting high-fidelity designs in Figma. This allowed us to ship fast, validate with real users, and keep development cycles lean.
Major Dashboard Revamp
After several feature releases, we recognized the need to elevate the dashboard UI. The goals:
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Improve color palette and visual hierarchy
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Optimize space usage, giving more real estate to the main container
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Make navigation and key actions more intuitive
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Benchmark against top competitors for best-in-class UX
The result was a much cleaner, more modern dashboard with improved accessibility, clarity, and a more engaging user experience.
Landing Page Evolution
The Hana landing page underwent a similar transformation. By analyzing competitors and user feedback, we expanded the content, clarified Hana’s value proposition, and introduced new visuals and FAQs. The new landing page not only improved conversion but also better educated prospective users about Hana’s capabilities.
Mobile App Launch
To further increase engagement and reach, we decided to launch the Hana mobile app. The primary focus was on the “Chat with Hana” feature, designed to make AI interactions feel more human and accessible. I researched leading conversational AI apps like Character AI and Talki AI, extracting key engagement patterns and applying them to our own app flows.
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The app was built with scalability in mind: every dashboard module was designed for mobile, ensuring future features could be added with minimal redesign.
5. Marketing & Community
Brand Asset Creation & Platform Launches
I designed and developed a cohesive suite of brand assets tailored for major SaaS and tech platforms, including Google Workspace Marketplace, Product Hunt, Capterra, and G2. For each platform, I crafted custom visuals and wrote compelling product descriptions that clearly articulated Hana’s unique value proposition and differentiated features.
YouTube Channel & Video Content
Recognizing the power of video in user education and lead generation, I launched the official Hana YouTube Channel. I designed the channel banner, created a series of branded video thumbnails, and recorded multiple demo videos to showcase Hana’s capabilities. I wrote, storyboarded, and produced the main product explainer video—handling every aspect from script to final edit.
Leveraging tools like HeyGen, I brought Hana’s persona to life in video, making the AI assistant feel more relatable and human. Through consistent content and optimization, I scaled the channel from zero to 123+ engaged subscribers.
Social Media & Community Engagement
I created and managed LinkedIn post graphics, pitch decks, and other marketing collateral to support product launches, feature updates, and community outreach. I also set up a dedicated Discord community for Hana, where I regularly posted product updates, engaged with users, and gathered feedback to inform future iterations. This direct line to users helped us foster a sense of belonging and co-creation.
Documentation & Support
To ensure users had all the resources they needed, I built a comprehensive Hana documentation hub, organizing every feature, use case, and tutorial in a clear, accessible format. This not only improved onboarding but also reduced support overhead and empowered users to get the most out of Hana.
2. Persona Creation & Brand Identity
Inspiration & Research:
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I began by exploring a range of personalities and visual references online, focusing on approachable, empathetic, and trustworthy faces that would resonate with our target users. The name “Hana” itself, meaning “flower” in Japanese, inspired us to infuse the brand with warmth, positivity, and a sense of growth—qualities also reflected in Hanabi (fireworks), our company’s name.
Cultural & Visual Translation
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To authentically translate these ideas into Hana’s persona, I researched Japanese aesthetics and symbolism, carefully selecting facial features and expressions that felt both universally friendly and subtly inspired by Japanese culture. This ensured Hana would feel relatable and inviting to a global audience, while still carrying a unique identity.
Sketch to Life: The Creative Process:
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After narrowing down a few reference faces, I sketched Hana’s face in Photoshop, focusing on a balance between realism and a gentle, welcoming presence. The initial sketches were colorful and expressive, designed to evoke the vibrancy and optimism associated with flowers and fireworks.
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A few months later, I discovered Heygen—a tool that enabled us to transform our 2D sketch into a 3D avatar. Using Heygen, I brought the Hana persona to life as a dynamic, almost human-like digital character. This transition from sketch to 3D avatar not only enhanced Hana’s presence in onboarding and marketing materials but also made her interactions feel more real and engaging for users.
Visual Identity System:
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Beyond the avatar, I established a cohesive visual identity for Hana—defining the color palette, typography, iconography, and illustration style. The palette draws from Hanabi’s brand colors, balancing energetic reds and oranges with calming neutrals and blues. The typography is clean and modern, supporting Hana’s approachable yet professional tone.
