Redesigning an AI translation tool for high-stakes video calls
SentiVue offers real-time AI translation for video calls. In 6 weeks, our team of four redesigned their platform from the ground up — cutting cognitive load, surfacing critical settings, and giving users confidence before, during, and after every call.
SentiVue Connect — redesigned interface overview
A tool built for translation, but lost in translation
SentiVue's existing platform had a real usability problem. Users like Luís — a 45-year-old immigration officer conducting visa interviews across language barriers — needed something that simply worked. No steep learning curve. No hunting through sub-menus. Just clarity, fast.
Our team identified four critical pain points through discovery research and user journey mapping.
Difficult navigation
Meetings required horizontal scrolling to find and join, increasing friction at the most critical moment.
Hidden settings
Language preferences and hardware setup were buried, causing avoidable technical failures mid-call.
Cluttered UI
Non-standard icons and irrelevant features added cognitive load where the interface needed to feel effortless.
No post-call closure
After calls ended, users received no confirmation of recordings or next steps, leaving them uncertain.
Meet Luís
Using a proto-persona provided by the client, we focused our design on Luís: a 45-year-old immigration officer in Lisbon who hosts visa interviews from a desk browser with applicants in India and China. He operates under strict recording rules, has zero time for tutorials, and needs language settings that are always one click away — never buried in a sub-menu.
Focusing on one persona in a tight 6-week timeline let us make decisive, coherent design choices rather than designing for an abstract average user.
User journey map — mapping Luís' experience with the existing platform
Three opportunity areas
With the user journey mapped, we translated pain points into "how might we" questions to guide our design direction.
Quick meeting access
How might we help users easily see and join scheduled meetings without unnecessary navigation?
Confidence in call setup
How might we help users feel certain that their language settings, translation options, and hardware are ready before a call starts?
Empowering post-call feedback
How might we ensure users receive useful, reassuring information after calls — confirmation of recordings and clear next steps?
Four changes that changed everything
Redesigned meeting cards
Replaced horizontal scrolling with a clean vertical card layout. Meetings are now immediately visible on arrival, with clear join buttons that require no hunting.
Before and after: meeting card redesign
Pre-call setup panel
A dedicated meeting "lobby" surfaces language selection and hardware checks before every call. Users arrive prepared, not scrambling mid-interview.
Streamlined dashboard with dark mode
Pruned irrelevant features, standardized icons to familiar video call conventions, and introduced a dark mode option — improving visibility and reducing visual noise.
Streamlined dashboard — light and dark mode variants
Post-call feedback module
After every call, users now receive instant confirmation of recording status, a summary of the session, and clear follow-up options — replacing the previous silence with genuine closure.
What the redesign delivered
Faster meeting access
Meetings visible at a glance — no scrolling, no searching.
Greater user confidence
Pre-call checks and post-call confirmation remove uncertainty from every session.
Lower cognitive load
A cleaner interface with familiar conventions makes navigation effortless.
What I learned
Time was the biggest constraint — four designers with work and family commitments, collaborating in late-night sessions. We made it work, but I came away with a strong appreciation for early planning: mapping realistic user flows before touching visuals saves significant rework later.
We received feedback that the line between our as-is and to-be journey map was occasionally blurred. In hindsight, keeping tighter connections between opportunity statements and specific usability issues would have made our design rationale clearer — even if it felt constraining in the moment.
Going forward, I want to build more immersive, feature-complete prototypes and continue refining how I represent branching decision paths in user flows. The details matter more than they appear to.