DESIGNING AT BRAINSTATION X AMAZON HACKATHON

Led UX for 'Amazon Vine Voices' review verification interface with privacy and community in focus

Hackathon

BrainStation x Amazon Industry Project

Role

Lead UX Designer (Wireframes, Prototyping, Storytelling)

Timeline

24 hours (Sep 2024)

Team

2 UX Designers, 3 Software Engineers, 3 Data Scientists, 1 Cybersecurity Analyst, 1 Product Manager

IN A NUTSHELL…

I built out the story and wireframes for our MVP.

We won first place.

I collaborated closely with my team to tackle Amazon’s challenge: improve the quality of product reviews while upholding user privacy.


During the ideation phase, we explored ways to build on Amazon’s existing systems to reduce development costs, focusing on practical, scalable solutions. In 24 hours, I designed a solution that balanced privacy and efficiency.

THE PROBLEM

I identified that Amazon reviews are often untrustworthy

Amazon.com hosts over one billion reviews. Reviews are essential to online shopping, influencing consumer decisions and product popularity. Whether sellers are buying fake reviews to manipulate customers or low ratings are posted without an explanation, it's up to Amazon to ensure the authenticity and quality of reviews to maintain trust between buyers and sellers.

REVIEW VERIFICATION

Leverage Amazon Vine: Reinforce machine learning algorithms to identify authentic reviews

By leveraging Amazon Vine members to moderate Amazon reviews we can improve trust and customer relationships. Even a small increase of 1% in the accuracy of the detection systems could result in millions of reviews categorized correctly.

💡 What's Amazon Vine?

Amazon Vine is an exclusive program that invites top reviewers, known as Vine Voices, to receive free products and share their experiences to help customers make informed decisions. As it is an invite-only program, the average number of helpful votes for Vine reviews was significantly higher than for non-Vine reviews.

“As a vocal Vine member, every review I write is an opportunity to be heard and contribute to a better shopping experience for others.”

WHAT'S IN IT FOR THE VINE VOICE USER?

Referencing Amazon's review flow to inform Vine Voice feedback

Without direct access to the Vine Voice platform or online resources available, we had to devise our solution by referencing the regular Amazon review process. Since many Vine users are already familiar with how reviews work on Amazon, we used that journey as a foundation to inform our Vine dashboard design. Additionally, we took inspiration from DataAnnotation, which leverages human feedback to train AI systems.

ENSURING A COHERENT AND EXPERIENCE

I referenced Amazon’s internal design system to ensure the wireframes reflected their brand identity

PIVOT

I removed suggested reviews from the confirmation screen to keep the focus on the main task flow

While including suggested reviews on the confirmation page would have enhanced engagement with Vine Voice users, feedback from the developers indicated that adding these recommendations was not feasible due to time constraints.

ANOTHER PIVOT

Remove any features that disclose identity to enhance security measures

After finalizing the high-fidelity designs and sending them to developers, we regrouped to discuss adjustments. Our cybersecurity team recommended removing elements that could reveal reviewer identities—like profile images, names, locations, and dates—ensuring Vine members access the latest reviews while protecting user privacy.

PITCHING OUR FINAL MVP TO THE JUDGES

I didn't just sell a product, I sold the experience.

Since we were effectively pitching our project to the judges while integrating all four specializations into one presentation, I took the lead in storytelling. Having created the presentation, I ensured that it was grabbing their attention with a statistic about their company and knew how to lead the audience in a way of why they need a product like this it wasn't just simply giving them a presentation of our product but to answer the why. For the business side of things, it would be easier for Amazon to just

NEXT STEPS

Implement Multi-Factor Authentication for Vine members

Due to time constraints, we couldn’t implement multi-factor authentication (MFA). While mandatory MFA could inconvenience Amazon's regular users who don’t need to log in to browse, we propose applying it exclusively for Vine members using this feature, providing a secure yet flexible solution.


While exploring the market potential, I also considered strategies to drive ongoing engagement:

🏆 Implement ranking system to gamify review process.

🤖 Using AI to anonymize users with pseudonyms for privacy.

🌱 Grow community culture for Vine members.

LEARNINGS

Investing time in research and ideation pays off

I met with my group three times during the early stages to ensure everyone was aligned on the overall goal. This early alignment allowed us to divide into smaller groups, with the designers collaborating closely with the developers to ensure that features were consistent with our design and functionality. The initial time investment in ideation ultimately paid off, leading to a smoother production process.