Basmah Masood
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PORTFOLIO

This portfolio presents a curated selection of projects exploring experimental designs, brand-driven visuals, and culturally inspired narratives across digital, print, and video formats.

BEHN APP

MEDIUM: UX and Speculative Design
TOOLS: Blender, Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop
SKILLS: UI, UX, Prototyping, Speculative product Design, Research, Contextual inquiry, 3D modeling
YEAR: 2024

While learning 3D modeling and UX, I designed a speculative, voice-based assistant that helps Pakistani women navigate their rights, health concerns, and personal growth discreetly.

Many Pakistani women in underserved rural areas lack digital literacy, information, and freedom of choice due to limited internet and cultural restrictions. Behn aims to address these challenges by providing a supportive, discreet, culturally sensitive voice-assisted platform powered by LLMs.

KEY FEATURES

  • Users can ask broad, open-ended questions in Urdu, through LLMs enabling the agent (behn) to learn how they prefer to interact.

  • The agent allows structured inquiries by category, identifies popular topics, and generates follow-up questions to deepen learning.

  • Users can record audio journals to express their thoughts, which are saved and analyzed to better understand their interests.

  • All questions and journal entries are saved for users to revisit and reflect on their learnings.

USER PAINS

  • Limited awareness and cultural stigma hinders inquiries to sensistive topics.

  • Limited digital literacy, more reliance on audio.

  • Restricted freedom and educational opportunities, due to cultural limitations.

  • Inconsistent internet access.

USER GAINS

  • A trustworthy, sister-like figure to ask questions in Urdu without judgment.

  • Access to health, legal, and more information at fingertips.

  • Ability to save important answers and track personal thoughts through voice journaling.

  • Potential for building community support in future iterations.

APP WALKTHROUGH

A walkthrough of the prototype.

USER MAP

RESEARCH AND FEEDBACK DRIVEN ITERATIONS

  • Initially, I envisioned a mood check-in feature before the voice journal to capture user sentiment, but translating this into a voice-based system remains a challenge.

  • Exploring voice filters to ensure anonymity and accessibility in the future community support section.

  • Feedback from friends raised ethical concerns about storing voice data, highlighting potential risks. Working on adding password protection for greater security and user trust.

CHALLENGES

  • Designing for low-literacy, and relying on voice-based interactions in Urdu.

  • Balancing aspirations with voice-only prototype limitations.

  • Without any technical integration, conceptualizing solutions for offline access, local data storage, and outdated content.

IDEA EVOLUTION

Initially, the project focused on a text-based educational app. Over time, it evolved into a voice-first, Urdu-speaking AI companion to accommodate literacy barriers. The concept expanded from a standard smartphone app to a speculative tangible device (a compact mirror) that’s both familiar and discreet. Community-building features and mood tracking were considered but posed challenges in a voice-only format and are still under exploration.

3D MODEL OF THE COMPACT MIRROR DEVICE

KEY FEATURES

  • Rotate the dial to ask questions.

  • Press the dial to record the voice journal.

  • Tap on the Mirror to turn on the light.

  • Headphone jack for privacy.

WHY A COMPACT MIRROR?

  • The idea emerged from the functionality of a compact mirror with a light—a tool many users already carry. This familiarity makes the device approachable and intuitive.

  • The compact mirror design ensures users can access the AI agent discreetly, reducing any perceived or real threats in their environment. Its subtle appearance offers safety and privacy, blending seamlessly into everyday life.

  • Designed for users without smartphones or reliable internet access, the compact mirror becomes a powerful, portable tool to bridge the gap in information and connectivity.

  • Its compact size ensures it’s easy to carry and use, meeting the practical needs of users who prioritize portability and simplicity in their tools.

Experimental Design, User-Centered Design, Speculative DesignBasmah MasoodPersonal Project