№ 01, AI-NATIVE SUPPORT
Turning Music Tribe's support from static forms into a chat-first assistant, designed directly with founder Uli Behringer and launched to the public.
COMPANY
Empower Tribe (Music Tribe)
DURATION
4 months (concept to dev handoff)
TEAM
Sole designer, working directly with founder Uli Behringer and engineering
MY ROLE
AI Product Designer (AI-assisted workflows)
THE PROBLEM
Customers had to understand Music Tribe's internal support structure before they could get help, and every wrong turn cost the business time.
Music Tribe customers had to work through static forms and figure out how the company's support was organized before they could get help. A customer might need product registration, troubleshooting, a service center, billing help, or a real person, but it was on them to pick the right path and give enough detail. When information was missing or unclear, agents had to chase it down, which slowed every case, a cost that grew with the support volume of a global brand.
THE CHALLENGE
I had to turn a founder's vision into a real product, not just bolt a chat widget onto the old form.
The job was to turn Uli's idea of a digital assistant into a product that actually worked. Hey Uli had to feel personal and conversational, understand what people meant from plain language, walk them through support tasks, know when to stop and hand off to a person, and give agents cleaner information, all without feeling like a generic bot stuck onto a form.
MY APPROACH & PROCESS
I turned the founder's vision of a digital Uli into a real product plan: the main way customers get support, not a chatbot floating on top of the old forms.
I built the assistant to figure out what the customer needs and gather details a little at a time, so people describe the problem in their own words while the system quietly collects what agents need.
I used AI tools to get from idea to a working, testable prototype quickly, and gave the assistant a real personality instead of a generic bot voice.
After direct reviews with the founder, I refined the product and handed the final design to engineering in mid-March 2026. It launched publicly on the Music Tribe website the following month.
KEY SCREENS
SIGNALS & FEEDBACK
Backed by the founder
Uli approved the direction and pushed to get it live quickly, a clear sign from the top that both the idea and the design were ready.
Built for agent efficiency
The assistant handles common issues itself and gives agents cleaner information, so the cases that reach a person arrive ready to work, not cold.
Grounded in real patterns
Research into other products and AI-built scenarios shaped the support categories, handoff points, and limits, instead of guessing at them.
DESIGNING THE AI'S BEHAVIOR
KEY INSIGHT
Designing an AI product isn't about adding a chatbot to a screen. The real work is deciding how the AI behaves, when it solves the problem itself, when it stops, and when it hands off to a person, because that behavior is what cuts support tickets and makes agents faster.
THE SOLUTION
I designed Hey Uli as a chat-based support assistant that replaced manual forms with guided help. Customers start naturally through chat, voice, or a photo. Hey Uli works out whether they need product registration, troubleshooting, a service center, or a person, then asks only for what that case needs. For common issues it walks through troubleshooting before creating a ticket; for anything complex or about billing or partners, it hands off to a person, giving the agent a fully packaged case.
WHAT THE AGENT RECEIVES ON ESCALATION
IMPACT & OUTCOMES
Shipped to public production
Went from a founder's idea to a designed, prototyped, approved, and publicly launched support product on Music Tribe's site.
Forms became a conversation
Turned static support forms into a guided conversation, in step with Music Tribe's Industry 4.5/5.0 direction.
Agents get cleaner handoffs
Handoffs carry the full history, what was already tried, the AI's read, and suggested replies, cutting the back-and-forth that slows things down.
Effort shifted off the customer
Guided support means customers no longer have to figure out how the company is organized before they can get help.
WHAT I LEARNED
The real design work in an AI product is its behavior: the assistant has to know when to guide, when to solve, and when to hand off, and those lines are what keep trust and cut cost.
Personality is a product decision. Hey Uli had to feel practical, sincere, and direct, not like a generic bot, for customers to trust it.
AI can improve both sides of support at once: a lighter customer experience and a faster agent workflow behind it.
AI tools speed up exploring ideas, but the designer still owns the judgment, trust, tone, and behavior that make it actually usable.