Neon Assist for healthcare
Designed a virtual human assistant that made hospital meal ordering feel more personal, trustworthy, and efficient in partnership with Aramark Healthcare.
A frustrating choice for hospital patients
Aramark Healthcare approached Samsung NEXT with a patient dining problem. Ordering through a phone line or a nurse could take up to two hours, while existing digital systems felt impersonal and unfamiliar.
Patients preferred speaking with a real person because conversation created confidence that their needs had been understood. The opportunity was not simply to digitize a menu—it was to preserve that reassurance while making ordering faster.
Using a virtual human to carry the conversation
I reframed the experience around NEON as a visible, conversational guide. Instead of asking patients to learn another transactional interface, the assistant could explain options, respond to questions, and move the order forward in a familiar human rhythm.
The interface paired spoken interaction with clear visual choices so patients could confirm what the assistant understood. This balance made the experience feel empathetic without sacrificing the precision required for a meal order.
Making the concept tangible
As the solo product designer, I defined the interaction model and end-to-end ordering flow, then collaborated with two visual designers and the head of design to give the virtual assistant an appropriate presence.
We used rapid visual exploration, including Midjourney experiments, to test how the assistant could feel warm and contemporary while remaining legible in a healthcare setting. The final design turned the idea into a concrete customer pitch rather than an abstract AI concept.
Trust was the product
This project reinforced that efficiency alone is not enough in a sensitive environment. Patients needed to feel heard, understand what was happening, and retain a clear way to verify the outcome.
The most useful role for the virtual human was not to imitate conversation for its own sake. It was to translate the confidence of speaking with a person into a digital experience that could respond immediately and consistently.