Alf—Spaceship's AI assistant

Alf is Spaceship’s AI assistant. Users manage domains, set up services, and navigate their account through conversation. The browser version came first—the app had to match it. I designed the full iOS experience from scratch with the web, brand, design system, mobile, and engineering teams.

Role
Product Designer
Focus
iOS design, conversation UX, information architecture, fallback patterns
Team
Product Platform Design team
Collaboration
Brand, Design System Team, and iOS Engineering Team
Period
2025

The conversation

Alf light mode — conversationAlf light mode — actionsAlf light mode — checkoutAlf light mode — results
Alf dark mode — conversationAlf dark mode — actionsAlf dark mode — checkoutAlf dark mode — results

Alf feels like talking to someone who actually wants to help—friendly, clear, no dead ends. Light and dark modes were built on top of our iOS design system. I shaped the native experience—every screen, every edge case.

Under the surface

Alf browser fallback screen

No dead ends

When Alf can’t render a response natively, it doesn’t leave the user stranded. The app tells them what happened and hands off to spaceship.com—same conversation, no dead ends.

Alf fallback decision chart
Fallback flow—app to browser handoff.
Alf component handoff annotations

Component handoff—design system, logic, and behaviours.

Alf mechanics sketch

Defining the conversation mechanics—how chat behaves.

Alf App Store screenshot 1Alf App Store screenshot 2Alf App Store screenshot 3Alf App Store screenshot 4Alf App Store screenshot 5

App Store assets.

Alf started as a question—can we turn a full platform into a conversation? Five teams, one blank screen, and no playbook. We worked through every interaction: how the assistant speaks, how it handles what it can’t do, and how it hands off to the browser when it needs to. The kind of project where every edge case teaches you something.