In a world increasingly powered by artificial intelligence, product designer Ye Tian is making waves by reimagining how we interact with technology. Her latest project, Voyce, was recently showcased at NYCxDesign’s celebrated event, Infinite Weave: Art x Design Festival, a platform dedicated to exploring the confluence of art, design, and emerging technology.
Tian’s work stood out among the exhibition for its poignant vision: a future where humans and AI interact naturally, intuitively, and with agency. Voyce is an AI-powered voice agent that transforms the flight booking experience. Rather than toggling through multiple apps and websites, users can simply speak to Voyce as they would to a personal assistant. The AI interprets the command, navigates the logistics, and delivers results in real-time. The experience is frictionless, elegant, and deeply human.
What sets Voyce apart is not only its technical sophistication but also its commitment to preserving user autonomy in an increasingly automated world. Ye Tian is acutely aware of the pitfalls that come with AI interfaces—where convenience can sometimes translate into loss of control or overwhelming complexity. To counter this, Voyce incorporates layered interaction models that allow users to choose how deeply they want to engage with the system. For example, users can opt for quick voice commands for simple bookings or dive into more detailed conversational exchanges to customize itineraries and preferences. This adaptability ensures that Voyce respects diverse user needs and contexts, making the technology feel less like an imposition and more like a collaborative tool. Through iterative design cycles, Tian refined the agent’s conversational nuances to feel genuinely responsive and empathetic, transforming a traditionally transactional process into a personalized and meaningful dialogue. This approach highlights a core tenet of Tian’s design ethos: that human-centered AI must be flexible, respectful, and ultimately empowering.
“AI doesn’t have to feel complicated or out of reach,” Tian explains. “With the right design, it can feel like a trusted partner—an extension of our own thoughts.”
This philosophy was evident in the way festival attendees engaged with her installation. The design showcased not only AI’s capability to automate, but also its potential to respect user agency and preferences. By combining large language models (LLMs), function-calling APIs, and retrieval augmented generation (RAG), Voyce creates a seamless user experience that evolves and learns over time.
The Infinite Weave festival emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration. Much like a textile composed of many threads, the event weaved together the worlds of speculative art, tangible product design, and future-facing technology. Ye’s contribution perfectly embodied this theme. With her background in healthcare UX at Rightway Healthcare and a track record of simplifying complex systems for everyday users, she brings a rare combination of technical acumen and human empathy to her work.
Voyce also recently won Gold in the Muse Design Awards for UX/UI and Silver in the NY Product Design Awards for UX and VUI, further solidifying Tian’s role as a rising leader in AI-driven interaction design.
Looking ahead, Tian is expanding her vision beyond flight booking. She envisions AI agents that seamlessly integrate into daily routines—from financial planning to healthcare navigation—while reducing digital fatigue and restoring focus to what truly matters.
“I believe technology should elevate human capacity, not distract from it,” she says. “My goal is to create tools that feel natural, helpful, and even joyful to use.”
As the design world grapples with the ethical and experiential implications of AI, voices like Ye Tian’s are more important than ever. With Voyce, she reminds us that the future isn’t just about automation—it’s about connection.
Published by Jeremy S.
