LegalTech
Heka
When the moment is urgent, AI speed isn't enough, you need someone real behind it.
Context
The brief called for a premium, high-end experience, but the client’s original visual direction was almost childlike, far from the serious tone needed by someone seeking urgent legal help. Before figuring out how to combine AI and human advisory, that had to be fixed first: pushing the brand toward a dark, sophisticated visual language that signals seriousness at first glance.
Once that was resolved, the functional challenge remained: in a moment of legal urgency, when is an instant AI answer enough, and when does the user need to know there’s a real person on the other end?
Process / My Role
I moved the client away from the original palette toward a dark, minimal system with clear hierarchy, the same “seriousness first” language I’d already validated on Lexis, adapted here to a mobile context with higher emotional urgency.
For the functional flow, I designed two entry paths with equal visual weight: Clara AI, for anyone who needs an immediate answer, and Live Advisory, a chat with a real advisor who identifies themselves by name at the start of the conversation. Neither path is presented as the “secondary option”: the user chooses based on what they need in that moment, not on what the product prefers to sell them.
The Work
The Result
No metrics available for this project (it was a short, remote engagement). Heka came away with a visual identity that finally communicated what the service promised, and a decision pattern (AI or human) that doesn't force the user to choose between speed and trust. That same pattern, validated here in a high-pressure context, went on to shape how I approached AI-to-user relationships in later projects.
The Lesson
Not every product decision needs to pick a side. Sometimes the better solution is letting the user's context decide, and designing both paths with equal care.