2026

Design Awards Gold Winner - Fang He

Synccomm AI

Entrant

Fang He

Category

User Experience (UX) - AI-Personalized UX

Client's Name

Country / Region:

United States

Project Overview
SyncComm AI is a "prosthetic executive function" designed to help neurodivergent professionals navigate the unwritten social rules of the workplace. By prioritizing Empathy over Efficiency and Autonomy over Automation, the platform reduces the "Double Empathy Problem"—the mutual misunderstanding between neurodivergent and neurotypical individuals—through real-time decoding and emotional regulation.

The Critical Social Imperative
Modern workplace culture often forces neurodivergent employees to "mask," a cognitively exhausting process where 90% of workers hide their true selves to fit neurotypical standards. This leads to extreme drainage, with neurodivergent professionals being twice as likely to experience high symptoms of burnout. Currently, global unemployment for autistic adults remains as high as 85%, yet research from Deloitte and JPMorgan Chase shows that inclusive, supported neurodivergent teams can be 30% to 140% more productive than neurotypical peers. SyncComm AI reframes this as a systemic workplace failure, providing a scalable solution to drive retention and professional belonging.

Innovative Design & Interaction Logic
The platform transforms digital and physical interactions through core features including:
Real-time Decoding: The system translates sarcasm, idioms, and indirect language into literal meaning across communication threads, ensuring users never miss the subtext of fast-paced discussions.
Meeting Support: This live "social prosthetic" provides a Contextual "Quick Catch-up"—a minimalist summary of the last 60 seconds of conversation—and Real-time Social Decoding to clarify subtext during active meetings.
Live Interaction Mentoring: The AI issues private nudges and revision suggestions, such as "Mindful Pauses," to help users self-regulate their tone and ensure their comments remain constructive and inclusive.
Practice Mode: A "flight simulator" for social interaction, offering on-demand role-playing with realistic "push-back" AI avatars to build confidence before high-stakes moments like salary negotiations.

Ethical Craft
Built on a "Zero-Trust" privacy model, all biometric signals and sensitive practice data are processed on-device (Edge AI) to ensure HIPAA and GDPR compliance. This architecture ensures that sensitive personal data remains under the user's absolute control.

Credits

Fang He
Lead UX product designer
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