Meet Stimmi — The Face of Accessible Government Communication

Why a Mascot?

Calling a government office is, for many people, an anxiety-inducing experience. Language barriers make it worse. When a non-native German speaker calls a Bürgeramt, they often do not know whether they will be understood, whether they have the right documents, or whether the call will solve their problem or create new ones.

Stimmi exists to reduce that anxiety. A consistent visual and animated presence — visible on the Bürgerdienst's web portal, in the browser-based WebRTC interface, and in operator training materials — creates a recognisable, approachable identity for the AI system.

The Design Process

The design brief had three requirements: (1) Stimmi must be immediately recognisable as a voice/audio character without relying on a microphone icon alone; (2) Stimmi must work across cultures — not relying on facial features or expressions that read differently across the language communities served; (3) Stimmi must be animatable in real time to reflect system states.

The result is an abstract waveform character — a sinusoidal form that breathes, pulses, and morphs to signal different states:

• Phase 0 (idle): Gentle, slow pulse — "I am here, ready to listen"
• Phase 1 (listening): Rapid, responsive waveform matching incoming audio amplitude
• Phase 2 (processing): Rotating spiral — "I am thinking"
• Phase 3 (speaking): Smooth outward-expanding rings synchronised with Piper TTS output
• Phase 4 (handoff): Gentle fade-out with an arrow gesture — "I am connecting you to a colleague"

Accessibility First

Stimmi is never the only source of information. Every state change that Stimmi represents is also communicated through audio (a system announcement) and, where a visual interface is present, through text. Screen readers receive appropriate ARIA labels. The animation is implemented as a Lottie file, which respects the user's prefers-reduced-motion OS setting.

Stimmi in the Operator UI

Operators see a small Stimmi indicator in the corner of the context card during a live call. When Stimmi pulses amber, the comprehension score is dropping — a non-intrusive early warning before an automatic handoff would trigger. This gives experienced operators a chance to manually intervene earlier, reducing abrupt handoffs that can frustrate callers.

Open Questions

We are still refining Stimmi's character. Some open questions for future user research: Should Stimmi have a name that is spoken aloud during calls? (Currently the disclosure announcement says "Sie werden von einem KI-Assistenten bedient" without naming Stimmi.) Should the waveform character be different colours for different languages? Should operators be able to configure Stimmi's appearance for their specific Bürgeramt branding?

We welcome input from Bürgerdienste and accessibility advocates. If you have thoughts, reach out — or join our Research Collaboration programme.