An assistant that lives on your phone occupies a different place from a tool you open once a month. It may be present during small, ordinary tasks: finding a setting, moving a meeting or preparing a grocery order. That proximity makes its appearance part of the experience. It should feel comfortable to have around, while remaining easy to understand and easy to set aside.
My Surf gives the person a small, concrete way to make that appearance their own. The app lets users personalise Surf's body colour and its glow and eye accent, as well as use real props. The website preview lets you try body colours and a selection of those props on the actual Surf artwork. It is a visual preview, not an account setting saved to the app.
Begin with a recognisable body
Surf's real master artwork gives the character a consistent shape across straight, left and right poses. That consistency matters more than adding detail everywhere. A companion needs to remain recognisable as the screen changes around it. Personalisation can then operate on a stable foundation rather than making each choice feel like a completely different product.
The default body colour is white. The app's blue accent family includes the core, deep and glow colours supplied for Surf. These are visual settings, not different modes of intelligence or capability. Choosing a colour should not imply that a task is safer, faster or more advanced. The character's appearance and the assistant's permission to act are separate ideas.
Personalisation should add familiarity without hiding what the assistant is doing.
Props should be actual objects in the design
The real asset collection includes hats, glasses, headphones, a crown, a bow and other accessories. The preview uses those supplied assets on the real body. That keeps the character's materials and shapes coherent. It also avoids a shortcut that can make a mascot feel inconsistent: drawing an approximate accessory in CSS and treating it as part of the original artwork.
The tie is a useful example. It is an optional prop in the collection, not a permanent feature of Surf's body. Removing a default drawn tie lets the unadorned character be itself. A person can then choose the real tie when they want it. That is a small distinction, but it turns an assumed costume into an actual choice.
A little choice goes a long way
A useful personalisation interface needs to make comparison easy. Pick a colour, see the body change, try a prop, and decide whether it fits. The preview places the controls beside the character so the relationship between a choice and its result is visible. Selected options also have a clear static state; the person should not need an animation to know what is active.
The goal is not to turn every visit into a character-building exercise. Someone who likes the default should be able to keep it. Someone who wants a small change should see a result quickly. Personalisation earns its place when it makes the product feel familiar without creating work before the person can do the thing they came to do.
Expressions are another kind of vocabulary
Surf's expression sheet contains 16 faces: Neutral, Happy, Big smile, Content, Surprised, Excited, Wink, Love, Curious, Thinking, Sad, Confused, Focused, Dizzy, Cheerful and Blink. The interactive expression gallery lets people explore the supplied faces directly. It shows the range without scattering different Surf heads through unrelated sections of the website.
An expression can add character, but it should not become the only explanation of a task's state. A thinking face is not a progress report. A happy face is not evidence that a purchase succeeded. The product still needs words that explain what happened, what is waiting and what needs attention. Personality works best when it supports clarity instead of carrying responsibility it cannot fulfil.
Keep controls more important than character
The assistant's most important boundaries do not change with its appearance. Surf asks before anything that spends money. Passwords and OTPs use secure input and are never sent to the model. Accessibility remains a permission the person controls in Android Settings. A familiar face should make these controls easier to approach, not make them seem less necessary.
This also affects the website's balance. Surf belongs in the opening introduction and in sections that explain its appearance and expressions. Elsewhere, the product deserves the space: the screen, the request, the next step and the person making the decision. Repeating the mascot on every card can make the site feel lively while revealing very little about how the assistant actually helps.
Familiar, without pretending to be a person
A companion can have a recognisable presence without claiming human feelings or replacing a person's judgement. My Surf is about visual ownership and a bit of delight. It does not change the underlying task, widen permissions or turn the assistant into a human service. Hire a human and Audio Aide are separate ideas labelled Coming later, with details still to come.
This draft describes the design intent behind a small set of real choices. The best result is a Surf that feels comfortable on your screen and remains clear when there is work to do. Choose the look you enjoy. Then let the product earn its place through useful assistance, understandable results and decisions that stay in your hands.
Draft for review. Examples are illustrative; no metrics, customer quotations or research results are claimed.
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