Last time, we built a foundational Angular chatbot supporting text interaction. Now, let’s dive deeper into the exciting world of multimodal chatbot design—creating conversational AI systems that can handle and present not just text, but also images, video, and even voice. This article explores the unique UI/UX and technical challenges, with an emphasis on Material Design and SCSS strategies in Angular projects.

Why Multimodal Matters

Users increasingly expect chatbots to understand images (e.g., product snapshots), deliver rich media (video demos, step-by-step images), and even support hands-free voice conversations. This transforms a traditional, linear chatbot into a dynamic digital assistant—a complex but worthwhile upgrade.

UI Challenges in Multimodal Chatbots

1. Context Awareness and Input Modes

• Input Toggle: The chatbot UI needs smart toggles between text input, image upload, and microphone (voice capture). Prioritize clear, discoverable buttons following Material Design’s floating action button (FAB) or contextually reveal secondary actions.
• Adaptive Input Fields: Switch input modes seamlessly, e.g., swap the text box for a voice waveform visualization during recording, or display an image preview when uploading. Use Angular’s stateful components and SCSS transitions for this.

2. Multimodal Message Rendering

• Message Bubbles: Design flexible chat bubbles that can adapt their layout and styling to various content types:
  • Text: Standard bubble with Material Design elevation and padding.
  • Images: Incorporate thumbnails, clickable to enlarge in a material modal dialog.
  • Videos: Display preview thumbnails with a play icon overlay; tap to expand in a modal video player.
  • Audio: Show waveform or play/pause buttons using Angular Material progress bars and buttons.

.chat-bubble {
  @include mat-elevation(2);
  padding: 16px;
  margin: 8px 0;
  &.image {
    max-width: 60vw;
    img {
      border-radius: 8px;
      box-shadow: $mat-elevation-shadow-2;
    }
  }
  &.video {
    // Overlay play icon, maintain aspect ratio
  }
}

3. Accessibility and Responsiveness

• Support screen readers and appropriate ARIA labels for all controls (especially voice input).
• Ensure the design works across devices—mobile’s cameras and microphones create unique access points versus desktop.

Leveraging Angular & Material Design

• Component Architecture: Create reusable message-rendering components (e.g., <app-chat-message>), switching templates with ngSwitch based on message type.
• Animations: Use Angular animations for smooth transitions between input modes and message displays.
• Theming: Material Design theming allows your bot UI to elegantly match your brand, ensuring images and video don’t clash with interface colors.

Workflow Example

1. User uploads a photo; chatbot responds with both a descriptive text and a suggestion to submit a voice memo.
2. User taps microphone, records a question. The UI animates into a waveform display.
3. Chatbot replies with an embedded video tutorial, which loads in a lightweight modal.

Conclusion

A multimodal chatbot is more than just a fusion of inputs and outputs—it’s an opportunity to deliver engaging, responsive, and accessible experiences. Using Angular and embracing Material Design principles, you can craft a chatbot UI that delights users and truly leverages the richness of today’s communication tools.

Ready to start? In the next article, I’ll share concrete code examples and a basic architecture for handling multimodal chat flows in your Angular project!