Design: Voice User Interface Design

It’s a great time to be a voice user interface (VUI) designer. Voice user interfaces are becoming more and more common in our daily lives. To ensure great user experiences, it’s crucial that designers lead the way in this space.

Many visual designers and interaction designers who are interested in becoming VUI designers are well placed to switch from designing more traditional graphic user interfaces (GUIs) to designing VUIs. Although all UX design disciplines share certain principles, there are some things about VUI design that differ from GUI design for Web or mobile apps. In this article, I’ll cover the main things you should keep in mind when designing VUIs. Read More

In this edition of Ask UXmatters, our experts consider how user research and design for voice applications differs from research and design for traditional, graphic user interfaces (GUIs). First, our expert panel discusses the importance of deeply understanding the context in which people would use an application, as well as the behavior of those who would use it.

Our panel of experts also recommends that we accurately understand the problems a voice application can solve, so it is truly helpful rather than just a cute gimmick. The panel also explores how to collect data from users when you’re designing a voice system or training artificial-intelligence (AI) algorithms. Read More

Voice-first user experiences are now ubiquitous. Smart-speaker sales are up, as is their usage. Older adults are benefiting from the use of voice assistants. However, a large percentage of users still find the experience of talking to voice assistants unnatural. So how can we make voice experiences better?

While understanding conversation design–best practices is necessary, it’s not enough to make these conversations feel natural. To take your voice user interface (VUI) to the next level, you must add polish—in the form of pacing, sound effects, and diverse phrasings. Let’s take a look at each of these in turn. Read More