Design: Voice User Interface Design

Selected sections from Chapter 5 of Cathy Pearl’s new book Designing Voice User Interfaces: Principles of Conversational Experiences. 2017 O’Reilly Media, Inc.

Excerpts from Chapter 5: Advanced Voice User Interface Design

[This] Chapter [covers advanced] voice user interface (VUI) design [topics]. Here, we take a look at what will make [your VUIs] engaging, easy to use, and successful.

Siri and the Amazon Echo are both examples of popular VUIs. The Echo has recently received a lot of praise about its interface. Given that the two systems can do many similar things, why is the Echo often a better user experience? One reason is that the Echo was designed with voice in mind from the beginning—that’s its sole purpose. Siri, by comparison, is just one more way to interact with your iPhone. Read More

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 2018, voice technology will go mainstream. According to comScore, in 2017, half of all smartphone owners used voice technology on their phones, with one in three using voice technology daily. Further, voice-first devices—which include smart speakers such as Amazon Echo and Google Home—are expected to cross a “critical adoption threshold” in 2018, and their growth is likely to accelerate in the coming years. As the market for voice-assistant applications and smart speakers continues to expand, brands must incorporate voice technology to stay relevant and competitive. However, brands have only a finite window for owning the voice user experience.

According to our research, 70 percent of smart-speaker owners have experienced problems or frustrations using their devices. Plus, 25 percent felt that these smart speakers were not designed with their needs in mind. The numbers were also troubling for third-party voice applications. The research found that 63 percent of those surveyed encountered some type of problem or frustration with these applications. In fact, 29 percent said they would delete an application with which they had a negative experience. Read More