Presented at UX Brighton 2019, 1st November 2019

1. PRINCIPLES OF
VOICE DESIGN
@bensauer
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT @ BABYLON HEALTH
UX BRIGHTON 2019
DESIGNING FOR A TALKATIVE FUTURE

2. ARISTOTLE
There is only one condition in which we can
imagine managers not needing subordinates,
and masters not needing slaves.
This condition would be that each instrument
could do its own work, at the word of
command or by intelligent anticipation.
@bensauer

4. Curious Rituals
produced by The Near Future Laboratory

6. Curious Rituals
produced by The Near Future Laboratory

7. Our true calling is to make
the system fail gracefully.

8. FINDING THE
USE CASE

9. @bensauer
THE THREE CASES FOR CONVERSATION
Consumer
channels
Augment CX in an existing channel, e.g.
KLM on Messenger, increase accessibility
In-app
conversation
Solve for edge cases, and design for ease
e.g. touch-free, multimedia
Dedicated to
conversation
Works best as a conversational app
e.g. Woebot, ‘Would You Rather?’

10. ON SCREEN, HOW SHOULD PEOPLE
TELL US WHAT THEY WANT?
Frequency
and Volume
Breadth
High frequency,
common journeys:
best served by
navigation + GUI
Low frequency,
diverse journeys: best
served by free text /
search / chat *
* unless it’s a dedicated chat app

11. IN VOICE, THE OPPOSITE
Frequency
and Volume
Breadth
Focus on frequent,
short interactions
Platforms only
(for now)

12. GENERATIVE TOOLS

13. OPPORTUNITY LENSES
User research Brand / creative FutureCustomer service

14. In the kitchen,
getting ready
to go to work
Driving to a
friend’s house
C ON TEXT
Food
Appointments
S UBJECT
Alexa, what
ingredients
should I buy for
dinner later?
TASK
Alexa, what’s
happening next
weekend?
Alexa, Is my
dry cleaning
ready for
pickup?
USE-CASE IDEA WORKSHOP
@bensauer
Swap these around to
generate ideas

15. EVALUATIVE TOOLS

16. CONTEXT RULES
@bensauer

17. @bensauer
STORYBOARDING
@bensauer
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/blog/2017-06-voice-ui-user-interface-children-drama

18. @bensauer
CONTEXT QUESTIONS
• What is the context of use?
• Where is the user?
• What's happening around them?
• Are they doing something else?
W HER E
• What time of day is it?
• Are they in a hurry?
• How much time will the
interaction need?
• How often will they use it?
W HEN
• Are they with other people?
• Is it noisy?
• Is what they're trying to do
private?
• What are the social
expectations in this context?
WHO
• What devices do they have?
• What else are they using?
• How might modes work
together?
• What’s free? (Hands, eyes,
mouth, ears)
WHAT
• Will they know they can
use voice? How?
• Will they have to
remember how to use it?
• Will they trust it?
• How do they do it now? Is
voice better?
• Is a different mode a
better choice?
• How does voice make
them the hero?
WHY

19. Prioritise short, frequent
interactions*
* (unless you’re doing entertainment).

20. PRINCIPLES AND
PRACTISE

21. voiceprinciples.com

22. @bensauer
Voice-first
DESIGN PRINCIPLE

23. Like mobile-first:
you can adapt voice for screen,
but not the other way round.

24. “We’ll just re-use the
chatbot flow on Alexa”
Don’t do this!
Seriously!

25. VOICE-FIRST PRACTISES
@bensauer@bensauer@bensauer
• Write, then read out loud
• Read-through testing
• Wizard of Oz
• Fix your content strategy

26. @bensauer
If you’re not *having*
conversations, you’re probably
not creating good ones.
@bensauer

27. @bensauer
Design for
the edges
DESIGN PRINCIPLE
(AKA ‘REAL LIFE’)

29. © Clearleft 2018

30. This is the stuff you
will be judged on.

31. @bensauer
Be co-operative
DESIGN PRINCIPLE

32. GRICE’S MAXIMS
@bensauer
Quantity: no more than is needed
Quality: honest and well evidenced
Manner: clear and polite
Relation: helps with the task at hand

33. @bensauer
Be brief
DESIGN PRINCIPLE

34. @bensauer
<ALEXA READS CRAZY LONG ANSWER>
TOO LONG
How many calories in a
banana?
USER:
There are eighty-nine
calories in one-hundred
grams of banana.
GOOGLE:
JUST RIGHT? TOO SHORT?
How many calories are
there in a banana?
USER:

35. @bensauer
Fail gracefully
VOICE PRINCIPLE

36. 1. Spend more time on errors
than on the happy path.
@bensauer

37. Constraint, with the
illusion of freedom.

38. 3. An artificial conversation is
like crossing a tightrope.
Widen it for your user.

39. WIZARD OF OZ
TESTING

40. @bensauer
JEFF KELLEY’S WIZARD OF OZ TESTING
@bensauer

41. @bensauer
MESSY HUMAN
INPUT
HOW THE SYSTEM
RESPONDS

42. Get the design 90% right
before a line of code is written.

43. @bensauer
Could I go from an idea
for a voice interface, to
a test, in under an hour?
CHALLENGE:

44. Demo time!

45. TRUST IN THE ASSISTANT
When will an assistant be
so good at meeting our
needs that we hand over
decision-making?
@bensauer

46. CHANGING CONSUMER
EXPECTATIONS
When will it become
annoying to a consumer
that they can’t connect to
a brand with their voice?
@bensauer

47. DOMAIN SPECIFIC
INTELLIGENCE
When is a "smart fake"
good enough for most
conversations in a given
context?
@bensauer

48. QUALITY OF THE
ECOSYSTEM
When will the industry
embrace standardisation?
@bensauer

49. Voice has the highest
potential for trust, yet is
where it’s easiest to lose it.
THE VOICE PARADOX

50. MARC WEISER
“The most profound technologies are
those that disappear.
They weave themselves into the
fabric of everyday life until they are
indistinguishable from it.”
@bensauer

51. I’m @bensauer.
We’re hiring!
“BRIGHTON. thanks for listening.”
Read more of my nonsense at:
bensauer.net + voiceprinciples.com
@bensauer