An introduction to voice design - UX Scotland

A new frontier is opening up in UX design: voice! Products like Amazon's Echo and Google Home offer designers a new place to play, and new skills to learn. In this 90-minute workshop, learn about the design process, get busy crafting dialogue, and learn some fundamental principles. You'll see just how different the design methods are, and what the 'Wizard of Oz' testing method is. Come find your inner bot!

Transcript

1. DESIGNING
   DIALOGUE: 

   AN INTRO 

   TO VUI DESIGN
   @bensauer
   UX SCOTLAND, JUNE 2017
   

   View Slide

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
   

   View Slide

3. View Slide

4. Curious Rituals
   produced by The Near Future Laboratory
   

   View Slide

5. View Slide

6. Curious Rituals
   produced by The Near Future Laboratory
   

   View Slide

7. • Limited shared vocabulary
   • Poor skills / co-ordination
   • No capacity to learn
   • Never sure job will get done
   • Turns you into the a$$h0le
   Using VUI is a bit like 

   dealing with Manuel…
   

   View Slide

8. https://www.flickr.com/photos/cryptik/23815673664 @bensauer
   ?
   

   View Slide

9. Our true calling is to make 

   the system fail gracefully.
   

   View Slide

10. REALITIES OF
    VUI
    

    View Slide

11. VUI is deceptively limited.
    @bensauer
    

    View Slide

12. @bensauer
    VUI USE MAY BE U-SHAPED
    @bensauer
    AWESOME
    SUCKS
    10 100 ∞
    USE CASES
    

    View Slide

13. View Slide

14. Platforms limit
    possibilities.
    @bensauer
    

    View Slide

15. Transactions over
    conversations.
    @bensauer
    

    View Slide

16. The context of use 

    is everything.
    

    View Slide

17. WHAT IS
    CONVERSATION?
    

    View Slide

18. Context
    Language
    Exchange
    Agreement
    Transaction / Action
    

    View Slide

19. from Paul Pangaro's ‘Conversation is more than interface’ https://vimeo.com/207866146
    

    View Slide

20. WHAT’S
    DIFFERENT ABOUT
    VUI DESIGN?
    

    View Slide

21. Recall over
    recognition.
    

    View Slide

22. The first interaction 

    expresses the goal.
    

    View Slide

23. GUI VUI
    THE USER JOURNEY
    

    View Slide

24. The medium you design in

    is not the medium you experience.
    @bensauer
    

    View Slide

25. Shorter ‘Time to Test’.
    

    View Slide

26. A.I. is getting better at
    understanding what
    people mean.
    

    View Slide

27. The heart of VUI 

    is great writing.
    @bensauer
    

    View Slide

28. WHAT’S THE
    PROCESS?
    

    View Slide

29. @bensauer
    0. DOES THE CONTEXT WORK?
    • Hands
    • Eyes
    • Voice
    • Ears
    

    View Slide

30. ACTIVITY
    Create a voice interface
    for a person attending the
    first day of UX Scotland. 

    See page 2 of the handout.
    

    View Slide

31. ACTIVITY
    On page 3, map what they might
    do that day, and where a voice
    interface could help.
    

    View Slide

32. ACTIVITY
    Choose one question or task as 

    your use case.
    

    View Slide

33. @bensauer
    1. DEFINE YOUR PERSONA
    • Who is your system?
    • What’s the personality, the brand?
    • What are their characteristics or
    attributes?
    • What’s the tone of voice?
    • What would it say, or not say?
    0. CONTEXT
    

    View Slide

34. ACTIVITY
    Complete the personality
    spectrum on page 4.
    

    View Slide

35. @bensauer
    2. WRITE SAMPLE DIALOGUE
    • What’s the scenario?
    • How would you improvise it?
    • What’s the expected exchange?
    • How does the system respond?
    • What’s too much, or too little?
    0. CONTEXT 1. PERSONA
    

    View Slide

36. View Slide

37. ACTIVITY
    In the first column on page 5,
    write down some ideas about
    what your user might say first.
    

    View Slide

38. “When is the next train to London Victoria?”
    Too concise: 

    20 minutes.
    

    View Slide

39. “When is the next train to London Victoria?”
    Too detailed: 

    The next train from Brighton station to
    London Victoria station leaves in twenty
    minutes, at twenty past ten. It has no
    first class service and divides at
    Haywards Heath. It arrives at London
    Victoria at ten past eleven.
    

    View Slide

40. “When is the next train to London Victoria?”
    Just right: 

    The next train from Brighton to London
    Victoria leaves in 20 minutes.
    

    View Slide

41. ACTIVITY
    In the second column, write
    down some ideas about how the
    system should respond, and how
    the dialogue might continue.
    

    View Slide

42. @bensauer
    3. WIZARD OF OZ TESTING
    • Can they use it?
    • Do they understand it?
    • What synonyms do they use?
    • Do they hesitate?
    0. CONTEXT 2. SAMPLE DIALOGUE
    1. PERSONA
    

    View Slide

43. WIZARD OF OZ
    DEMO
    

    View Slide

44. TEST YOUR VUI IDEA IN 1HR
    WIZARD OF OZ TESTING
    • Write sample dialogue
    • Load it into a plain text file
    • Offer some participants pizza
    • Run a test using ‘Say Wizard’ 

    on a mac
    https://chatbotsmagazine.com/stfu-test-your-voice-app-idea-in-less-than-an-
    hour-2638cdff2503
    

    View Slide

45. ACTIVITY
    On page 7 of the handout, write
    a brief for your test participant.
    

    View Slide

46. ACTIVITY
    Find a partner.
    

    Read them your brief out loud,
    and find out what they’d say to
    your voice interface.
    

    View Slide

47. ACTIVITY
    Look at your answers on page 5.
    Did what your partner say match
    you wrote?
    

    View Slide

48. @bensauer
    4. DIALOGUE FLOW
    • What are the user journeys?
    • What are the entry points?
    • What are the system states?
    • What happens if the input is
    unexpected?
    0. CONTEXT 2. SAMPLE DIALOGUE 3. TESTING
    1. PERSONA
    

    View Slide

49. Intent
    BOOKING A CAB: FLOW
    Location
    Check
    Recover
    Confirm
    booking
    Time
    Check
    Recover
    Confirm
    Location
    

    View Slide

50. @bensauer
    0. CONTEXT 2. SAMPLE DIALOGUE 3. TESTING 4. FLOW
    1. PERSONA
    5. BUILD AND TEST
    • What is the complete dialogue?
    • How can you avoid dialogue
    repetition?
    • What’s the error rate at scale?
    

    View Slide

51. UTTERANCE
    “Order me some glow-in-the-dark toilet paper.”
    

    View Slide

52. 

    

    “Order me a Nintendo Switch.”
    INTENT
    Buy Product
    

    View Slide

53. 

    

    “Set a timer for 30 seconds.”
    VARIABLE
    Timer Duration
    

    View Slide

54. VUI PRINCIPLES
    

    View Slide

55. Always be capturing.
    

    View Slide

56. CAPTURING WHAT
    PEOPLE SAY
    

    View Slide

57. View Slide

58. View Slide

59. View Slide

60. View Slide

61. Find out the things they need 

    in the things they say.
    WHAT 

    PEOPLE

    SAY
    WHAT

    THEY 

    NEED
    

    View Slide

62. Postel’s Law
    Be conservative in what you send,
    be liberal in what you accept.
    @bensauer
    

    View Slide

63. I’d really like to visit Llanfair-
    pwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrn
    drobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
    @bensauer
    USER:
    In North Wales?
    ALEXA:
    

    View Slide

64. Design for mundane
    realities.
    

    View Slide

65. View Slide

66. Pair Bluetooth!!!!
    @bensauer
    GLASWEGIAN USER FOR THE 3RD TIME:
    I’m really sorry, I still don’t
    understand. Can I suggest using
    the Alexa app instead?
    ALEXA:
    

    View Slide

67. Considerate confirmation.
    

    View Slide

68. Did you mean Odeon, Brighton?
    @bensauer
    SYSTEM HAS 50% CONFIDENCE:
    When would you like to go to 

    the Odeon Brighton?
    IMPLICIT:
    
    NONE:
    

    View Slide

69. Human, but not *too*
    human.
    

    View Slide

70. View Slide

71. RESOURCES
    • Cathy Pearl’s VUI book
    • Wizard of Oz Testing:

    https://chatbotsmagazine.com/stfu-test-
    your-voice-app-idea-in-less-than-an-
    hour-2638cdff2503
    • Say Wizard:

    https://github.com/bensauer/saywizard
    

    View Slide

72. 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
    

    View Slide

73. I’m @bensauer.

    (as in ‘Jack Bauer’.)
    “AUDIENCE. thanks for listening.”
    

    View Slide