What will become of the great wave of digital assistants in the face of huge layoffs and a cooling economy? — We’re a long way from the heady days of the Alexa announcements in 2014, when we seemed destined for a world of potato-chip-can speakers hiding in the corners of homes across the world. …

Deconstructing an unexpectedly boundary-pushing multimodal experience for lessons we can all apply — Ever since the publication of my book Design Beyond Devices, I’m asked frequently for my favorite examples of GOOD multimodal experiences — think experiences where you can speak, touch, wave frantically at the screen, or beyond. Like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, but less epic, at least for now…

Dive deeper into the world of VUI with a few key textbooks on the subject (Updated Jan 2020) — Are you interested in voice design but never had any exposure to training in your own schooling? An extremely common question is “what should I read to get started?” In that vein, I’d like to share the books I recommend to the folks in my “Giving Voice to Your Voice…

The IVRs we deal with regularly can teach us a great deal about how to approach voice user interfaces. — Think about the last time you picked up the phone to contact a company you dealt with. Why did you call? How did you get the number? What happened when you called? …

Users of today’s voice assistants keep asking for a ‘politeness mode.’ But what do they really want? — During my time at Amazon on the Alexa voice design team, we monitored the internal Alexa enthusiasts alias. About once a month, a newcomer to the list would resurrect an evergreen request: “My kids are rude to Alexa. She should only respond if you say please!” That request, of course…

Common pitfalls in chatbot design, and how to avoid them — Whether you’re building a chatbot or extending a voice assistant, we’re still in early times for conversational UI. As I’ve prototyped my own bots, built skills, and consulted on others, the guidance I give to other designers has coalesced into a few key areas where particular caution is warranted. …

Looking to get started in voice or chatbot design? Learn the basic terminology and concepts to empower better design decisions. — As we used to say at Amazon, the tech industry has passed through the threshold of a “one way door” with regard to conversational experiences. Our industry will never look back at the world of purely point-and-click websites as the end-all and be-all of customer experiences.

How to “talk the talk” when interviewing for a voice user interface design role. — An increasingly common inquiry I receive these days is from hopeful first-time voice designers facing an interview. “What should I expect?” “How can I prepare?” “Any tips for interviewing for the Alexa team?” …

A look behind the curtains on my most popular workshop — reflected in the context of a post-coronavirus world — As we look at 2021 and what technology surprises may await, I ask a simple question: when people return to the office, are they going to want to use shared whiteboard markers and conference room consoles? The coronavirus pandemic has already shaped our world in numerous ways, but there are…

In order to make VUI more conversational, we must understand where today’s experiences fall short. — In my last post, we explored the conversational UI (CUI) track from Interaction 17. Along the way, it became apparent that the voice user interfaces (VUI) hailed as “conversational” today are actually just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Most of today’s experiences focus on command-and-control scenarios or very simple…

If today’s voice operated devices AREN’T conversational, what does “conversational” even mean? — This is the second in a series of posts inspired by my time as a workshop speaker and attendee at Interaction 17 (February 2017, New York City). In my last post, we talked about the state of voice user interfaces (VUI) at this moment in time. …

Why voice? Why now? We examine why voice technology is leaping from a decades-long slumber to mainstream success. — In the past few years, voice user experiences have reached critical mass. Cortana. Alexa. Google. Like many technologies that seem fresh off the presses (virtual reality, anyone?), voice user interfaces have been in the public consciousness for decades and in research circles even longer. …

Maybe you’re like me — you grew up with Star Trek and have been fascinated by voice control ever since Scotty talked to a mouse in Star Trek IV. Maybe you own an Amazon Echo and use it to turn your lights off and on again. …