Voice User Interface Design VUI

It was very interesting that we were just recently talking about what it would take to make documentation actually useful, and a couple of weeks later I heard about a new book by the GuiMags guys (creators of a magnet-based prototyping tool for interface design) titled “The Unplugged.”

What I find very interesting about it is that as part of being a UI designer, I’ve always had a passion for creativity in general — tools, techniques, case studies, etc. — and one of the common themes that comes up in relation to Creativity and Design is that sometimes, the only way to design something right is to go analog.

Analog? Let me clarify. What I mean by that is that before you write your first line of code, before you create the first page of that design document, before you draw that first block in your call flow, you need to turn the computer off, step away from it (yes, laptops too), grab a pad of paper and a pencil, and start drafting your ideas.

I know it sounds counterintuitive, but sometimes all those software tools we’re so used to in fact hinder our creativity because they force us to adapt our way of thinking to the inherent rules and restrictions of each individual software package. We’re visual creatures: anyone can take a napkin and a pen and quickly sketch a new idea or a solution to a problem (this is my favorite book on this subject), yet those same individuals often remain quiet during design meetings and let the “creative” members take the lead role since they can create breathtaking digital images and amazing presentations with digital effects.

Next time you’re faced with a new design challenge, give it a try, unplug yourself, go analog for a little bit and let your brain and hand take control. Great things will emerge, believe me.

I was recently reading an article about the future of wireframes in the context of user interface design documentation. Wireframes have been used mostly for visual elements and became a critical building block in the early days of the web.

But since I like drawing analogies between other UI fields and the VUI field, there were a few quotes that struck a cord because of their universality:

“The object was to create as many wireframes as possible, of every screen in the entire site, in big, monolithic and hugely detailed chunks. Rather than exploring different approaches to the information and structure of the site, the emphasis became entirely focused on using all of the time available to build a collection of wireframes, regardless of whether they were the right wireframes.”

Ouch, how much of that is still taking place nowadays? You create as many “detailed individual states” as possible sometimes loosing track of the real intent of the document. Nevertheless, some of those risks can be lowered by using a layered approach where you start as simple as possible and then start adding details to the design that make sense from a design perspective and that help clarify the overarching intent; for example: starting with a high-level, 1-page interaction flow, then adding details in the form of sample calls, which then evolve into detailed flows and become the source for an initial or “skeleton” specification document (containing mostly initial interactions, without error strategies) which after various reviews (including Usability) become a complete or “full” specification document.

“Why hold the information in a document that’s no one wants to read?”

Thank you, thank you, thank you. How many times designers have to create alternative “views” of their documents because some groups may not be able to use (or care) about certain aspects of the design, which might be buried with other details or is presented in a format that is neither usable nor efficient. But of course, the question that begs to be answered is “What’s the ideal document the developer would like to see to build a system from?.” Suggestions anyone?

“In a previous life at a big ‘old style’ new media agency, there often seemed to be a one tool fits all approach to projects. This applied to information architecture too.”

I’m sorry to say some of might still be living that life. Methodologies/Systems anyone? I totally agree with the notion of finding out what’s the best tool for a particular project. Not every project requires the 12-step program, and not every customer processes information the same way.

“The best sites are those where there’s a seamless divide between the look, the content and the experience.”

This one I would like to borrow and extend as a closing statement: “The best systems are those where there’s a seamless divide between the look, the sound, the content and the experience.”

Time to rethink our current documentation practices…

Outbound calling (meaning automated phone calls that go out to specific individuals) is a very profitable business that thrives at times such as this one when companies need to reach more consumers yet want to reduce the costs of making those calls since most of the time they are nothing more than the equivalent of “phone spam”.

Therefore, I’ve never been a big fan of these types of services, except for those situations where I know we’re adding value to the conversation. Those situations where we’re providing a benefit to consumers, particularly in win-win scenarios where both parties benefit from the interaction.

One product/service I recently found out about that does exactly that is GlowCaps Connect. GlowCaps are electronic pill caps that use some very clever means to ensure patients take their medicine at the times and frequency that they should.

So picture this. If you know someone that needs to manage a chronic disease like diabetes or depression, daily medications are essential for their well being. What this device does is that every day, at the prescribed time, the GlowCap uses a myriad of modalities to remind users and attract their attention. For example, it may flash a visual reminder which is followed by sound if the bottle is not opened within the first hour. If the patient still doesn’t open the bottle, then the cap triggers a phone call to remind them and can even send weekly updates to friends and family as well as send reports to the patient’s doctor with a monthly summary of the bottle’s activity.

So, to summarize, better prescription handling which can be rewarded with coupons and incentives, better healthcare management with the doctor, and an opportunity for pharmacies to handle automatic refills. Those are the types of calls I wouldn’t mind at dinner time.

As of yesterday, the Association of Voice Interaction Design AVIxD site is live and available. If you’re a practitioner of voice and multimodal experience design, are curious about speech and it’s implementation in the real world, or simply want to hang-around self-minded individuals, make sure to check them out and apply for this year’s AVIxD Workshop (May 29 deadline).

That’s great news!

An interesting discussion came up this week where there was a debate about the length of menu choices and how short/long options should be to help users move along in both an efficient and successful way through a system.

Interestingly enough, around the same time I ran across an article from Nielsen talking about taking about links and how well can users predict what will be contained within each link.  I’ve mentioned in the past that I feel there are many similarities between the web world and the voice world, so thinking along the same lines, I feel web links are the siblings of menu choices in speech, so I felt the part where he talked about the results of only showing the first 11 characters of a link was relevant for that discussion:

The two winning links (“Gift Cards” and “New Custome”) also showcase principles for effective Web content.  Both links:

• Use plain language
• Use specific terminology
• Follow conventions for naming common features
• Front-load user- and action-oriented terms

The point being that the importance is not really on the length of the word but on its meaning.  For example he found the worse links were the ones that only showed “Introducing” and “Working whi” that had the same length as the winning ones but were bad because of:

• Bland, generic words
• Made-up words or terms
• Starting with blah-blah and deferring the information-carrying text to the end

What this means in practice is that using single word commands on a menu (e.g. “Emergency”, “Billing”, “Status”) does not necessarily make menu choices easier to understand, more intuitive for users, or faster to navigate.  On the contrary, they may limit the user’s ability to infer what can be found underneath them, creating the exact opposite effect.

JTLYK  

I have to admit that in this time and age, even with all the advantages technology provides, when it comes down to keeping track of pending items, errands and to-do-items, I tend to stay in the analog world (read pen and paper).

So I was very excited to read about a new smart phone app which seems to be tackling this problem in a very clever way by integrating the best aspects of disparate technologies such as Post-It notes, email, calendars, and voice for free! (with a Pro option available too)

It is called reQall and the way it works is that you call a free number to add “items” via your voice or text such as notes, appointments and memos.  If using your voice, they use speech recognition software to transcribe your message into text so that based on your situation (time, location, etc.), the system can remind you of those items via email, SMS, IM or even a “phone shake”.

A very nice feature is that you can also share your account with other family members and friends, so they can enter reminders for you.  Mmm, I wonder why wives love this feature so much…

Mobile search has been identified as one of those applications where Speech Recognition can become the killer app.  There are many instances in which speech recognition has been integrated with mobile devices, some of which include doing recognition embedded on the device, some others that perform the recognition on “the network” (a remote server farm) which then returns the results to the device, and some others rely on real human beings transcribing the contents of the request so they can be processed accordingly.

Then of course, comes the part of the search itself.  Some services for example, provide you with a list of links to Web pages (such as Google and Yahoo). Others, like ChaCha, uses humans to find the answers for you and then send you the response via text (and yes, you can become a “guide” for them). While some others attempt to integrate other features and capabilities of the devices such as the use of GPS and maps, or trigger subsequent reactions on other services such as changing your status in Facebook or Twitter (as is the case with Vlingo).

Now, if someone could simply find a way to use voice to find out where I left my phone, or my remote, or the car keys…

Just when you though that having a single phone number that would ring all your phones, coupled with a central voicemail inbox accesible from the web, including the ability to screen calls by listening in live as callers leave a voicemail for free couldn’t get any better, Google does it again.

That’s right. Google is revamping their GrandCentral system (which we’ve talked about before) and changing it’s name to Google Voice.

Aside from the privacy concerns that have been popping up everywhere in the blogosphere, the system and it’s features have received rave reviews and praise for the enhancements added to the platform. The one I like the best? Transcription of voicemail into text of course! That way you can read your voicemail at leisure, copy/paste them, search for specific terms, etc.  Details about all the features are available here.

The official Google blog has more details about it and Mr. Pogue has a great video showing it in action.  Even though it’s currently only available to existing GrandCentral customers (what can I saw, I got lucky ), you can still request an invitation for when Google Voice becomes available to the public sometime next week.

We’ve talked in the past about the use of speech recognition in the realm of note taking, where tools such as Jott allow you to obtain a text version of a voice message, making it easier to document and search for information.

Well, Microsoft just recently unveiled a new application of speech recognition, but this time with a twist. Microsoft Recite (available as a preview which can be downloaded) allows anyone using a Windows Mobile phone to record a voice message or “remembrance”, store it, and then retrieve it later using speech pattern recognition.

The obvious advantage of pattern recognition compared to other types of speech searches is that the message itself doesn’t have to be decoded, transcribed or converted.  It simply uses a “search” sample as a pattern to match one or more of the words against existing “remembrances”.

Even though initial test have received possitive feedback, I’m hoping they’ll expand the tool to include other devices and languages (it currently only works with US English).

The proverbial dilemma, user-centered design calls for simplicity, yet business requirements often conflict with that principle. The result? Watch, remember, and cry…

Enjoy!