Conversation Design Tips for UX Writers from Google I/O 2019
2 years ago, Google (I/O 2017) was the first to talk about the sensitive topic of How Words Can Make Your Product Stand Out and it was wonderful.
It’s from there that we get the mantra of “clear, concise, and useful” which every UX writer should be repeating to themselves 10 times before bed.
Since this talk, we’ve seen a major shift in the UX writing industry with more and more companies adding UX writers to their product teams.
Not too many people are openly saying it yet, but more and more are starting to realize it: Writing is the hot technology skill of the future.
There are many gems of wisdom in that talk so now is the time to give it a quick watch if you haven’t seen it before.
Designing Quality Conversations for the Google Assistant
Now, two years after Google’s historically brought UX writing to the world’s attention, we’ve arrived at another big UX writing moment. Last week, Google held its annual developer conference, and what can I say, big things are coming to the realm of voice interface.
There is a lot going on with the Google Assistant and even though they haven’t mentioned the writing aspect much, it feels to me like writers are going to make or break the experience of voice interface design.
My favorite talk by far was “Designing Quality Conversations for the Google Assistant” by a writer and a developer who collaborate to design better conversations. They also give us a few action items that will help us to use this medium.
Designing for Accessibility
This one was also a standout; Elise Roy shared a personal story about her long struggle connected to her hearing loss.
A former human rights lawyer, she realized that design thinking can be used to help solve some of our world’s biggest problems.
Conversation design playlist
If you want to see all of the talks about the Google Assistant, here is the full playlist. Be forewarned though, it also has plenty of “developer talks” too.
✅ What’s Next?
It looks like the Google assistant is going to take a huge role in our life, which means, more work for conversation designers and UX writers.
If you are considering to work in tech as a writer in the future, I highly recommend diving deep into the field of conversation design.
If you are ready to take your UX writing game to the next level, join our free course.
