Presented by Derrick Fountain at the UX Istanbul Conference 2017. A look at the future of the user interface and the birth of the spoken web. Visit www.derrickfountain.com for archived writings on the Spoken Web and other projects.

1. Designing for the
Spoken Web

2. The spoken web is a way of storing and retrieving
information over the Internet using voice.
What is the Spoken Web?

3. BAIDU
2004 2006 2007 2009 2012 2013 2015 2016 2017 2020
1 in 10 queries through
speech.
SIRI
1 billion requests
per week through
speech.
ANDROID
1 in 5 searches on mobile in
the US are voice.
AMAZON ECHO
Fastest selling
speaker in 2015.
MARY MEEKER
In 3 years, 50% of all
searches will be through
VOICE or images.
Mary Meeker Internet Trends 2016 and derrickfountain.com
YEOWSA
Invented an automatic
audio publishing
platform.
DERRICKFOUNTAIN.COM
“The birth of the spoken
web” article published.
GHANA VOICES
1K listeners in the
first week, 428
reports sent.
KENYA VOICES
6K total listeners,
602 voice reports.
LISTENING APP
Tablet app that
listens and extracts
topics from TV audio.
NEWS QUIZ
TRT World R&D
conversation action
for Google Home.
SIMPLE READER
Simple news app wth
voice narrated
commuter mode.
Spoken Web Growth
& Early Adoption
VIVO
The Coming
Age of Talking
Computers.
NEWS BRIEF
TRT World voice
narrated daily news
summaries.
IHT
AudioNews
personalized
Podcast service
launched.
SYNDOUT
Rebranded, added
auto publish to
podcast and IVR.

4. Written language is a technology invented over
10,000 years ago to solve an information
storage and retrieval problem.
Writing is a deprecated technology.

5. Typing 1.0
QWERTY
Keyboard 1872.
Typing 2.0
Commercial use mobile
computing 1996.
Voice 3.0
Voice on ambient
devices 2014.
Typing 3.0
Touch based mobile
computing 2007.
Voice 2.0
Voice on mobile
2011.
Writing typing is being replaced by voice.
Voice 1.0
IVR and VXML go
mainstream 2000.
IVR SIRI
ALEXA

6. Then and now, from Trees to Actions
Voice 3.0
Conversation Interface
“Ok Google, start the TRT World Quiz”
Voice 1.0
IVR Tree Interface
“Please listen carefully, as our menu
options have changed.”

7. Voice assistants are used annually by 65% of
people in the US.
The spoken future has arrived.
The 2017 Voice Report, VoiceLabs

8. Recent improvements in the speed and
quality of speech recognition makes voice
input faster and more convenient than text.
Ease of use is changing behavior.
Mary Meeker Internet Trends 2016

9. % of Voice Assistant usage annually in the US
from 2013-2015
0%
18%
35%
53%
70%
2013 2014 2015
30%
56%
65%
Humans can speak almost 4x as fast as they can type
Mary Meeker Internet Trends 2016

10. In Jan 2017, 1,000 Amazon Alexa skills were
added in 17 days.
0
2.250
4.500
6.750
9.000
May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan 3 Jan 20
voicebot.ai
Alexa skills added from 2015-2017

11. The 2017 Voice Report, VoiceLabs
The 2017 total addressable market will be
33 million voice-first devices in circulation.
24.5 million voice-first devices will be shipped in 2017.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
MILLIONSOFDEVICES
2014 2015 2016 2017

12. Voice-centered design emerges as a way of
designing features, functions, intents and
actions triggered by words and phrases.
Conversation is the new UI.

13. There will be a Turk in every product or
service, intelligently inferring, deciding
and acting as an agent on your behalf.
The Turks shall inhabit the earth.

14. People don’t buy from websites, people buy
from people.
Design is human.

15. Keep calm, visual design is not done.
Adaptive is the new responsive.

16. Written language is a symbolic representation
of spoken language.
Break the silence.

17. Contextualize
Onboarding
• Build onboarding into
the messaging before
the action starts.
• Use the natural
language of the target
audience.
• Direct the user with a
clear call-to-action in
the intro message.
Simplify
Interactions
• Design for the least
amount of effort and
voice input.
• Each additional
prompt for the user
translates into
decreased retention
and engagement.
Design for
single-purpose
• Design purpose-driven
and focused intents and
actions.
• Progressively enhance
the experience over time
based on data.
Be a Good
Companion
• Design an experience
that adds value to a
process or activity that
people already do.
• Build intents and
actions that play
nicely other parts of
your ecosystem.
Leverage Game
Mechanics
• Build a retention core
loop through “return”
messaging at the
beginning and ending
of your experience.
• Anticipate future
opportunities for
activating and engaging
users across devices.
Introducing the TRT World
News Quiz game for Google Home
Conversation Interface UX Strategy

18. Questions?
www.derrickfountain.com
Check out early Viewpoints about the Spoken Web at