Empathy and Inclusion in Voice Design

The Future is Spoken

The Future is Spoken presents Maaike Coppens as this week's guest. Maaike is an international Conversation Design Expert, speaker and co-author of the Voice UX Workbook. With a successful background in linguistics and UX design, Maaike found conversational design the perfect blend.

Over the last couple of years, Maaike has worked with award-winning agencies, large enterprises, and innovative companies worldwide. Eager to be part of a team with an opinionated take on Conversation Design, Maaike recently joined Greenshoot Labs - a chatbot and applied AI agency in the UK - as their Head of Conversational UX.

Tune in Now!

Conversation Highlights:

[02:54] The journey to Conversational UX….

● Maaike explains that we are constantly flipping the coin in the wrong way when designing experiences.

● She had an academic path in linguistics. She then got deeper into UX. When conversational designing became more widespread, it was an ideal mix for her.

[05:35] Linguistics as a career?

● Maaike shares her perspective on choosing Linguistics as a career.

● It's great to see how conversation design has helped her think differently about human to human Conversations.

[08:44] The most important traits that a conversational Al must-have.

● Maaike explains that being flexible and being inclusive are essential traits. She also feels that relatability is also a necessary aspect for conversational Al or voice assistant.

● Accessibility and inclusivity are related, but they are not mutually exclusive.

[21:34] Enabling the disabled with Voice....

● She elaborates that when you are designing Voice assistants, empathy is critical. It is necessary to get those insights and research before doing any empathy exercises.

● Empathy becomes very important when backed up by user research.

● She still sees loads of difficulties around language proficiency. She says that instead of finding the next big thing, we should perfect the ones available.

[35:05] Reality of Voice Assistants

● She feels that if you adapt your human behaviour to technology, it is a sign that the technology is already broken.

● The industry is more reactive than being proactive in designing an inclusive solution. When amazon launched smart speakers, they never thought about disabled people.

[42:30] How can we design an inclusive solution?

● Maaike divulges what the designers can do to design an inclusive solution. She further instructs to get out of the bubble.

● She speaks that listening is the one vital skill that you need to have as a conversational designer.

[47:02] No Al without IA(Information Architecture)

● Maaike elaborates that Information Architecture is a significant part of conversational designing. It is about mapping the information available to you.

● Why do we forget the basics of UX?

● With the Information Architecture, researching and bringing in some of the UX processes into conversational designing can significantly change the experience.

[54:50] Must Listen

● Maaike's piece of advice for someone trying to get into the world of Voice.

Learn more about Maaike at

● LinkedIn

● Twitter

● GreenShoot Labs

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