Although speech is the most natural form of communication between humans, most people find using speech to communicate with machines anything but natural. Drawing from psychology, human-computer interaction, linguistics, and communication theory, Practical Speech User Interface Design provides a comprehensive yet concise survey of practical speech

Voice user interfaces (VUIs) are becoming all the rage today. But how do you build one that people can actually converse with? Whether you’re designing a mobile app, a toy, or a device such as a home assistant, this practical book guides you through basic VUI design principles, helps you choose the right speech recognition engine, and shows you how to measure your VUI’s performance and improve upon it. Author Cathy Pearl also takes product managers, UX designers, and VUI designers into advanced design topics that will help make your VUI not just functional, but great.Understand key VUI design concepts, including command-and-control and conversational systemsDecide if you should use an avatar or other visual representation with your VUIExplore speech recognition technology and its impact on your designTake your VUI above and beyond the basic exchange of informationLearn practical ways to test your VUI application with usersMonitor your app and learn how to quickly improve performanceGet real-world examples of VUIs for home assistants, smartwatches, and car systems

This book is a comprehensive and authoritative guide to voice user interface (VUI) design. The VUI is perhaps the most critical factor in the success of any automated speech recognition (ASR) system, determining whether the user experience will be satisfying or frustrating, or even whether the customer will remain one. This book describes a practical methodology for creating an effective VUI design. The methodology is scientifically based on principles in linguistics, psychology, and language technology, and is illustrated here by examples drawn from the authors' work at Nuance Communications, the market leader in ASR development and deployment. The book begins with an overview of VUI design issues and a description of the technology. The authors then introduce the major phases of their methodology. They first show how to specify requirements and make high-level design decisions during the definition phase. They next cover, in great detail, the design phase, with clear explanations and demonstrations of each design principle and its real-world applications. Finally, they examine problems unique to VUI design in system development, testing, and tuning. Key principles are illustrated with a running sample application. A companion Web site provides audio clips for each example: www.VUIDesign.org The cover photograph depicts the first ASR system, Radio Rex: a toy dog who sits in his house until the sound of his name calls him out. Produced in 1911, Rex was among the few commercial successes in earlier days of speech recognition. Voice User Interface Design reveals the design principles and practices that produce commercial success in an era when effective ASRs are not toys but competitive necessities.

From the voice on the phone, to the voice on the computer, to the voice from the toaster, speech user interfaces are coming into the mainstream and are here to stay forever. Soundly anchored in HCI, cognitive psychology, linguistics, and social psychology, this supremely practical book is loaded with examples, how-to advice, and design templates. Drawing widely on decades of research—in lexicography, conversation analysis, computational linguistics, and social psychology—author Randy Allen Harris outlines the principles of how people use language interactively, and illustrates every aspect of design work.In the first part of the book, Harris provides a thorough conceptual basis of language in all its relevant aspects, from speech sounds to conversational principles. The second part takes you patiently through the entire process of designing an interactive speech system: from team building to user profiles, to agent design, scripting, and evaluation. This book provides interaction designers with the knowledge and strategies to craft language-based applications the way users will expect them to behave.*Loaded with examples and practical synopses of the best practice. *An ideal combination of conceptual base, practical illustrations, and "how-to" advice—for design and for the entire design process.*Will bring novice voice designers fully up to speed, and give experienced designers a new understanding of the principles underlying human speech interaction, principles from which to improve voice interaction design.

Here’s what three pioneers in computer graphics and human-computer interaction have to say about this book: “What a tour de force—everything one would want—comprehensive, encyclopedic, and authoritative.” — Jim Foley “At last, a book on this important, emerging area. It will be an indispensable reference for the practitioner, researcher, and student interested in 3D user interfaces.” — Andy van Dam “Finally, the book we need to bridge the dream of 3D graphics with the user-centered reality of interface design. A thoughtful and practical guide for researchers and product developers. Thorough review, great examples.” — Ben Shneiderman As 3D technology becomes available for a wide range of applications, its successful deployment will require well-designed user interfaces (UIs). Specifically, software and hardware developers will need to understand the interaction principles and techniques peculiar to a 3D environment. This understanding, of course, builds on usability experience with 2D UIs. But it also involves new and unique challenges and opportunities. Discussing all relevant aspects of interaction, enhanced by instructive examples and guidelines, 3D User Interfaces comprises a single source for the latest theory and practice of 3D UIs. Many people already have seen 3D UIs in computer-aided design, radiation therapy, surgical simulation, data visualization, and virtual-reality entertainment. The next generation of computer games, mobile devices, and desktop applications also will feature 3D interaction. The authors of this book, each at the forefront of research and development in the young and dynamic field of 3D UIs, show how to produce usable 3D applications that deliver on their enormous promise. Coverage includes: The psychology and human factors of various 3D interaction tasks Different approaches for evaluating 3D UIs Results from empirical studies of 3D interaction techniques Principles for choosing appropriate input and output devices for 3D systems Details and tips on implementing common 3D interaction techniques Guidelines for selecting the most effective interaction techniques for common 3D tasks Case studies of 3D UIs in real-world applications To help you keep pace with this fast-evolving field, the book’s Web site, www.3dui.org, will offer information and links to the latest 3D UI research and applications.

Get a step-by-step guide for developing voice interfaces for applications and devices connected to the Internet of Things. By allowing consumers to use natural human interactions, you can avoid awkward methods of input and interactivity to provide them with elevated user experiences. This practical book is ideal for software engineers who build applications for the Web, smartphones, as well as embedded systems that dominate the IoT space. Integrate voice interfaces with internet connected devices and sensors Learn how to integrate with existing voice interfaces Understand when to use a voice over other Natural User Interface technologies Build a prototype with tools such as Raspberry Pi, solderless breadboards, jumper cables, sensors, Arduino, Visual Studio, and other tools Use cloud services such as Azure and AWS to integrate voice with your existing or new web service end-points

Designing User Interfaces for an Aging Population: Towards Universal Design presents age-friendly design guidelines that are well-established, agreed-upon, research-based, actionable, and applicable across a variety of modern technology platforms. The book offers guidance for product engineers, designers, or students who want to produce technological products and online services that can be easily and successfully used by older adults and other populations. It presents typical age-related characteristics, addressing vision and visual design, hand-eye coordination and ergonomics, hearing and sound, speech and comprehension, navigation, focus, cognition, attention, learning, memory, content and writing, attitude and affect, and general accessibility. The authors explore characteristics of aging via realistic personas which demonstrate the impact of design decisions on actual users over age 55. - Presents the characteristics of older adults that can hinder use of technology - Provides guidelines for designing technology that can be used by older adults and younger people - Review real-world examples of designs that implement the guidelines and the designs that violate them

User interface design is a challenging, multi-disciplinary activity that requires understanding a wide range of concepts and techniques that are often subjective and even conflicting. Imagine how much it would help if there were a single perspective that you could use to simplify these complex issues down to a small set of objective principles. In UI is Communication, Everett McKay explains how to design intuitive user interfaces by focusing on effective human communication. A user interface is ultimately a conversation between users and technology. Well-designed user interfaces use the language of UI to communicate to users efficiently and naturally. They also recognize that there is an emotional human being at the other end of the interaction, so good user interfaces strive to make an emotional connection. Applying what you learn from UI is Communication will remove much of the mystic, subjectiveness, and complexity from user interface design, and help you make better design decisions with confidence. It's the perfect introduction to user interface design. - Approachable, practical communication-based guide to interaction and visual design that you can immediately apply to projects to make solid design decisions quickly and confidently - Includes design makeovers so you can see the concepts in practice with real examples - Communication-based design process ties everything from interaction to visual design together

Quantifying the User Experience: Practical Statistics for User Research, Second Edition, provides practitioners and researchers with the information they need to confidently quantify, qualify, and justify their data. The book presents a practical guide on how to use statistics to solve common quantitative problems that arise in user research. It addresses questions users face every day, including, Is the current product more usable than our competition? Can we be sure at least 70% of users can complete the task on their first attempt? How long will it take users to purchase products on the website? This book provides a foundation for statistical theories and the best practices needed to apply them. The authors draw on decades of statistical literature from human factors, industrial engineering, and psychology, as well as their own published research, providing both concrete solutions (Excel formulas and links to their own web-calculators), along with an engaging discussion on the statistical reasons why tests work and how to effectively communicate results. Throughout this new edition, users will find updates on standardized usability questionnaires, a new chapter on general linear modeling (correlation, regression, and analysis of variance), with updated examples and case studies throughout. - Completely updated to provide practical guidance on solving usability testing problems with statistics for any project, including those using Six Sigma practices - Includes new and revised information on standardized usability questionnaires - Includes a completely new chapter introducing correlation, regression, and analysis of variance - Shows practitioners which test to use, why they work, and best practices for application, along with easy-to-use Excel formulas and web-calculators for analyzing data - Recommends ways for researchers and practitioners to communicate results to stakeholders in plain English

Think about UIs using design thinking principles from an award winning graphic designer KEY FEATURES ● Practical knowledge of visual design basics and typography. ● Understand the modern UI to kick-start your career with UI designs. ● Introduces you to explore UI designs for e-commerce web applications. DESCRIPTION From the initial introduction about the meaning behind interfaces to the technical skills of thinking and designing a modern UI, this book will guide you on designing the UI of a screen for a real-world application, infused with the newly learned knowledge with the Figma tool. You will be able to explore and practice visual design concepts, namely, color, contrast, balance, consistency, alignments, negative space, how to approach visual impairments, and many more. You will be able to learn about one of the most critical elements of how to think about a UI for which you will explore concepts such as memory, vision, processing of info and objects, models of thinking, and more. Furthermore, you will explore the Figma tool and a live practical example of how to design a UI for an e-commerce graphic application, including its shopping cart page and adding a payment method screen. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN ● Get familiar with the basic visual design concepts. ● Understand the fundamentals of the User Interface and User Interaction. ● An overview of Search Results, Font Psychology, and Typography. ● Learn to work with some common interface elements. ● Understand how real-time collaborative editing works in the Figma UI design tool. WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR This book is literally for everyone! You should only be loaded with plenty of curiosity. No previous knowledge of the field is required. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Definition of the User Interface 2. The Web and Graphic User Interfaces 3. Explanation to Typography 4. Visual Design Basics 5. Thinking About User Interaction 6. Usability 7. Know Your Habits 8. Interfaces’ Elements 9. Foreword to an E-commerce 10. A Small Introduction to Figma 11. Building a Shopping Cart 12. Farewell and Future Considerations