V.u.x. World

This week, we're finding out how Ruby Steel and Will Merrill made Alexa more accessible for Susan as part of BBC 2's Big Life Fix.Become an expert conversation designerThe Conversational Academy is a fantastic online course that'll teach you the ins and outs of conversation design. Prepare yourself for the UX role of the future and enrol on the course today. VUX World listeners will save $100 when you enrol at conversationalacademy.com.In this episodeVoice first devices such as smart speakers are often touted as accessible. That's one of the main reasons voice assistants are forecast to grow in adoption and usage over the next 5 years. Voice is the new interface.Whether you're a child, an elderly person or if you have a disability of some kind, voice is here to enable to you interact with technology and connect with those around you.However, as you'll find out in this episode, there are some fundamental accessibility problems with smart speakers. Having to download the app in order to onboard, for exampl

Become an expert conversation designerThe Conversational Academy is a fantastic online course that'll teach you the ins and outs of conversation design. Prepare yourself for the UX role of the future and enrol on the course today. VUX World listeners will save $100 when you enrol at conversationalacademy.com.In this episodeIn part 2 of RAIN week, we're joined by Nick Rovisa, Director, Business Development, and Matt Lang, Strategy Director. The guys share their learnings on the voice industry, including how different clients perceive price i.e. how much should a voice project cost, as well as whether to think about voice from a content or app perspective.We dive deep into the work the team did with Nike in using Google Assistant to launch a new pair of sneakers at the half time interval during a televised Celtics v Lakers basketball game. We look at how the project came about, the lead times, the technical necessities of handling substantial transient traffic and the results of the project on sales.We dis

The Conversational Academy is a fantastic online course that'll teach you the ins and outs of conversation design. Prepare yourself for the UX role of the future and enrol on the course today. VUX World listeners will save $100 when you enrol at conversationalacademy.com.Welcome to RAIN weekThis week is RAIN week. We've got two huge episodes featuring the industry-leading and ground-breaking RAIN Agency.RAIN are a dedicated voice agency and have worked with 23 of the Fortune 100 companies on voice projects. From Nike to Unilever, Campbells to Tide creating experiences from utility to leisure to kids and even product launches.In this episodeIn this first episode with RAIN, we're joined by VP Emerging Experiences, Greg Hedges, to discuss how RAIN approach voice with the Fortune 100 and we get into detail on how they built the Kung Fu Panda Alexa skill for DreamWorks and Amazon.We share some detail on what's changed in voice since RAIN pivoted in 2015 to focus exclusively on voice. We discuss how

Kane Simms and Dustin Coates are joined by Elaine Lee, Principal Product Designer at Twilio, to discuss the ins and outs of Twilio's Autopilot bot builder and how you can build trust with users through dialogue design.Voice-Connected Home 2019, Cologne, GermanyThe Voice-Connected Home 2019 conference dives into all this and more with an incredible line up of speakers from brands like Amazon Alexa, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, BBC, BMW, Vodaphone and plenty more.Save 30% on tickets with promo code VuxVoice.Find out moreLearn the art of conversation design with the Conversational Academy online course.LinksFollow Elaine on LinkedInFollow Elaine on Medium Check out Autopilot on the Twilio websiteRead the documentation for Autopilot  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Why do all skills start with 'Welcome to xyz'? Is an 'assistant' the right mental model for voice experiences? Mark Webster of Adobe XD joins us to tackle some of the biggest challenges in voice and discusses how design can play a role in solving them.Voice-Connected Home conference in Cologne, Germany on May 7th-8th. Save 30% on tickets with promo code VuxVoice.Learn the art of conversation design with the Conversational Academy online course.Take some time out with the Moment PebbleAbout Mark WebsterMark Webster is Director of Product at Adobe, focusing on voice integration for Adobe XD. He is also responsible for driving product strategy for emerging technologies within XD. Mark joined Adobe through the acquisition of the company he founded, Sayspring, which offers a design and prototyping platform for voice interfaces.Prior to Sayspring, Mark was Director of Product for Groupon, focusing on entertainment and events. He landed at Groupon after SideTour, an e-commerce marketpla

This week, we're digging deep into how to craft compelling audio experiences in your voice app by using sonic branding and sound design, with Audio UX Co-Founder and CMO, Eric Seay.In this episode: sonic brandingWe're advancing the conversation we had with Joel Beckerman of Man Made Music on scoring voice experiences, and get into specifics of how to make your VUX sound better with a combination of sonic branding and sound design.We discuss:The resurgence of audioWhy is sonic branding and sound design are importantWhere and how to use sonic brandingHow sonic branding applies to voiceWhat's missing in voice from a sound design perspectiveThe anatomy of an Alexa skill and where sound design can make an impactThe 4 As: Audio As An Afterthought, and the perils of putting audio lastChallenges in sound design and audio branding, including celebrity voiceoversAbout Audio UX and Eric SeayAudio UX are a sound design and sonic branding company helping brands create a holistic Audio Aesthetic by developin

Since starting VUX World in February 2018, things in the voice assistant industry have changed. At the last MUXL London Meet-up, Design for Voice, I presented 4 things that have moved forward and gave 4 pointers for you to take into consideration when working on your voice strategy and voice first projects.Read the full write up on vux.world See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We're honoured to be joined by Andrea Muttoni and German Viscuso, Technical Evangelists at Amazon Alexa, to dive deep into how to translate your Alexa skill into other languages.At the time of writing, Amazon Alexa is available in over 40 countries and 12 languages, and continuously growing.For skill builders, tapping into emerging markets is key to having your skills used on a global scale and to growing your user base.However, if you have a skill that's in English, you can't just point it to the Italian or German skill store. You have to localise it and translate it for those languages.In this episodeIn this episode, German Viscuso and Andrea Muttoni walk us through a step by step process of how to localise your Alexa skill.We cover:Why you should localise your skill in the first placeFront-end design considerationsBack-end technical considerationsCultural differencesAndrea and German point to the importance of separating content and responses from code logic as the key to a successful localisation project.

This week, Dustin Coates and Kane Simms are joined by Nick Carey, Lead Product Designer at Potato, to discuss the concept of creating an assistant on an assistant.This episode touches on some unique topics that we haven't covered before, such as:How to create an assistant on an assistant and the reasons for doing so.The utility to affinity scale and when to create a persona.AI and personalised VS static content and the difference between the voice interface and the backend functionality. We also discuss Nick's design and research process, how voice changes the interaction pattern, how character and story improve engagement and how technical development mixed with design led the team to create a randomised response builder capable of generating over a million different response combinations.LinksVisit the Potato website: http://p.ota.to(what a cool domain!)Twitter: NSDCarey  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Dustin and I are joined by journalist and author, James Vlahos, to discuss the details of his book Talk to Me: How voice computing will transform the way we live, work and think.Where to listenApple podcastsSpotifyYouTubeCastBoxSpreakerTuneInBreakerStitcherPlayerFMiHeartRadioAbout Talk to MeJames Vlahos writes for the likes of WIRED, New York Times Magazine, Popular Science and GQ. His new book Talk to Mechronicles how the world’s biggest tech companies are battling to dominate voice—Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and the Assistant—the biggest technological paradigm shift since mobile phones. The book tracks the strange scientific quest—from humanoid talking contraptions of the 19th century to the latest AIs—that has resulted in our being able to say something to a voice assistant and receive an intelligible reply. And it explores voice computing’s potential to upend control of knowledge; to befriend, advise, and surveil; and to preserve memories of lost loved ones, as with James' Dadbotproje

We're joined by Jonathan Myers and Dave Grossman, founders of world-class interactive audio production company, Earplay. Jonathan and Dave take us through what it takes to create movie quality interactive stories and share with us their approach to creating some of the worlds best voice experiences, such as Jurassic World Revealed and Jack Ryan.We're also joined by our special co-host for this episode, Florian Hollandt.In this episode, we discuss:How to increase engagement and retention through storytellingThe audio production pipelineMeasuring successMaking a voice game for gamersEarplay technologyWorking with Bose on AR interactive audioWhere to listenApple podcastsSpotifyYouTubeCastBoxSpreakerTuneInBreakerStitcherPlayerFMiHeartRadioLinksEarplay: https://www.earplay.comCodename Cygnus: http://www.codenamecygnus.comEarplay iOS: http://bit.ly/EarplayCreator inquiries: talent@earplay.comBose AR: https://bose.com/arXandra: https://www.xandra.comCapstone: https://www.capstonepu

This is the recording of the opening breakfast session at TechNOVA Voice 2019, a voice-first conference held at the Hilton Tower Bridge, London, on 14th March 2019.Kane covers where we're at in voice right now, from adoption numbers and usage figures, to emerging environments and a run through of some exemplar use cases.View the slides and source material: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NqmndiWCF4EEke76lCFQaTKr9jyepkp0Qv_F1bV59rc/edit?usp=sharing Find out more about the conference: https://marketforcelive.com/technova/events/voice/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

An interview with Kane Simms taken from the Inside Voice podcast, the official podcast of the Voice Summit 2019.Visit voicesummit.ai to apply to speak or buy tickets. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Diving deep into the usage of smart speakers in-store, finding out how a voice assistant is helping with product selection and driving sales, with The Mars Agency's Bree Glaeser and Brooke Hawkins.If you've had your ear to the ground, you might have come across this example of how voice is being used to help people shop for whisky in-store. It's called SmartAisle. It's an interactive voice assistant that takes away the paradox of choice by guiding users through a conversation to find the right whiskey for them.It's a sterling example of how voice could and should be applied in-store and is proving to increase sasles.Today, we're speaking to the team that designed it to find out about:The opportunities of voice in-storeHow it's driving salesDesign considerations for designing in-store voice assistantsTechnical challengesThe future of voice shoppingEarn monthly recurring revenue from your skills/actionsIf you build skills/actions for clients, then you can earn money from them each month through Speebl

This week, we're getting deep into using voice to enhance the gaming experience, with Anything World founder, Gordon Midwood. Where to listenApple podcastsSpotifyYouTubeCastBoxSpreakerTuneInBreakerStitcherPlayerFMiHeartRadioLinksWebsite: https://anything.world/Insta: https://www.instagram.com/anything.world.worldwideTwitter: https://twitter.com/_AnythingWorldFB: https://www.facebook.com/Anything.World.Worldwide/iOS app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/speak-to-anything/id1395178504Android app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.differentcloth.speaktoanything See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As we celebrate 1 year of VUX World, we wanted to say thank you, each and every one of you, for listening week in week out and for being a part of this journey. Here's to the next 100! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode, we take a deep dive into the creation of the world's first voice-first interactive documentary: Hidden Cities Berlin for Google Assistant. The action is part of a collaboration between Google and the Financial Times and was created by Rosina Sound and Reduced Listening.We're joined by the people behind the action, founder of Ronsina sound, Nicky Birch; interactive and immersive producer and BAFTA-winner, Michelle Feuerlicht; and audio software engineer, programmer, two-time BAFTA winner and all-round audio veteran, Nigel James Brown.Together, the dream team take us through the creation process of Hidden Cities Berlin. We discuss the brief, the ideation and creation process, the design considerations and the technical build.In this podcast, you'll learn about:Considerations for creating long-form, rich interactive audio contentThe challenges of creating interactive narrative as opposed to linear narrativeStorytelling with empathyDocumenting design and the 'pearl necklace' approachWhy you shoul

This week, we're chatting to the ex-Lego frontier-seeking, Vixen Labs-venturing, Voice2 fire-starting, voice-first-feasting James Poulter about how brands can, could and should approach voice.As the ex-Head of Emerging Platforms at Lego Group, James led Lego through their first foray into voice with the creation and launch of the Lego Duplo experience on Alexa.He also founded the Voice2 What's App community group with Will Harvey, which is now one of the most active online voice communities. (It's where we spend a good chunk of our time.)James is currently CEO at Vixen Labs, a company he co-founded with CCO, Jen Heape, that offers consultancy services to global brands, helping them navigate the unchartered waters of voice.Where to listenApple podcastsSpotifyYouTubeCastBoxSpreakerTuneInBreakerStitcherPlayerFMiHeartRadioLinksJoin the Voice2 communityCheck out Vixen LabsFind out more about the Voice Summit 2019Try the Lego Duplo skill See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/_M0yaIYo3Ag Here's a full blueprint for a voice design workshop. It shows you, from beginning to end, the process to go through to design world class Alexa skills.If you're an agency trying to help brands build Alexa skills or voice apps, you can use this template to go through the VUX design process.If you're a brand, you can use this to do the same with your teams. Or if you're a hobbyist, you can use this to ideate and prototype in order to get to a valid use case.For the full transcript:https://vux.world/voice-design-worksh... Podcasts referenced in this video:VUI design best practice from testing voice apps with over 120 brands, with PulseLabs: https://vux.world/voice-product-strat... Voice strategy with Ben Sauer: https://vux.world/voice-product-strat... Tools mentioned in this video:BotMock: https://botmock.com/vuxworld/ (for a free trial)VoiceApps: http://voiceapps.com Xtensio: https://xtensio.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Dustin and I are joined by Tellables co-founder, Amy Stapleton, to discuss storytelling through Alexa and the design challenges that come with that.By the end of this podcast, you'll:Be familiar with situational designGain insight into designing with Amazon PollyLearn about complex interaction modelsSee how you can use metaphors to helps users navigate (in this case, a box of chocolates)Understand how to build your own voice CMS and moreAbout Amy and TellablesAfter spending many years in IT, including 14 years at NASA as an IT manager, Amy Stapleton is driving the voice first revolution forward. Tellables build conversational story experiences for talking devices and provide a platform to showcase the work of talented authors within voice apps.Where to listenApple podcastsSpotifyYouTubeCastBoxSpreakerTuneInBreakerStitcherPlayerFMiHeartRadioLinksVisit the Tellables websiteFollow Tellables on TwitterFollow Amy on TwitterEnable My Box of ChocolatesView the My Box of Chocolates list of candiesEnable th