The future of the UX-Designer

May 30, 2017

There’s been a lot of press lately on how AI-powered assistants will make our lives better/easier/more manageable very soon.

Some even think we’re already at that point, but anyone who’s ever tried Siri, Cortana, or Amazon’s Alexa know that they are all still pretty dumb. However, this has gotten me thinking about what this move from a visually driven interface to a voice controlled interface will mean for us as designers.

Advances in machine learning mean that voice recognition has gone from a high error rate (>25%) to a low rate (<5%) —i.e. it basically works almost all the time.Nate Clinton

I think the quote above highlights perfectly what has been accomplished so far. Voice recognition HAS improved a lot, but even though Siri may understand what I’m saying, it’s not the same as saying she’s able to act on the command. 70% of my Siri queries are still ‘set a timer for 8 minutes’ when making spaghetti with the other 30% are ‘start a new outdoor run’. She always gets both of these right, but I would not go that as far as saying it has anything to do with being “intelligent”.

When things go wrong

Some of the most overlooked things when creating user experiences is what happens when things go wrong. Sure, there have been some great 404-pages created, but great user experiences go beyond that. They try to cover every misstep a user might take. What happens if they enter invalid information into a form? What about when they click ‘Print’ without first selecting an item? Designing for blue skies scenarios is the easier part. It is harder to understand that all user experiences have cloudy days too. Some are even like Bergen, Norway, where it’s raining all day, every day.

Fin, a new AI-powered assistant, is a great example of this. I love how their promo video (below) makes me as a user feel completely empowered by their service. These people, just casually telling their smartphone to carry out all of these chores that no-one wants to do. Have a look:

Do you notice what’s not in the videos though? Fin’s response. There’s no visual or audio confirmation that Fin has understood the input or carried out the requests. They list the tasks on their website, but there’s no reason to believe that Fin could actually solve these tasks. I could tell Siri all of those things too, just to have her tell me “here’s what I found on the web for…“ (cue sad trombone sound).

As technology offers us more and more options and possibilities, our work as UX-designers will grow to include even more edge-cases. As our acceptance of friction with these services continues to decrease, our work will increasingly need to include more ‘what if’ scenarios.

“Designing for voice and chat will be a sought-after skill in the UX profession in the very near future (now, in fact). The platforms will battle for market share and they will add capabilities rapidly. The SDKs themselves will evolve to be more turnkey, and third parties will join the fray to create tools for makers.”

So ask your yourself this question:
What will all the highly-skilled Dribble UI designers do? 😉

It’s honest, authentic, and accessible.

I love sharing my experiences working in design and what’ve I’ve learned along the way. Join a community of thousands of designers, developers, and product professionals by signing up to my newsletter!

Not quite ready to sign up? I totally understand! Why not start by reading some of my past issues?

Great! Just “one more thing”...

You need to confirm your email to confirm your subscription.

  1. March, 2024

  2. February, 2024

  3. January, 2024

  4. December, 2023

  5. November, 2023

  6. October, 2023

  7. September, 2023

  8. August, 2023

  9. July, 2023

  10. June, 2023

  11. May, 2023

  12. April, 2023

  13. March, 2023

  14. January, 2023

  15. December, 2022

  16. November, 2022

  17. September, 2022

  18. August, 2022

  19. July, 2022

  20. June, 2022

  21. May, 2022

  22. April, 2022

  23. January, 2022

  24. December, 2021

  25. November, 2021

  26. October, 2021

  27. September, 2021

  28. August, 2021

  29. July, 2021

  30. June, 2021

  31. May, 2021

  32. April, 2021

  33. March, 2021

  34. January, 2021

  35. November, 2020

  36. October, 2020

  37. September, 2020

  38. August, 2020

  39. June, 2020

  40. May, 2020

  41. April, 2020

  42. March, 2020

  43. February, 2020

  44. January, 2020

  45. December, 2019

  46. November, 2019

  47. October, 2019

  48. September, 2019

  49. August, 2019

  50. July, 2019

  51. June, 2019

  52. May, 2019

  53. April, 2019

  54. March, 2019

  55. February, 2019

  56. January, 2019

  57. December, 2018

  58. November, 2018

  59. October, 2018

  60. September, 2018

  61. August, 2018

  62. July, 2018

  63. June, 2018

  64. May, 2018

  65. April, 2018

  66. March, 2018

  67. February, 2018

  68. January, 2018

  69. December, 2017

  70. November, 2017

  71. October, 2017

  72. September, 2017

  73. August, 2017

  74. July, 2017

  75. June, 2017

  76. May, 2017

  77. April, 2017

  78. March, 2017

  79. February, 2017

  80. January, 2017

  81. December, 2016

  82. November, 2016

  83. October, 2016

  84. September, 2016

  85. August, 2016

  86. July, 2016

  87. June, 2016

  88. May, 2016

  89. April, 2016

  90. March, 2016

  91. February, 2016

  92. January, 2016

  93. December, 2015

  94. November, 2015

  95. October, 2015

  96. September, 2015

  97. August, 2015

  98. July, 2015

  99. June, 2015

  100. May, 2015

  101. April, 2015

  102. November, 2014

  103. April, 2013