Design with Words
Erika Hall
@mulegirl
Hi!
A (sad) story…
words
words
words
words
words
words
words
words
words
words
words
What’s up with design?
Design of Graphical User Interfaces
Graphic Design of User Interfaces
“ Just draw a rectangle shape, maybe 5 or 6
shapes on a sheet of paper, then draw the
features you want on each view of your app.”
— Beginner’s Guide to iOS Development: The Interface
Hello!
CodeDesign Content
CodeDesign Content
Design Content
Visual Verbal
Content
-Roy Bahat of Bloomberg Beta
“If we believe machine intelligence will
make our applications smarter, they
might as well just start talking to us,
“That’s why conversation
is the new interface.”
The History of
Human Communication
150,000 years ago
30,000 years ago
6,000 years ago
2800 years ago
500 years ago
Oral Literate
Public Private
“Tell me, O muse, of that
ingenious hero who travelled far
and wide after he had sacked the
famous town of Troy.”
As a dog returns to its vomit,
so fools repeat their folly.
—Proverbs 26:11
“MY DEAR AND HONORED FRIEND: I have often been
desirous of writing to thee, but could not be
reconciled to the thought that the letter might fall into
the hands of the British, lest some printer or busy-
body should publish some part of the contents, and
give our friend pain, and myself censure.
Immediate
Active
Interactive
Present
Social
Event-based
Context-aware
Concrete
Passive
Finished
Complex
Authoritarian
Solitary
Closed
Abstract
Oral Literate
Be less busy! Market-specific
solutions
Oral Literate
Alive
Dead
Conversation?
Words still win.
Alone and Unhappy
Writing is easy.
All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper
until drops of blood form on your forehead.
—Gene Fowler , American Screenwriter and Journalist
Words First!
“Computer literacy…is really a euphemism for
forcing human beings to stretch their thinking to
understand the inner workings of application logic,
rather than having software-enabled products
stretch to meet people’s usual ways of thinking.”
—Alan Cooper
The ideal interface is
no interface
System Interface
Value Meaning
An invisible interface
must still be designed
Principles
“Make your contribution such as
it is required, at the stage at
which it occurs, by the accepted
purpose or direction of the talk
exchange in which you are
engaged.”
Paul Grice’s cooperative principle
“[Read the room and pitch in.]”
Paul Grice’s cooperative
principle
Quantity
Quality
Relation
Manner
Just enough information
Truthful
Relevant
Brief, orderly,
unambiguous
Please continue to
not make me think
Process
Design interactions
by having interactions
Form follows meaning
Stop
“Who has the intestinal fortitude to
write ‘I’m sorry I don’t understand’
in 12 on-brand variations?”
-Ben Brown
NO ONE
Design interactions
by having interactions
Personality
Personality should reflect
the role of the system in the
life of the user.
Personality should reflect
the role of the system in the
life of the user.
“You have to like people.”
–Josh A. Cagan
Study your subject
Listen without judgment
Expose yourself to good language
Do your research
“We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”
—Aristotle
Excelsior!
bye!
Erika Hall
@mulegirl
erika@muledesign.com

Design with Words | Talkabot