Conversational Design

There’s a sense of recognition, the same simple, straightforward language that helps you in the onboarding process is the one that carries you through every interaction. It is sometimes funny, sometimes serious, sometimes just plain and informative, but throughout, it should feel like nothing more than a person, talking to another person. Human to human.

How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie. I often call this the only interaction design book everyone must read. The stories are adorably old-fashioned. The principles are strong.
Implementing Value Pricing: A Radical Business Model for Professional Firms, Ronald J. Baker. The cover “says” dry business textbook, but it’s much more of an entertaining meditation on creating a sustainable exchange of value.

Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age, Sherry Turkle. Based on five years of research, this book argues for the importance of talking to actual other humans.
On Poetry, Glyn Maxwell. These thoughts about time and the relationship between meaning and empty space are essential for all designers.
Design for Voice Interfaces, Laura Klein. A clear, brief report that outlines the core considerations.
Interview with Anna Pickard of Slack (http://bkaprt.com/cd/06-03/).
Intercom, a customer messaging company with an unusually thoughtful blog about conversational design (http://bkaprt.com/cd/06-04/)

Language and Communication, Agnes Kukulska-Hulme. This is the best analysis I’ve found of using language as part of computer-system interfaces

The Stuff of Thought, Steven Pinker. Dense, entertaining read about language and human nature. The part about profanity is illuminating.
Metaphors We Live By, George Lakoff. The classic book explains how metaphors shape cognition and behavior in every arena of human life.
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst, Robert Sapolsky. This is some real, first-principles stuff. Everyone who designs for people needs to read it

Orality and Literacy, Walter J. Ong.
“The Gutenberg Parenthesis,” Thomas Pettit. Pettit argues that the invention of the printing press was simply an interruption to conversational culture (http://bkaprt.com/cd/06-01/).
“Politics and the English Language,” George Orwell. No one knew better about the uses and misuses of the power of language

Read aloud every word that’s intended to be part of the customer-facing design. This is an essential test for meaning and timing, and the only way to ensure that your interface works across modes in both text and speech. It will also lighten the weight and perceived permanence of anything seen as “the written word.”

Never permit lorem ipsum. No placeholder language. Language and meaning belong at the center of the experience. Reinforce the idea that specific language is subject to continuous iteration and is a part of the design process. It’s not some parallel but different “writing” process

Talk about decisions over artifacts. Frame the design conversation around creating an experience and exchanging information in time, rather than laying out elements in space

Include decision-makers. They might balk at adding another meeting to their schedule, but it will save so much time down the line, even if their participation is remote