00:06today we're really excited to host
00:10design as language words are are pretty
00:13awesome they're pretty important there
00:15are really a critical component in
00:17designing experiences and engaging with
00:21your audience and this makes UX content
00:25strategy and writing a really powerful
00:28tool for shaping products and
00:31potentially shaping our future so we are
00:34really excited today to have some
00:37experts in this field to share their
00:39perspective and experience in the world
00:42of language we have Maggie stanphill who
00:46is UX director at Google
00:48she has shaped Google's products through
00:52language and it's one of the co-founders
00:55of the UX content strategy discipline at
01:00Google so she's really been leading the
01:02charge here she's also created brand and
01:06voice and writing guidelines and prior
01:08to Google she led content strategy at
01:11places like Expedia Razorfish Nike
01:14places like that and with her today we
01:17have Jocelyn Cooper who is a senior
01:19content strategist with Maggie on her
01:22team she's been working in PR and
01:24communications at Google and other
01:26places beforehand she's a little bit of
01:28a litter and a podcast enthusiast and
01:30we're excited to have them both so with
01:33that I'm gonna hand it off thank you so
01:36much thank you thank you so much
01:41everyone for coming we're super excited
01:44to talk about language so we'll share
01:46with you our approach to language at
01:49Google within our design process and
01:51we'll leave some time at the end so
01:53hopefully if you have questions we can
01:54get into that all right so let's get
01:56started I'm Maggie and I already had a
02:00great intro from CAI I work on shopping
02:03travel and payment some of our commerce
02:05products and as Kai said
02:07I manage a team of content strategists
02:10as well as a community and culture team
02:13and I'm a writer and designer on Google
02:16shopping and I'm on Maggie's team so
02:18yeah as Maggie said we're going to talk
02:20about the importance of copy and
02:22language in crafting product experiences
02:24but to get there we want to look at like
02:27the wider role of language and culture
02:29through some examples from art and
02:30literature and politics and we're hoping
02:32that these examples will make it really
02:33self evident why considering the copy
02:36and your product is so important so for
02:40me considering copy has always been part
02:43of what I do and I have the great
02:44privilege to work in editorial starting
02:47out in my career worked for great
02:48publications like Conde Nast Traveler
02:50thought a lot about the art and copy
02:52coming together and telling a story and
02:54I found that this translated really well
02:56later in my career at places like Nike
02:58and razorfish and ultimately has found
03:00its way into text it's been super fun to
03:02think about how this all works so as we
03:05said we're going to talk about some
03:06ideas some principles and practice and
03:09ultimately we hope you can bring this
03:10back to your day to day so this screen
03:14from the 2017 year in search video which
03:18which we put out every year is such a
03:20great indication of the importance of
03:22the relationship between the content and
03:25the design and ultimately at the center
03:29of this is the users query that's a big
03:31part of Google search is being
03:33responsive to the users needs and in
03:34fact the query then becomes the design
03:37itself and we see this more and more
03:39with conversation design and the
03:41assistant in a lot of those new
03:43interaction modes when we think about
03:46language we think about it as a core
03:49component of the design system and
03:51ultimately design is communication so
03:54these are kind of inextricably linked
03:56and I love this project by image and art
04:00it all comes together in a really
04:02playful way and I think it's a great
04:04example of the harmony that we need to
04:06strike with language and copy and to
04:09ultimately tell the right story so I've
04:13always been really fascinated by
04:15typographic art or art that kind of
04:17features type and copy prominently and
04:20here are some examples of Debbie
04:22Millman's work and you might be familiar
04:23with her she's a designer and writer
04:26she kind of works really fluidly between
04:28those two mediums but I think what I
04:30like about these is I you can kind of
04:32think of them as like visual poetry or
04:34visual literature because like the
04:37artists intention is communicated as
04:39much through the actual semantic meaning
04:41of the words that they choose but also
04:44through kind of the more visceral
04:45reaction that you have to how they're
04:47rendered visually so speaking of
04:50visceral you know depending on how you
04:53feel about a certain four-letter word in
04:55this ad you might be inspired or incited
04:58or you might be totally put off and so I
05:00think that the the writer and their
05:03client probably were very aware of this
05:05when they made this choice so this ad
05:07was meant to be for an organization that
05:09organizes volunteer trips to go to
05:11Africa and build homes so you know their
05:14digital agency was probably taking a bet
05:16that by using language that was really
05:19provocative they would probably kind of
05:21filter out the people who weren't
05:22appropriate for such a mission so then
05:25similarly on another note like seeing
05:28the words I love you and large-type on a
05:29screen like this like some of us can
05:32almost get sort of a physiological
05:33reaction to them because the way these
05:36words are said and you know whether
05:39they're said in familial and in romantic
05:41relationships it's so deeply ritualized
05:44and these words have such a like
05:45personal and intimate connotation that
05:48you know we you know they just really
05:50deeply like and and clearly illustrate
05:53the power of language so for that reason
05:57because these words are so powerful when
05:58I see something like this I kind of I
06:00bristle a little bit and I'm pointing
06:02out in particular where it's as stores
06:04you love delivered this is a Google
06:07product this is from Google Express and
06:09you know I feel like a couple years ago
06:11in marketing it was kind of in vogue to
06:13use the word love and you know it was
06:17kind of you know dropped around a little
06:18bit glibly but even you know if I think
06:21about you know the way that I feel about
06:23the products that I might buy on Google
06:25Express or like things that I might buy
06:26for my home like you know soap or
06:29dishwashing detergent
06:31I wouldn't necessarily equate them to
06:33something that I love so you know just
06:35dropping these words into certain
06:37scenarios without consideration of their
06:40does not necessarily a shortcut to
06:41eliciting that real emotion so we've
06:45been eliciting emotion through language
06:48for hundreds of thousands of years as as
06:51a species and this skill has very much
06:53come to form us as as as humans and when
06:58we look at that I think it's just
07:00another way to kind of underscore the
07:02importance of language is critical to
07:04any design system right this is the most
07:06inherent design system that we
07:08ultimately know so amazing person who
07:12I've admired my whole life
07:15Gabrielle Garcia Marquez is one of these
07:18masters of this craft and I think when
07:20looking at this diagram of his sentence
07:22which some of us Lit nerds geek out on
07:25you really get the the impact of the
07:29visuals that language can bring and in
07:32this one sentence you understand that
07:34this man inhabits a world where
07:37discovering ice is something to behold
07:39and quite miraculous and that he will
07:42one day face down his death so just
07:45another amazing example of the structure
07:48and the semantic nature of language
07:51brought to life for something a little
07:55bit more every day we have a couple
07:56conversation design applications here so
07:59our Google assistant product as well as
08:02the messaging app a low and one of the
08:04really cool things that I see happening
08:06with conversation design is that at the
08:08center of the design itself is language
08:11which is an amazing pattern to work on
08:14one of the things that you know I am
08:17super excited about is the fact that
08:19conversation is becoming central to the
08:21design culture and ultimately
08:23conversation has been part of culture
08:25for a very long time in fact there was a
08:28period in in French history called the
08:30age of conversation where people got
08:32together and they talked in salons and
08:34they established the social kind of
08:37mores of the day and ultimately this is
08:40what became the norms and the language
08:42used in that in that day and age and by
08:46somewhat stark contrast today we have
08:48emojis often times kind of standing in
08:53Norm's and we see you know they have
08:55quite a lot of weight in fact if if
08:58people liked a certain story it might be
09:01more read and a news feed and ultimately
09:04the thing that falls flat with emojis is
09:06fun and clever and even animated as they
09:08are is they just don't quite get the
09:10nonverbal cues which I think all of us
09:12really need in life to really connect
09:14with people such as this amazing one by
09:18another hero Daniel day-lewis in phantom
09:21thread nods gestures such as even
09:25blushing or winking or smiling are
09:29hugely important in actually making a
09:33connection and getting your
09:34communication across so speaking of both
09:38verbal and nonverbal cues this
09:40journalist Julie Beck and for a recent
09:43article in the Atlantic interviewed njn
09:45field who's a professor of linguistics
09:47it was a new book out called how we talk
09:49and so the interview and also the book
09:51is primarily about these traffic signals
09:54as he calls them that we use to kind of
09:57coordinate how we use language so he
10:00calls these traffic signals they're
10:02essentially the filler words
10:04hmm sand mmm sand the pauses that we all
10:07use to kind of bridge our conversations
10:09and it's actually I found this really
10:11fascinating a positive longer than 200
10:14milliseconds in spoken conversation is
10:16is really a typical it's kind of rare
10:18because most of the time what we're
10:19doing is we're listening and we're
10:21already constructing what the person who
10:23were listening to is going to say and
10:25and formulating our response and that
10:27way conversation follows at a relatively
10:29rapid clip but you know these pauses of
10:32200 milliseconds these hmm sand mmm sand
10:35just like considered silences they
10:37usually indicate that the speaker is
10:39kind of maybe thoughtfully preparing to
10:41deliver bad news maybe or that they're
10:45just giving some time and consideration
10:46to their response but it doesn't always
10:49have to be bad these these pauses so I
10:53think of this conversational whitespace
10:54like it has a metaphor in design and
10:57that is actual white space and so the
10:59Google search box can be seen as kind of
11:02like a considerate pause that allows you
11:04a little bit of time to conjure up your
11:07so another way to think about
11:08conversational white spaces the
11:10interplay between the copy and the
11:12design and allowing you the space that
11:14you might need to consider what your
11:15next step is so in the example from
11:18if you're familiar with the paradigm of
11:20booking hotels and that's just how you
11:21travel you might not have a concept of
11:24what a shared room is so you kind of
11:25need to stop for a moment and think and
11:27like process what does that mean and you
11:30know if from the example from Google
11:31Wallet here the white space is kind of
11:34acting as a focusing function because
11:37you're about to take on what is
11:38essentially like a pretty serious
11:40potentially transaction you're you need
11:42to focus because you're thinking about
11:43money so toward the end of 2017 I read a
11:49couple of articles that identify content
11:52first design is one of the key trends of
11:542017 and of course the term content
11:57first design is not new it's been around
11:58for you know many years now but you know
12:02I think that maybe it's not so much a
12:04debate of whether content comes first or
12:06design comes first but rather like a
12:09conversation about how we can ensure
12:11that the both are developed in tandem
12:14because you know if we really think
12:17about like what is content like it it's
12:19essentially everything you know for the
12:21purposes of this presentation we're
12:22really talking about the words like the
12:25copy that are in you know your webpage
12:27or your app but it could be data it
12:30could be numbers it could be images and
12:33video it could be a great many things
12:34and so really the design and the
12:37information that our that's being
12:39designed are inextricable they're
12:41they're totally intertwined so with that
12:45end next we're going to go over a couple
12:47of principles to help ensure that you
12:50know the design process that you undergo
12:52you know considers copy with within the
12:56context that it should be presented that
12:59it's consistent and that the style is
13:02thoughtful and appropriate for whatever
13:04situation or app or experience you're
13:08designing for awesome so we established
13:12earlier that we won't necessarily say I
13:14love you on the first date but similarly
13:18we need to think about that when we kind
13:20customer or the the user for the first
13:22time or the tenth time right so having
13:24that kind of context aware approach to
13:27language and to our content strategy it
13:30was really critical to meet the user
13:32where they're at in their journey and
13:34hopefully provide them with the right
13:37information so as I said earlier some of
13:40my areas that I work on are shopping and
13:42travel and in the commerce space we see
13:44a pretty typical pattern of kind of
13:48consideration research and then
13:50ultimately making the decision hopefully
13:52hopefully purchasing and so we look at
13:56that that journey from excitement to
13:58confusion to frustration and hopefully
14:00that optimistic anticipation and we map
14:03our tone accordingly to that to that
14:06intent and ultimately that leads to
14:10hopefully a more satisfactory user
14:12experience so another way to think about
14:15context is in the case of shopping there
14:19are kind of different types of shopping
14:21you know as I mentioned earlier when
14:23you're shopping for stuff for your house
14:25when you're shopping for a necessity you
14:27are probably in a very different mindset
14:29than you are when you're shopping for
14:32desire in this case if I were to be kind
14:36of perusing the internet for inspiration
14:37for decorating my garden of my imaginary
14:41home you know there's you can insert
14:43probably any kind of thing that you have
14:45in your mind that you've been looking
14:47around on the internet for that you've
14:48been really thinking about our
14:49anticipating purchasing and you know
14:52that's a very different kind of
14:53contextual moment for you as a shopper
14:57so you know for that reason we have
15:00something like this which is an example
15:01from the Google Express app and if you
15:04look at this screen you might not
15:06necessarily think like oh like a writer
15:09put time and consideration into these
15:11words because it's just purely
15:12information but the fact is is of course
15:15they were considered and conceived of
15:17fire writer and here you know what the
15:20words and the design are doing together
15:22are really kind of just presenting and
15:24putting forth the most important
15:26information keeping you focused on going
15:27to checkout because your cart page
15:30prioritizing that you know what you know
15:34this case you have purchased and also
15:36making sure that you know the most
15:38important thing which is how do you get
15:39free delivery which we know from
15:40research is what people care about when
15:42they're shopping online so then back to
15:46the example from like shopping for
15:48desire so if you are in this case on
15:51flora Grubbs website like something like
15:53new dazzle like language it's a little
15:55bit more evocative or playful it's
15:57probably a more appropriate to meet you
15:59in your context because you're in this
16:00kind of exploratory mode where you might
16:02be more open for this type of copy deed
16:05so another time when we find that users
16:09are really open to a much more kind of
16:11anticipatory tone is at the travel
16:15planning stage and in fact there's
16:16research that shows a lot of people are
16:19happier in this mode of planning a trip
16:22than they actually are on the trip so at
16:24this moment it's a good time to kind of
16:26lean into that aspiration why not and
16:29and celebrate that with beautiful
16:32language including large format
16:34photography which we have here as well
16:36as descriptive text and to Jastas point
16:41about kind of the everyday essentials
16:42example we have kind of the counter to
16:45that which is when you're researching a
16:46flight perhaps it's it's multiple
16:48hundreds of dollars purchase there's a
16:51lot of consideration and therefore we
16:53really prioritize information over kind
16:56of editorializing the copies so the
16:59clear example here of really simplistic
17:02and straightforward text is a call to
17:04action where to you simply entering your
17:07destination and hopefully off you go
17:11this feature I'm super excited to to be
17:15able to work on why not lean into the
17:17fun part of travel ultimately this is
17:20the place that we all kind of want to go
17:22in our minds and this is a new feature
17:25called weekend trips it's part of our
17:27Google destinations product and when I
17:29talk with this talk with my team about
17:32this type of product we oftentimes say
17:34let's put ourselves in the in the shoes
17:36of the traveler and with that
17:38perspective a headline like find
17:40inspiration for your next short
17:42adventure makes great sense right these
17:44are the types of moments we can lean
17:45into that more kind of anticipate
17:48taury and fun copy so next we're going
17:53to talk about the importance of being
17:54consistent so as we move through the
17:58world part of the way that we establish
18:00consistency and therefore stability is
18:02through pattern recognition and
18:04storytelling and you know this is served
18:06as well since the beginning of time we
18:08seek out chronological events you know
18:11both in the stories that we tell
18:12ourselves and the ones that we like to
18:14watch and you know read you know and
18:17also you know starting even from when
18:19we're small children you know we are
18:21learning this structure very inherently
18:23and like if you think about maybe some
18:25of your favorite books from childhood
18:27oftentimes they might have like a
18:29repetition or a pattern or a cadence
18:31that helps you you know potentially
18:34learn or memorize but it also you know
18:36that is so soothing because it makes you
18:39feel safe and fits familiar and it's
18:41like starts to breed and form the
18:44circumstances for trust so that's why
18:48consistency is so important so then
18:52there's the example of when you break
18:54with patterns so since for me at least
18:57since the 2016 elections there's been a
19:01major break with patterns in terms of
19:04how we conduct our public rhetoric I
19:07think no matter what side of the
19:10spectrum you're on politically you know
19:13the the way that we speak the rhetoric
19:15through use has become has kind of
19:18veered a little bit more towards like
19:19the inflammatory and the controversial
19:21than maybe in the past and so I put
19:23these words on the screen because they
19:26have something in common in that they're
19:28all very politically charged they're
19:30used inconsistently people have
19:32different ideas about what they mean and
19:34when they're appropriate and when they
19:35should be said and when they should not
19:36be said so similarly these words are
19:41also inconsistently used and people have
19:44you know pretty polar opinions about
19:46what they mean and the weight that they
19:47carry so this is just to kind of like
19:49stop and have a moment to reflect on the
19:52fact that the words we choose like have
19:54a powerful sometimes even subliminal
19:57effect on their listeners and readers so
20:01something perhaps less epic but equally
20:04important to me I think a lot about ads
20:07in all their formats and notations and
20:09when we see consistency there obviously
20:13the goal there is to breathe trust we
20:16think a lot about what are the right
20:18patterns to ensure that the user
20:21anticipates the right format at the
20:24so ultimately we're always looking to
20:26bring clarity to that label and one of
20:29the ways we do this is through a tool
20:30that I love and and hold eerily which is
20:33called a wordless so this is basically a
20:36list of this notthat examples what you
20:38should say what you shouldn't say and
20:40why so also there are moments to
20:45consistently diverge from your
20:48consistency so I wanted to kind of bring
20:51attention to these examples because you
20:53know there are often times when we make
20:55rules reasons why we need to break them
20:58and thus with language as well I think
21:00the really important thing is is being
21:02consistent in those rules that you said
21:04even though they diverge and also
21:05documenting why so in this example we're
21:08looking at two different products it's
21:09essentially two different like booking
21:12possibilities or you know purchasing
21:15possibilities via Google so with the one
21:18here this is you know a search ad that
21:21would help you contract with a plumber
21:23or a contractor and you see the words
21:25Google guaranteed highlighted and so
21:28that is meant to give you kind of a
21:29sense of trust and that you're being
21:30taken care of by by a program that's in
21:33place and then for placing your order
21:36you have your purchases are protected
21:37which is kind of a little bit lighter
21:39weight it's less specific and this
21:41divergence even though these things seem
21:43like they mean something similar was
21:45very intentional because you know the
21:47model of maybe like hiring a contractor
21:49from an ad that you saw on the internet
21:52is probably a little bit less familiar
21:54than the act of just like buying
21:57something online which has become
21:58something that were more or less
22:00familiar with so hence the reason for
22:02something that feels more programmer
22:03ties dand formal versus just like a hey
22:05we got your back here so next we want to
22:10talk about style so style is the sum of
22:13many carefully considered choices
22:15and writing style works alongside visual
22:18style of course to kind of create the
22:19overall identity or experience and I
22:22think sometimes when we think about
22:24style the tendency is to think of like
22:26grandeur gestures or more overt kind of
22:29style that's flashy er but actually it's
22:32really a lot of the subtle decisions
22:34that we make in writing that come
22:36through to really Telegraph what the
22:38style is so I want to talk about this
22:42book I recommend it highly to anyone if
22:46even if you're curious about writing and
22:48language or not I just found it really
22:50illuminating into just human behavior
22:54so James W Pennebaker is a he's a
22:57sociologist and anthropologist but he
22:59chose to focus his research and his work
23:01on language so he differentiates in
23:05language the difference between content
23:06and style words and the bulk of language
23:09as you can see are content words and
23:11they studied a lot of this is English
23:14but they also studied many like commonly
23:16spoken languages around the world and
23:18this breakdown actually holds across
23:20these languages and so style words he
23:23calls them social words because he says
23:25that these are the words that kind of
23:26give us really an indication of
23:28relationships and like people's true
23:30intent and the things that they might
23:33not necessarily be saying overtly with
23:35their content words and these are like
23:37the smaller words the ones that are
23:38really easy to forget about but like as
23:40writers I think these are the ones that
23:42are the most strategic that oftentimes
23:44should be the most considered and have a
23:46really huge impact on changing the
23:48meaning so as an example he shows these
23:52two sentences and as you see if you swap
23:55out the article the sentence has a very
23:57different meaning in each case and like
23:59depending on your cultural background
24:00and your relationship status and even
24:03like your mood for the day or just like
24:04whatever tone you're assuming the
24:06speaker to have you might read something
24:08very different from each of these
24:10sentences if you change that article so
24:13he also as the title implies he talks a
24:16lot about pronoun use so apparently
24:18people who are lower in status use more
24:22of the I pronoun than people who are
24:24high status and he defines high and low
24:26as like the relationship between a
24:28student and a teacher
24:29or like a report and a boss or it could
24:32just be like someone who's asking for
24:34something versus someone who has the
24:35power to grant that thing and so he
24:39talks about how I is also correlated to
24:42like if you are going through a period
24:44of depression or feeling especially
24:46introspective or just looking inward and
24:48reflecting on yourself people who are in
24:51that kind of emotional state tend to use
24:53AI more because they're reflecting on
24:55and they're trying to communicate
24:57themselves to the world whereas if you
25:00are higher status or feeling more
25:01confident you might feel better about
25:03saying you and addressing people
25:05directly or by kind of grouping
25:08yourselves with the greater community
25:10with we or they yes so I was super taken
25:15by the same book and we were comparing
25:16notes and one of the sections talked
25:19about the fact that in a previous
25:22presidential election some of the
25:24speeches were analyzed and George W Bush
25:28came across this folksy and John Kerry
25:31came across this wooden and it was very
25:33much attributed to their pronoun use so
25:36beware and I was reminded while sitting
25:39and watching TV one of my favorite
25:41series the crown on Netflix the Queen
25:45went to a Jaguar Factory and was talking
25:47to the nation from there and she spoke
25:52on behalf of the whole country and said
25:55we and she talked about the lowly
25:58factory worker as you and she did not
26:01mean to intend that derisively known but
26:07unfortunately that's the way I came
26:09across and this harkens back to an
26:11earlier slide that Josh shared but it
26:13only underscores the importance that
26:15public figures have when they speak and
26:18I would say similarly we as language
26:21experts as designers as writers
26:23oftentimes writing to thousands if not
26:25millions of people also should really
26:28think about the weight of those word
26:29choices and on a slightly lighter note
26:35and less less words note we think a lot
26:39about this and a couple very tactical
26:41and tangible examples currently
26:43in the works right now our in our Google
26:46pay and our shopping products so
26:48recently announced that we have a new
26:51payments product coming out called
26:52Google pay and one of the call to
26:55actions is pay with Google pay the
26:58notion of adding width as the
27:00preposition is that it's very much a
27:02conjoint action of sign in plus
27:05credentials equals safe secure payments
27:08and then the shop on or sorry buy on
27:11Google got to get my verb straight is
27:13very much intentional because you're
27:16purchasing on shopping rather than
27:18getting sent over to a merchant site so
27:20again very deliberate and tiny tiny
27:23words but they really matter another way
27:27to kind of think about how you can bring
27:29some voice and some some kind of
27:32positive attitude or outlook to your
27:34products is with empty states a lot of
27:37us end up designing for empty states and
27:39they'll say something like nothing here
27:42to see and that's pretty obvious and not
27:44super helpful so one idea is to put
27:47something positive and perhaps give them
27:49an incentive this great example from
27:52AdMob is a really nice one in that it's
27:54got illustration it's got a nice
27:56headline it's got a good congratulatory
27:58tone and ultimately we think we'll see
28:01more people uploading their first report
28:02so kind of bringing it home putting it
28:06into practice hopefully some good tips
28:08for you to bring back to your work so my
28:11my really big call out here is design
28:15language systems have language in them
28:18and oftentimes we find design language
28:20systems leave out the language so my PSA
28:24here is let's put the language back in
28:26design language systems and I think the
28:29good news is we're seeing some of that
28:30we we saw this really interesting
28:33envision report tool that came out
28:37recently this design systems handbook
28:38they point to a lot of externally
28:42available resources including Google
28:44style guides as well as Airbnb and
28:47Salesforce and the lovely thing about
28:50the style guide is it does incorporate a
28:52lot of component parts that I think a
28:55lot of you would find really helpful
28:57in addition props to them in that they
28:59call out leveraging and content
29:01strategists or writer for the tone and
29:06speaking of tone invoice I love this
29:08MailChimp ton of waste guide it's kind
29:10of a perennial favorite envision sites
29:13it but it's definitely one that you guys
29:15should check out if you haven't already
29:16it's def it's broadly applicable it's
29:19available to everyone and ultimately is
29:22a style guide about copy which is really
29:24refreshing and here's our material
29:27design guidelines we've got a great
29:30writing style section within that lots
29:32of great do's and dont's and this is
29:35just one of many component parts of any
29:37good style guide right and certainly
29:39from a from a language standpoint some
29:41of the components that we like to see
29:42our guidelines like this we definitely
29:45want to see word list we want to see
29:47tone maps and ultimately some component
29:49parts like call to actions and help text
29:54so an example of a tone map is something
29:58that we do a lot in commerce in
30:01particular where we plot the the tonal
30:04spectrum of a particular journey so you
30:07think about kind of a warm welcome or an
30:10onboarding flow that might be more at
30:12the kind of congratulatory end of the
30:14spectrum whereas when you get into kind
30:16of a late delivery email situation that
30:19might be more on the reassuring side so
30:21again just making sure you're really
30:22intentional about plotting your your
30:25tone is something that can then make
30:27your voice sound really consistent and
30:29ultimately your brand more recognizable
30:31I love this material design illustration
30:36of the many component parts that create
30:39an experience and the big headline here
30:42is that the user experience is an
30:44end-to-end journey so all of the
30:47component parts really need to come
30:48together and in the end and that's why
30:50these guidelines can be really helpful
30:51you need to consider of course the email
30:54the design of the site itself as well as
30:57all the touch points along the way okay
31:00so I mean I really think of writing as a
31:03process of kind of breathing life into
31:05an idea and you know writing is hard and
31:08you know that isn't a reason to not
31:10you it necessarily this is a quote from
31:12Anne Lamott society first drafts which I
31:15will subsequently also reference but
31:18it's kind of a nice like call to action
31:21or invitation to not have impostor
31:23syndrome and just go ahead and do it and
31:25get it out there because it's really can
31:28help in the formative process of
31:29bringing your ideas into fruition so at
31:35the found outside of any project it's
31:37probably I mean the the value of kind of
31:40abstracted or pulled back wireframes is
31:42of course pretty obvious as designers
31:44but I feel like when you start to get in
31:47and and get a little bit more specific
31:49about what you're designing like leaving
31:53the words off is really doing a
31:54disservice to your process and even if
31:57they're kind of like scrap aliy written
31:59in and like just having the actual
32:01information in there and the ideas will
32:03probably help determine or help make you
32:06choose a different decision about how
32:10the interaction should come together
32:11like just seeing that information in
32:12place i think is really powerful so you
32:15know these next couple of techniques
32:17that i'm going to go over i'm calling
32:18them like narrative wireframes because i
32:21think they give you kind of a design
32:22thinking way to start out like similar
32:24to a wireframe but instead of being
32:27visual they are more verbal so the first
32:31one is a narrative PRD and so google we
32:34use the term PRD which is a product
32:36requirements talk quite frequently and
32:39usually the product manager writes this
32:41and it's often like filled with the
32:43business case and a lot of technical
32:45terms and some technical spec and it's
32:48you know very useful the inception of
32:50any project but I also find it really
32:52helpful to write my version of the
32:54shitty first draft which is my narrative
32:56PRD which is essentially just okay
32:58what's the story of what we're building
33:00in my words let me just write it out
33:02I've got it so kind of a little bit more
33:05polished version of that is writing a
33:07future press release and this one isn't
33:09new I think it's been talked about and
33:10done and a lot of companies but it
33:13really helps kind of take that to a step
33:15further because you know when you have
33:17to think about like how people are going
33:19to talk about your product when it
33:20launches like how you would explain it
33:22to press to your mom you have to
33:24start to choose actual words you can't
33:27fall back on the code words were the
33:29acronyms or the shorthand you have to
33:31actually like assign certain values to
33:34to what you're building and you know
33:36maybe come up with an elevator pitch a
33:37way to explain it really concisely and
33:40the last one is conversation mapping
33:42which is essentially kind of like
33:43role-playing out loud and so myself and
33:47a designer on my team we did this
33:49exercise together and I found it really
33:51eye-opening actually and basically I and
33:56he took turns playing the role of the
33:57assistant in the user and kind of
33:59designing or setting up a shopping
34:01onboarding flow and when you have an
34:03actual conversation first of all what
34:06comes to light are how much information
34:08and complexity is there that we didn't
34:10initially think was going to be part of
34:13this setup and then the second thing is
34:15like tone becomes really important and
34:17you realize okay if I'm asking for
34:19something kind of sensitive or personal
34:21as the assistant I started to feel a
34:23little sheepish and I realized that in
34:26exchange flat information I need to
34:27therefore then give back something about
34:31how I'm gonna use your data like why
34:33this is okay and why I need it so kind
34:36of figuring out like those junctures for
34:37tone and also information that it really
34:41helped by just having an actual
34:42conversation okay so we're gonna end
34:47with a little poetry analysis because I
34:50think if poetry is the ultimate in
34:52designed language and I have the title
34:56and the name of the poet and also a link
34:58on the screen because I want to be
34:59respectful of the fact that I wasn't
35:01able to attain permissions in time to
35:03show the poem so if you have your device
35:05I would invite you you can google it and
35:07follow along I'm just gonna read some
35:09excerpts and talk a little bit about how
35:10they're salient to our talk today so
35:15Michael Palmer is one of the language
35:17poets and a language poetry it
35:19emphasizes the readers role in bringing
35:21out meeting in a work so I love this
35:24poem because it has a rhythm that builds
35:26throughout and he uses the repetition of
35:28the phrase I do not know English
35:30ironically because the poem is obviously
35:32in English and his intent is to help us
35:35identify with an immigrant experience so
35:37I'm gonna read a few stay
35:39I do not know English
35:42I do not know English and therefore I
35:44could have nothing to say about this
35:46latest war flowering through a night
35:48scope in the evening sky I do not know
35:51English and therefore when hungry can do
35:53no more than repeatedly points in my
35:56so each stanza elaborates upon a idea or
36:00social cue that the speaker is able
36:01unable to communicate because of his
36:03lack of language however toward the end
36:06of the poem the reference has become
36:08stranger and indeed they start to seem
36:10foreign themselves so he's using the
36:12language to invert the experience from
36:14what could have been read as a
36:15first-person account of a foreigner to
36:18putting the reader actually in the shoes
36:20of the traveler in the foreign land and
36:22I read from the poem again because I do
36:27I have variously been called mr. twisted
36:29the one undone the non respondent the
36:32truly lost boy and laughed at by horses
36:34the war is declared ended almost before
36:37it has begun they have named it the
36:40ultimate combat between nearness and
36:42distance the ultimate combat between
36:45nearness and distance I highlight this
36:47phrase in particular because I feel like
36:50that as designers considered of language
36:52it means being cognizant of nearness and
36:55distance and to really think about the
36:57relationship that you want to establish
36:59with your audience or your user and that
37:03could be one of closeness and intimacy
37:04or it could be one that's kind of hands
37:07off and or it could be one of its you
37:09know anywhere in the middle of that
37:11spectrum but you know all of those
37:13choices are ok depending on the scenario
37:14for which you're designing so I hope
37:18that we've given you some new ways to
37:19kind of think about these relationships
37:21that you are establishing and the
37:24language choices that you'll make to do
37:26so so thank you so much
37:32you have a design language phrases and
37:37styles that you control yourself and you
37:39have a design language that you work
37:41with in the material design buttons and
37:44visual cues do you find the constraints
37:48put upon you by the group that you don't
37:51control to be helpful so you get through
37:54those conversations that would never end
37:55about the shade of the button or do you
37:57find them to be too constraining and you
37:59wish you had more influence over that
38:01group so you could accomplish the thing
38:03you're trying to accomplish so in
38:05essence we have a design system at
38:08Google at large called material design
38:10and we as content strategists and UX
38:13herbs have our own design system perhaps
38:15for our respective product areas how do
38:18we coexist nicely fair okay cool so the
38:25good thing about Google is we're super
38:28collaborative so if a new system is
38:31being designed all the critical parties
38:34all I should use air quotes for that
38:37important kind of key product areas
38:40would get check-in so we can influence
38:41and hopefully shape that that ultimate
38:44system that being said to your point
38:47guardrails are there for a reason it
38:50gives us it gives us structure it gives
38:52us consistency it can breed that
38:54cohesive pattern that we're all looking
38:56for so I I like to live within those
39:01boundaries I have so many unsolved
39:03problems that when I can seize the
39:05opportunity to use one of the fab you
39:08know fab buttons for for my call to
39:11action text and know that there's a
39:13character count constraint I'm totally
39:15cool with that I would say it gets a
39:17little more challenging if for instance
39:19you want to go and localize that and you
39:22don't want the constraint of the fab but
39:25but we have workarounds you know
39:26typically a system is somewhat meant to
39:29be adapted so we oftentimes have kind of
39:32a fallback plan and the last thing I'd
39:34say is it depends on the product area
39:36for sure but we find that within my area
39:39which is commerce it's a critical you
39:41know business function so we oftentimes
39:43create kind of sub patterns within
39:45so typically works out pretty well any
39:47thoughts on your end I think that's well
39:50said I mean I I there is some
39:54flexibility within the system I find and
39:57yeah I mean of course the consistency is
39:59important but you know there are
40:01different use cases across different
40:03products where they've made it work for
40:04their particular you know unique
40:08attributes so yeah so I really like to
40:12talk I my question it's about style and
40:15about like this is what I think about
40:17when I also write my blogs and my tweets
40:20and I try to figure out like what is the
40:23style and like the personality of this
40:27brand that I want to convey how do i how
40:30do I do that and and how do I like you
40:32know any any tips so on
40:34I know we covered pronouns and stuff I
40:36do I hate to like check on the grammar
40:38that level but if you can give me some
40:41guidelines on how I can better express
40:44in my style becomes clear to the
40:46audience from my blogs and stuff like
40:48that be great so for something like a
40:52blog where a tone of voice is really
40:54important how do you define that and
40:57what are some process tips there in
40:59correct perfect well I have a workshop
41:03that I actually lead I'm not going to
41:05sell it right here but I run it in my
41:07team and I think about it a lot and I
41:09really think about tone and voice as the
41:11way that you want to feel like how do
41:14you want your user to feel when they're
41:16reading your copy or experiencing your
41:19brand and so there's kind of a Design
41:21Thinking framework called feel think do
41:24where you can take the the user through
41:27that or interpret the users kind of
41:31feelings through that framework that's
41:33one way to do it you can you know write
41:35in first person and really kind of
41:38personify your user and then think about
41:40which characteristics most relate to
41:42that person so that you end up with
41:44attributes that personify your brand
41:47right so I think it's a really helpful
41:49exercise to do and to document really
41:52actionable characteristics so for voice
41:55something like direct is extremely
41:59right you'll use you know kind of
42:01straightforward call to action texts for
42:04something like whimsical you have a very
42:06up you know kind of the polar end of the
42:08spectrum with respect to a more kind of
42:10buoyant personality right so I think
42:13doing that in a thoughtful way
42:14documenting it and ultimately you know
42:17it's your brand so you want your visuals
42:19to align with that it's ultimately like
42:22the persona and the personality that you
42:24come to be known for so yeah there's
42:26there's a few techniques like that that
42:27I've used anything else that comes to
42:30mind on your end I mean I would just say
42:33if and I don't know much about your blog
42:36and your platform and what you write
42:39about but if it's coming from you and if
42:42it's like the publisher like it's kind
42:45of disembodied or if it's coming from
42:46you I think it's coming from you okay I
42:49mean I think kind of it made me think of
42:51when you were talking about
42:51conversational design being such a
42:54paradigm now and I mean I think that
42:57writing how you talk especially when you
43:01are writing from your personal
43:02perspective is sometimes like a valuable
43:05exercise like what I speak to my friend
43:08like that is that is that the type of
43:10relationship that you even want to
43:11strike up with your readers I mean if
43:13it's something more formal than maybe
43:14you know you would have to think about
43:16that reader persona someone else but I
43:20mean I think staying true to your voice
43:21since you have that luxury is it's often
43:24it's harder than then said you know the
43:28last thing I'd say is look at a lot of
43:30different sites or experiences that you
43:33enjoy and I try to kind of you know what
43:36a two by two is it's kind of the cross
43:38hairs I try to plot those on the two by
43:41two and try to kind of get a sense of
43:43okay you know it's whimsical is one end
43:45of the spectrum and straightforward is
43:47at the other end where does this voice a
43:50line that I'm kind of being gravitated
43:53toward and then you might find where you
43:55kind of want to sit in that in that
43:56spectrum yeah it's an interesting
43:59exercise for sure hi I was just curious
44:04I know that I mean just in the past
44:06couple years design and people's
44:08feelings around what's correct UX design
44:11is always constantly changing
44:13and the way that we use language even as
44:15the society changes every year we're
44:17adding you know new words to the
44:19dictionary and so I was wondering as
44:20such a large organization how often are
44:23you looking at your brand voice and how
44:25are you letting that evolve the way that
44:28we think about design constantly
44:30evolving and adapting for users as as a
44:34company and and as society evolves how
44:38often do we evaluate our tone of voice
44:41and in our brand voice for the company
44:44so I feel really lucky to say that I got
44:48to work on our first brand voice
44:49documentation at Google and it was one
44:52that was born out of a lot of great
44:55material that already existed so it was
44:57one of those kind of pivot points I
45:00think in the company this was about
45:01three years ago where we were seeing
45:03more kind of end to end experiences and
45:06our products needed to not kind of stop
45:10and start it frankly at the edge of each
45:12product and so that was somewhat the
45:15impetus bringing on a couple new and end
45:17experiences like Google store where we
45:19had hardware and we had software and it
45:22was all coming together
45:23so we really worked on brand guidelines
45:25from both from voice and and photography
45:28style and visual standpoint so you know
45:31that was the big inflection point I
45:33would say to Joss is point about
45:35conversation design I feel like we're
45:37going through it again we do have
45:39tenants around useful honest human those
45:42are kind of perennial universal voice
45:46tenants at Google but I think with
45:48conversation design some of those are
45:50being ratcheted up even further and so I
45:52think this will be another good moment
45:54for us to kind of pause and reconcile
45:56because the spoken word as well as the
45:59text-based words need to coexist so
46:01we're workshopping that a lot as we go
46:03but yeah I definitely don't have a
46:05reminder said it probably should I would
46:07say it's probably something we need to
46:09do care and feeding of like every two
46:11years would probably be about right I
46:13think just the way trends are going to
46:15you have to just be really kind of
46:17sensitive to to in those inflection
46:19points happen any other questions
46:23even else what is what is workshopping
46:25that mean workshopping the tone and
46:28voice guidelines so basically working
46:30with partners in the company and
46:32figuring out where they are struggling
46:34with some voice definition and where I'm
46:36struggling and where can we find
46:38alignment so really just kind of sitting
46:40in a room together and showing yes and
46:42no examples and saying are there some
46:44areas where we can kind of find common
46:47ground or should we diverge and and why
46:49so basically just a crit format you know
46:53just sharing work well thank you guys so
46:56much thank you all right thank you so
47:02much I'm gonna pay attention to pronouns
47:05more careful in the future
47:07all right hopefully you'll join us next
47:10month for design is invisible the best
47:14UI is no UI so stay tuned for that
47:17invite soon thank you all
