Rebecca Evanhoe Shares Her Experience as a UX Conversation Designer and Talks About Her Upcoming Book (episode 144)

Welcome Rebecca Evanhoe 

Rebecca is otherwise known as Professor UX and is an extremely knowledgeable conversation designer.   She has been a conversation designer for about 9 years.  Her background is a MFA in fiction writing.  She is working on a book on conversation design right now and teaches UX design at Pratt.

How Has Rebecca Seen Her Industry Evolve Throughout the Years?

Initially, Rebecca was siloed, and she did not know other conversation designers for about 5 years.  She got excited when she saw New York Times articles about people that were writing for AI. It wasn’t until Rebecca started working for an agency that she realized there were a lot more people like her.  She was also excited to go to Voice Summit in 2018 and network with other conversation designers.

Rebecca Tells Us About the Book That She is Co-Authoring 

Rebecca is co-authoring a book with Diana Deibel, who is also a conversation designer. Rebecca and Diana met on a Slack channel and ending up becoming friends.

Rebecca shared two books that reinforced what she was learning at her job. The books were Kathy Pearl’s book, Voice User Interfaces: Principles of Conversational Experiences, and Voice User Interface Design by Cohen, Michael H., Giangola, and James P. Balogh.

Regarding the book that Rebecca is working on with Diana, they wanted to address the book from a high-level UX and human-centered design perspective.

Rebecca stated that previous books laid a great groundwork; however, the industry has changed a lot and people misunderstand some things about conversation design and its complexity.

Rebecca has noticed a lot of the same misconceptions were leading people to under scope a project. Rebecca mentioned that they also interviewed a lot of people for this book to get various angles and perspectives.

Who is the Audience for the Book? 

This book is tailored towards beginners as well as those that are a bit more established in the UX design industry.  The idea is that it is a book that people can share with their co-workers.  This book is perfect for anyone on a team who is working on conversational interfaces. 

How Did Rebecca Find Time for Writing This Book?

Rebecca said that she finds it hard to multi-task, so she has been working more part-time and freelancing; therefore, she has more time to dedicate to the book.  Her co-author Diana is the real superhero as she is juggling a full-time job, parenting, and working on the book.
Rebecca and Diana pitched their proposal to Rosenfeld Media because they are an Indie publisher that publishes amazing UX design books. They anticipate their book to be out in mid-2021.

Teaching Conversation Design

Rebecca teaches a Conversational UX Design class at Pratt (which is a design school) and her class is offered as an elective in the information experience design department.

What Type of Concepts Are the Students Learning and Working On? 

Rebecca covers chatbots, voice interactions, mental healthcare-focused bots, and even a voice bot that would help people practice and prepare for their job interviews.

Connect with Rebecca Evanhoe 

Follow Rebecca on Twitter
Connect with Rebecca on LinkedIn

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