VOICON: Geometric Motion-Based Visual Feedback in Voice User Interface

Geometric motion-based visual feedback widely used in existing voice assistants (VAs) plays a significant role in voice interactions. It enables a real-time and simultaneous depiction of VAs’ conversational states, thereby mitigating the verbosity of speech and reducing unnecessary turn-taking. However, the study on VA visual feedback, which focuses on geometric motion graphics for different conversational states, has not been extensively explored. In this study, we systematically designed ‘Voicon’, shape-based visual feedback, and explored the expandability of its visual language. To achieve this, we determined 3 conversational states through a literature review. We then conducted a conjoint analysis using the visual attributes extracted from a participatory design workshop. Based on the results, we proposed the Voicon system and created video prototypes for qualitative evaluation. Our findings demonstrated that our Voicon system is intuitively understandable and perceived as useful by users. We believe this pictorial enriches and expands the design space of visual feedback for VAs, which facilitates voice interaction.