Conversational smart products: a research opportunity, first investigation and definition

This paper approaches the topics of Conversational Design and Conversational Interfaces (CUI) from a product design perspective. While this topic is more widespread in HCI and UX design community, there is a lack of insight coming from product design. Given that the integration of CUIs and assistants into physical products have the potential to impact product design practice, the paper introduces the term Conversational Smart Products (ConvSP). It analyzes the topic of Conversational Design and the construct of “Product Smartness” and presents a framework to define and analyze ConvSP. The research aims to delve into ConvSP characteristics, deepening how the conversation can be embodied in the product, and how the physical attributes could work in synergy with the verbal dimension. Through a case study research conducted on a selection of 30 existing products with CUIs, insight is collected on four different topics. On product smartness and personality; on the level of physical embodiment of the conversation; on request/response design; and on the tangibility of conversational inputs and outputs. A descriptive definition of Conversational Smart Products is given. Broadly, the research aims to investigate what the role of product designers in the development of ConvSP could be.