{"id":11617,"date":"2017-01-24T17:09:03","date_gmt":"2017-01-24T17:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.intercom.com\/?p=11617"},"modified":"2020-07-30T12:59:10","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T11:59:10","slug":"language-in-product-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/language-in-product-design\/","title":{"rendered":"How soon is now? Discovering the many jobs of language in design"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a simple design, every element has to pull its own weight. A messaging app \u2014 no matter what frills it\u2019s decorated with \u2014 should be a simple design. And its simplest elements are words.<\/p>\n

Even the simplest design carries the weight of expectations for how it ought to work \u2014 and when its elements don\u2019t work as expected, people react. Strongly.<\/p>\n

Last year, the words we added to the Intercom Messenger interface generated some intense reactions to the most minute details of grammar and phrasing. As our product manager, Brian<\/a>, said to me: at least we know our words are being read.
\n<\/em>
\nGetting under the skin of those reactions and the expectations behind them has changed how we think about and write for our Messenger. And as we\u2019ve written before: when you change how you write for a product<\/a>, you change how the product is perceived. You change expectations.<\/p>\n

Interface vs conversation<\/h2>\n

Messaging apps \u2014 puppy filters aside \u2014 are usually designed for one thing: to let you talk to someone as naturally as you would if they were in the room with you.<\/p>\n

If the internet has proven anything, it\u2019s that people feel very strongly about what they feel is ‘correct’ grammar.<\/p>\n

This simplicity is core to messaging\u2019s power and popularity. That\u2019s why consumer messengers like WhatsApp spread so easily across all demographics: they were an easy leap from natural conversation, and from the native messengers everyone already had in their phones. A product like Whatsapp allows you to do<\/em> more without having to learn<\/em> more.<\/p>\n

Our own Messenger took that simplicity to B2C\u00a0conversations, so that businesses and their customers could message each other directly.<\/p>\n

While business messaging is still essentially the same simple platform, it has the potential to be more socially complex: that\u2019s because the participants in the conversation have specific roles, and specific jobs they need to do.<\/p>\n

Giving stage directions<\/h2>\n

A messaging app isn\u2019t primarily a set of screens and interactions. Underneath that, its parts are pretty much like the parts of a script: there are speaking roles<\/strong>, and stage directions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

There are two speaking roles for human beings in our Messenger:<\/p>\n