"Designing for the ear, not the eye" with Philipp Hänggi

We're back! Join us for an in-person meetup in Zurich.

Topic: Designing for the ear, not the eye: Notes on voice UX and natural language interfaces
An AI agent can sound very human and still be remarkably hard to talk to. What changes when we design for the ear rather than the eye? Drawing on interactional-linguistic research into how conversation works and lessons from client projects, I’ll look at how we handle pauses, take turns, recover from misunderstandings, and bring in other modalities to explore what good voice experience design can look and sound like."

Speaker: Philipp Hänggi
Philipp came to UX through linguistics and a PhD in conversation analysis, the study of the systematics of turn-by-turn talk. He traded the academic armchair for applied product design, but kept his interest in the small things that make conversation work, or get in its way. These days, he applies that lens to voice AI interfaces, working directly with teams and Fortune 500 customers on the practical problems of getting them to work well.

Details

• When: Thursday, November 26, 2026
• Start: Door opening: 18:30, Event starts: 19:00
• End: ca. 20:15, optional drinks & chats afterwards
• Where: Unic office, Hardturmstrasse 3, 8005 Zürich
• Fees: 5 CHF per person (cash or Twint). Since we are an entirely volunteer-run meetup, we appreciate your support for apéros und yearly meetup-costs. Note: We want this meetup to be accessible to everyone. If you do not have the financial means, please don't worry and speak to the organizer team! :-)