Voice Input

Fall 2026

In Messages on iPhone, voice does two separate jobs. Dictation turns speech into text, and voice messages show a live waveform of the user speaking. This concept combines the two into one field that shows the user's voice as they talk and writes their words out as text.

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Overview — Challenge

Problem

Two Separate Patterns

Dictation gives the user text and voice messages give them a waveform, but never both at once.

A Small Sign of Listening

While dictating, the only sign of listening is a small blue mic pill over the cursor and a mic that turns blue.

Text That Jumps

Words land a phrase at a time and get rewritten as dictation corrects itself.

Design Decision — 01

The Field Is the Visualizer

The user's voice lives in the edge of the field, so there is no separate visualizer competing with the words. Sound enters on the left and travels right, so a clap reads as a single pulse and speech as a running ripple.

Design Decision — 02

The Cursor Becomes the Orb

When the mic opens, the text cursor springs into a small blue orb. It sits exactly where the next word goes, so the user's eye is already in the right place.

Design Decision — 03

Words Drawn Out of the Orb

Each character is born inside the orb and pulled out of it, starting blurred and blue and sharpening into text as it moves away. Ink near the orb stays wettest and everything always dries, so it ends as normal text the user can edit.

Outcomes

What It Achieves

Before

After

A Visible Voice

The user sees a live representation of their voice in the field itself, rather than a static mic button that is simply “active.”

Organic, Not Jarring

What the mic recorded is revealed organically out of the orb, rather than dropped in word by word.

Next Steps

Try It

Tap the mic, clap once, then say a full sentence. Works best in Chrome.