Closely analysing the use of language in the Audible interface sparked questions in my mind, that I’d never cared to ask before. What tone of voice are they using? Why have they chosen these words? What language would grasp the attention of a typical audible user? Has this language worked for me? People’s votes on their favourite verbs gave me three candidates for my Statement. These were: “scour”, “pursue” and “dazzle”. Dazzle was technically derived from the adjective “dazzling”. After sifting through the most appreciated nouns and pairing them with my verbs, I decided on “scouring for trash on the interface”. Scouring had more votes than pursue and I has a slightly more fitting meaning for the phrase I was intending.

There are two meanings the statement could follow. My initial intended meaning was to clean up digital rubbish on the interface. As a designer we can accidentally get carried away with unnecessary design elements, so it is always a process of refining and tidying the interface we have created. However, I have decided to follow my second idea of what the statement should mean.

My second interpretation was that as users, we sometimes seek “rubbish” on the internet in the form of mindless, junk entertainment. This could be willingly falling down the YouTube rabbit hole after an exhausting day, or surfing the waves of the web to solve the mysteries of intriguing but essentially useless questions that our minds create for us. We live in an age when the answer to almost any question we have, and relief from even the smallest presence of boredom is at the tips of our fingers. Questions that used to comfortably remain as a passing thought now can waste hours of our time. We are the first generation to completely circumvent boredom with mild stimulation constantly available to us. But is this really what we want? These are the topics I plan to tackle with my statement.

Below, I have brainstormed some more accurate variations of my statement, to fit the meaning I have stated above.

Pursuing for trash in the interface (my other verb option seems more fitting for the idea of passionately seeking answers to “rubbish” questions) Investigating for trash in the interface Meandering for trash in the interface Drifting for trash in the interface Roaming for trash in the interface (verbs such as “roaming” are more suited to mindless entertainment seeking)