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From an economic perspective, Artificial Intelligence Systems are built to increase efficiency, productivity and reliability. Assistance systems like voice assistants (VAs) are one example of this kind of interactive technology; yet based on the Intelligence Augmentation approach, they ought to primarily support the users’ capabilities and allow them to act with self-determination. Nevertheless, those systems are usually perceived as a black box. Thus, on the one hand, VAs can be seen simply as a tool for fulfilling a task, although on the other hand, the conversational interaction raises expectations and needs for humanlike interactions. According to the international norm ISO 9241-11, a usable system is one that can be used to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. We use this definition of usability to delineate a framework for the design and evaluation of VAs. We posit that certain human values like trust and well-being are crucial for a satisfying user experience with VAs. Specifically, the system ought to prevent frustration of psychological human needs in order to ensure the users’ self-determination‒for practicing design and evaluation of VAs in a wholesome manner. Our aim is to provide guidelines that move the development of VAs towards enhanced usability and human centeredness. Considering each usability component, we discuss how to fulfill context-based user needs and requirements in order to ensure effectiveness of the VA interaction. To address the efficiency and satisfaction components, we develop evaluation guidelines for VAs based on the interaction principles according to ISO 9241-110 and current …