To misquote Mark Twain – reports of the death of UX have been grossly exaggerated. UX design is the key to digital success, and 2018 is shaping up to be the biggest year for User Experience yet. Here we look at some of the top trends that are taking UX design by storm that you need to be aware of.
Virtual Reality
“The VR revolution is here!” – or so people have been saying since the early 90s. But it’s looking like it finally might actually be true. Improving tech and plummeting prices mean that Virtual Reality is spreading rapidly, and will soon become an integrated part of our day-to-day lives. But as VR moves from being a cool gimmick to a practical tool, User Experience will be central to making virtual reality a real option for business.
Voice First technology
In 2017 we saw Voice First Devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Home explode in popularity. But how do people actually use them? And when they don’t, what’s stopping them? A lot of websites are yet to adapt to how users actually interact with voice-first technology. Enter UX, stage right. UX web design will help businesses maximise their impact through this next stage of tech evolution.
Progress spectrums
The trusty old progress bar is a simple way of depicting a user’s journey – but it doesn’t actually reflect their actual experience. Our activities online aren’t broken down into discrete, concrete steps: they’re fluid experiences, like a spectrum. New ways of thinking about User Organic recognise the organic nature of our actions, and how they interrelate to space and time.
New dimensions
UX web design is really about making words easy to navigate on a screen, right? Wrong. As new platforms and media explode, the very idea of what a “User Experience” means is changing rapidly. Virtual Reality and Voice First are two examples, but digital interactions are rapidly becoming four-dimensional, five sense experiences that are deeply connected to users’ thoughts and emotions. There are some crazy design innovations in the pipelines, from neural networking to brain-computer interface. UX design will be the key to bringing these visions into our daily digital lives.
Integrated teams
Say goodbye to silos. As technology grows more complicated, an understanding of how humans interact with it will need to be more even deeply involved into the process of design. That means that in 2018, UX designers will work closer than ever with software engineers and other digital professionals. Creation and utilisation are no longer separate worlds – you can’t have one without the other.
Outrunning the pack
Are you ready to rocket-power your small or medium sized business with cutting edge User Experience Solutions? Get in touch with Redline Digital to find out what’s possible.