UX Design: 9 trends you should know about
There's always something new to discover in the cosmos of UX design. Here are 9 trends you should know about and some tips on how to improve the user experience of your digital product.
1 - User Tests
Statistically, you have 5-8 seconds to convince a visitor to your website to stay. That's why it's important to know exactly what your target audience would like to see.
Thanks to user testing, you can identify weak points in the user experience early on and avoid them from the start. Investing in early problem detection reduces long-term costs and allows you to design UX elements from a unique customer perspective. So, to make your website more appealing to customers, it pays to develop and execute a sophisticated usability testing methodology. After all, as we all know, there's nothing better than feedback from a real user.
2 - UX Writing
UX designers and UX writers work together to understand the interaction between machine and human and create a bond. The goal of UX Writing is to create user-centric texts that give the user a smooth experience with the product. It is important to build a foundation of trust between the user and the brand or product. This can be done by fulfilling needs, solving problems and clarifying questions. There are more offers and products on the market than ever before. This makes it increasingly difficult for companies to stand out. Well-designed UX copy, among other things, increases the chance that a user will enjoy interacting with your app or website.
UX Writing also has an irreplaceable value at Mindnow. In addition to our own products and services, which we polish to perfection through UX writing, our customers also benefit from it. For example, we were able to provide our client Cornèrcard with improvements in terms of UX Writing as part of the website relaunch.
3 – Microcopy
Speaking of UX writing, microcopy is this little snippet of text that can be placed under a call-to-action or as a placeholder in an input field, for example. It doesn't take up much space, but it's all the more important for the user experience.
A microcopy leads the user to the goal, binds a points out and all in all creates a pleasant experience - like a small voice that accompanies and supports the user on their way with the product.
The term has already turned into 2019, currently Microcopy is gaining momentum again. Writing microcopy is not difficult in itself, but really good ones are. For this, it needs a few tips for effective microcopy.
4 – Inclusive Design
Inclusion is at the heart of the UX design story. Whatever you design, if a user feels excluded in any way, they are extremely unlikely to engage with it for any length of time. That's why inclusive design is one of the most powerful and effective ways to improve the user experience for users of any identity, background, or experience.
Who(s) you don't intentionally include, you unintentionally exclude.
UX designers have the power to design things in ways that change the nature and direction of a project. Accessibility also means usability for people who interact with products differently. The designer's role is to help the team think of accessibility as a facet of the user experience, not a checklist of requirements.
5 – Creative Scrolls
If the product and vision allow it, it's worth taking a closer look at Creative Scrolls. By scrolling through the website, a little world of its own unfolds, telling stories in a whole new way.
The difficulty with this is certainly that, on the one hand, this type of website is not for everyone, and on the other hand, there is an incredible amount of concept planning and complicated workflows behind it. Decisions like this often involve balancing functional and content requirements. But if it succeeds, great enthusiasm and fascination is guaranteed for the viewer.
A great example of this is a website for the popular television series "The Walking Dead." By scrolling through the page, moving illustrations show how the extras of the series prepare for their role as zombies. The viewer is drawn into the story, reads through the texts and visibly stays longer on the page. However, keep in mind: Accessibility is not mandatory for Creative Scrolls.
6 – Dark design
Dark themes are one of the increasingly popular features of the past few years. Besides Apple and Google, whose dark mode has become an essential part of their user interface, apps like WhatsApp, Instagram and YouTube are now following suit.
That speaks in favor of dark designs:
The dark surfaces reduce eye strain because less blue light is emitted.
Light text on a dark surface looks less contrasty than dark text on a light surface.
A wide range of colors, heights and depths can be expressed on a dark surface - meaning photos, illustrations or graphics look richer.
7 – Animations and moving graphics
Humans are evolutionarily made to perceive movement outside the center of their field of vision. That's why you notice the little spider crawling across your kitchen counter or the toddler on the bus dropping his pacifier. We humans are a natural target for animations and moving graphics, as our attention is automatically drawn to them.
One example of this is the Vespa configurator from Motolino. The perfect Vespa can be put together in an exciting and playful way. Not only does the finished product immediately appear before your eyes, playing with various elements is also quite entertaining.
But beware: This sensitivity can also quickly become a disadvantage if animations suddenly distract from the actually important content. An ill-considered use of moving graphics and animations can significantly impair the user experience. That's why you basically need a well thought-out animation concept that meets various requirements at the technlogical, content, and quality levels.
8 – 3D elements
According to statistics, 3D elements increase the probability that a user will stay on the page by 45 percent. Especially for product pages, I would definitely recommend embedding 3D elements. The advantages are obvious: 3D elements capture the viewer's gaze, often look almost photorealistic, and give the page a futuristic flair. 3D elements literally bring a third dimension into play, which helps to break down a complexity and make the content more understandable for the user.
By the way, delays in loading a page with 3D elements are no longer a problem since the introduction of 5G technology. So there is no reason to shy away from it. BSI shows how: A cube as the central element provides the user with all the necessary information and is also a real eye-catcher.
9 – Design systems and libraries
Efficiency and sustainability are as trendy as ever. Time is our most important commodity, everything should be ready as soon as possible, and preferably yesterday.
The design system is there to ensure that developers, designers and stakeholders speak the same visual language. And to do so as quickly and efficiently as possible. It is becoming an increasingly common practice in the design process. Design systems improve the interfaces between multiple areas of expertise, and they can also speed up processes and save money.
With Figma, Mindnow's design team has found a tool that allows for collaborative and flexible design of user interfaces. The feature of saving programmed elements in a library and being able to access them at any time speeds up the design process.
Conclusion: It's all about user needs
UX design is increasingly moving towards better interactions between user and product. The latter needs to look alive and fully adapt to the user's daily life so that they use it longer.
Of course, you don't have to apply all these UX trends to a specific product or website. Reduce your choices to what really suits you and your business and what meets your users' needs.
