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In 2017, three UX design trends are set to define the year: brands that refuse to embrace modern technology will fall behind, usability research and testing will shift from a nice-to-have to a necessity, and the UX community will start reckoning with the echo chambers that hyper-personalised experiences create. But first, a quick look at how the 2016 predictions held up.
How Did the 2016 UX Design Predictions Do?
Prediction 3: More Brands Will Tailor Digital Experiences With Custom Content and Native Advertising
Score: A+
Native advertising is everywhere, and it keeps getting more nuanced. It has also converged with custom content in some really interesting ways.
Uber is a great example. Their redesigned app does not just get you from A to B faster. It personalises the journey with a feature called Uber Feed. As designer Didier Hilhorst explained:
"We used to think our job was done once you got in a car, and that the faster we got you out of our app, the better the experience. But as we looked ahead at each step, we realized we were neglecting the longest part of the journey: being on your way. We thought about the music you might want to listen to on your way, the menu at the restaurant you're headed to, and how you could stay connected to the people you're going to see. We built a platform for content that will put you and your journey at the center."
Customised experiences like this raise the bar for entire industries. Stitch Fix is another good example. In addition to a style questionnaire at sign-up, they request links to your social media profiles to see your style in action. Then, after every fix, they ask more granular questions to keep honing in on what you like. Better clothes for the customer, more revenue for the business. Win-win.
This year, custom experiences will go to the next level as virtual and augmented reality become more mainstream. Pokemon Go was a preview of what is coming. It became one of the most downloaded games ever made and the fastest game to hit $500M in revenue. Businesses scrambled to figure out how a nearby PokeStop could work in their favour. That instinct is not going away.
Prediction 2: There Will Be a Rise in Mobile Usage and Video
Score: A+
This one was a slam dunk. The Pew Research Center reported that over 72% of U.S. adults now own a smartphone, with ownership skyrocketing even faster in places like the Middle East and Latin America. On top of that, 50% of American respondents in a recent survey said they watch video on mobile devices, which has pushed mobile carriers to roll out more unlimited data plans.
Social platforms ran hard with this. Instagram launched Stories and Live. Twitter streamed live NFL games and major events. Facebook launched Facebook Live, video ads, and even added a dedicated Video tab to their main navigation. When Facebook redesigns their whole nav to include video, you know the trend is here to stay.
Prediction 1: More Products Will Incorporate Intelligent Assistance
Score: A-
Intelligent assistance is definitely catching on, but it is still in the early stages, which is why this one gets an A- rather than an A+.
Amazon launched Alexa. Google came out with Google Home. It is now safe to say that within a few years, some form of robotic assistant will be a fixture in most homes. These voice-enabled devices have also sparked a rise in chatbots that handle tasks and surface information in a natural, conversational way. IBM Watson, Slack, and Facebook Messenger's integrations with B2C brands are paving the way.
Before long, interactions with intelligent assistance will become nearly invisible. A few words will direct your self-driving car or place an Amazon order and have a drone deliver it within 15 minutes. This technology is already being piloted. It is only a matter of time before it is part of daily life.
Two A+ scores and one A-. Not bad.
Now, on to 2017.
What Are the UX Design Predictions for 2017?
Over the past few years, there has been a movement toward customising experiences and building internal UX teams to keep companies innovating. Those trends come with real benefits, but also some ripple effects worth paying attention to, including the dangers of echo chambers and the growing need for fresh perspectives.
Here is what to expect this year.
2017 UX Design Prediction 3: Brands Will Be Forced to Embrace Technology or Die
The average lifespan of a company on the S&P 500 is 75% shorter than it was just a few decades ago. Things are moving faster and turning over more frequently than ever before.
The survivors are the ones embracing modern technology and adapting their products and services for the future. Look at pizza. Pizza Hut dominated the industry for years with Domino's trailing close behind. But things are shifting. Pizza Hut's key financial indicators are declining, while Domino's return in gross dividends is growing exponentially, outpacing even Google.
How? Modern, mobile, cloud-based, data-rich technology. Restaurant industry analyst Stephen Anderson summed it up: "I think it has really boiled down to convenience and the ability for Domino's to really capitalize on the move toward online and mobile."
While Pizza Hut keeps building brick-and-mortar locations, Domino's went all-in on technology by designing a great app and online ordering system, including the now-famous Pizza Tracker that actually makes waiting fun. The result: over half of all orders are now placed online.
Disruption comes quickly, and those who do not adapt leave themselves open for an unfortunate surprise. In 2008, the CEO of Blockbuster quipped, "Neither Redbox nor Netflix are even on the radar screen in terms of competition." Bet he wishes he had taken them more seriously.
So, who would you rather be? Blockbuster and Pizza Hut, or Netflix and Domino's? Those who embrace technology will thrive in 2017 and beyond. The others are simply buying time.
2017 UX Design Prediction 2: Usability Research and Testing Will Go From Optional to Required
There is a natural fear around evaluating UI/UX design because the work you have already created might turn out to be wrong, or not as effective as you hoped. But if business success is the goal, it is no longer optional.
Usability research and testing may feel intimidating, but the results are worth it, and it is becoming nearly impossible to stay competitive without it.
Consider airports, places that are inherently stressful for most visitors. London Heathrow, one of the busiest airports in the world, could have leaned on the usual excuses for not doing usability research:
- "We're a public facility with limited resources."
- "It's too expensive."
- "Our visitors are rushed. They don't have time to provide feedback."
- "We've been doing this for decades. We know what we're doing."
But like many organisations that are waking up to the power of usability testing, Heathrow understood the challenges and knew the benefits would be worth it. Their primary research mechanism was a set of simple feedback stations placed right after security, the peak of stress in the user journey. What's more, the airport posts the results on large TV screens and their website for everyone to see, building trust with passengers and accountability for staff.
The result? Satisfaction ratings increased almost 30% and reached record highs. A true example of user success equalling business success.
London Heathrow proves that usability research does not have to be costly or complex. It just needs to exist. Fortunately, there are now so many great tools available. Whether it is survey services like UX Rings, structured exercises like Jobs to Be Done interviews, or engaging an external partner like Drawbackwards who specialises in usability research, brands have access to great resources to understand the customer journey, diagnose real problems, and identify solutions.
Taking chances and prototyping new solutions is smart. Guessing the problem is not. In 2017, we should not be guessing anymore. Our team at Design.org and Drawbackwards has made the switch to regular testing throughout the design process, and we have seen huge successes because of it. We expect more brands to realise its value this year.
2017 UX Design Prediction 1: There Will Be a Backlash on Hyper-Customised Experiences That Create Echo Chambers
Ever notice that when you like an article or watch a video on Facebook, you start seeing similar content in your News Feed? That is not an accident.
Facebook's algorithm watches every move you make on their site and around the web, then tailors your experience to show you more of what it thinks you will like. The more you like what you see, the more time you spend on their platform. It works, and Facebook is not the only one doing it.
The problem is that these customised experiences can go too far and create echo chambers, where we only see and hear things we are already interested in and already agree with. Technology is building bubbles that cater to users' existing interests but fail to expose them to new ideas.
This is not just affecting the few hours a day we spend on social media. It is affecting entire economies and shaping a generation.
Enter: President-elect Donald Trump.
No matter which side of the political fence you are on, it is impossible to ignore that the echo chamber phenomenon influenced an entire presidential election. People naturally like social media content that aligns with their beliefs and gravitate toward others who share the same ideals. As we saw in 2016, many Americans live in an online bubble, leading to one of the biggest surprises in election history, even for journalists who had been covering the campaign trail for over a year.
As a recent VICE News article explained: "Journalists spend a lot of time on Twitter, and their information bubble rarely includes Trump supporters. This could help explain why many journalists were caught off guard by the depth of Trump's support, and why the soul-searching in the media continues long after Election Day."
The election was a perfect storm that proved the dangers of echo chambers: if we only see what we want to see, we will not even know other things exist.
The solution is to be more intentional about seeking out the good, the bad, and the ugly. Watch Fox News one day and MSNBC the next. Read The Wall Street Journal on Sunday and People Magazine on Monday. Seek out unbiased, third-party partners and fresh perspectives. Ask satisfied customers what they love about your product and ask people who cancelled why they left.
Being deliberate about diverse input leads to more well-rounded solutions and a deeper empathy that benefits both your business and your users.
Bonus 2017 Prediction: More Products Will Realise They Are in the Experience Design Business
Experience design has been widely adopted by software companies, but the secret is spreading to other industries. Businesses are realising that well-designed, user-centred experiences create real value and that traditional structures and ways of thinking are no longer cutting it.
For decades, corporate hierarchies and industrial workflows helped companies scale efficiently. But the silos, rigid processes, and fixed mentalities that come with that approach are not built for modern, innovative businesses. They breed a lack of trust, slow teams down, stifle innovation, and leave employees fighting for permission to complete critical parts of their jobs.
Going into 2017, more businesses across every industry will recognise they need to adapt to survive. Design, development, and product management teams will break down silos and come together as unified product teams. They will adopt agile processes that allow for quick iteration, deployment, and testing. They will collaborate with external partners to complement their knowledge and skill sets. And they will do usability research before, during, and after development, even if they are not a technology or experience design company by trade.
Amazon's announcement of Amazon Go stores shows this trend in action. Amazon is turning their website into an in-store experience. To do that effectively, you cannot have disparate teams working in isolation. Even though they started as an online bookstore, they are running a unified team to design a first-of-its-kind experience. And they will not be the last to see the value in making that shift.
2017: The Year of Breaking Out of the Bubble
If 2016 was the year of surprises, 2017 should be the year of using those surprises to make positive changes.
How can we respect our users more and give them more choice? How can we step outside the echo chamber and open our eyes to fresh perspectives? How can we break away from old business habits and leverage modern technology to drive more success?
At Drawbackwards and Design.org, we are ready to flip the switch and help users see the world better. Will you?
To learn more about the trends we are seeing in UX design or to discuss how we can help your business break out of the bubble, get in touch with us.
FAQ
What are the biggest UX design trends to watch in 2017? The three biggest UX trends for 2017 are: brands being forced to embrace technology to stay competitive, usability research and testing becoming a standard requirement rather than a bonus, and growing awareness of the echo chamber problem created by hyper-personalised digital experiences.
Why do echo chambers in UX design matter? Hyper-customised experiences built around a user's existing preferences can trap them in a feedback loop, showing them only content they already agree with. This limits exposure to new ideas and, as the 2016 US election demonstrated, can have consequences far beyond the screen.
How did Domino's use UX and technology to beat Pizza Hut? Domino's invested heavily in mobile ordering, a cloud-based tech stack, and data-driven tools like the Pizza Tracker. The result is that over half of their orders are now placed online, and their financial performance has outpaced Pizza Hut and even rivalled Google's dividend growth.
Does usability testing have to be expensive to be effective? No. London Heathrow proved that simple, well-placed feedback mechanisms, gathered at the most stressful point in the user journey, were enough to increase satisfaction ratings by almost 30%. Tools like UX Rings, Jobs to Be Done interviews, and specialist partners make us
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