The Future is Imminent: 9 Design Trends for 2018
Good evening. I’m Chase Buckley, UX Unicorn, and these are my predictions for the biggest design trends of 2018. Enjoy.
1. Synesthetic Feedback
Haptic Feedback refers to the sense of physical touch in a digital interface, such as a virtual keyboard, whose individual keys provide tactile feedback when pressed. And as forecasted in my seminal work, The Future Is Near, Hapnotic Feedback expands on this standard interface convention by using tactile cues to subtly hypnotize users and modify their behaviors.
And now, as interfaces extend their scope to accommodate multi-sensory experiences, we are seeing the rise of Synesthetic Feedback.
For those uneducated graphic designers in the audience, the term synesthesia refers to the perceptual condition of mixed sensation; a stimulus in one sensory modality (like hearing) involuntarily elicits a sensation or experience in another sensory modality (like smell). A person with synesthesia might hear a bird chirping and all of a sudden smell the scent of popcorn, or taste the flavor of mint, or feel the sensation of floating.
Creative technologists are rapidly cracking the code to this rare neurological condition, implementing synesthetic feedback into their products and allowing us all to experience it and reap the UX rewards.
Facebook’s Building 8 Research Lab is already designing synesthetic feedback into their platform, converting language into vibrations:
“Through a series of electrodes, the company hopes its neural technology can reduce language to vibrations that can be read by a users’ skin. So far, this ability to “hear” with patterns of stimulation on the skin also seems much closer to a real consumer technology.” (Source)
By allowing users to “hear” language through synesthetic feedback on the skin, the internet giant is creating a platform that will soon be able to “touch” users in a whole new way.
Some other examples of synesthetic feedback being used:
So, what does this mean for the future of UX?
As we refine synesthetic technologies in the coming months, savvy designers like Chase Buckley will continue to blur the lines between our physical and digital worlds by exploiting the subtle neurological loopholes in the brain that regulate our multi-sensory perception, just imagine:
Unwitting users will suddenly catch a whiff of the salty, savory scent of french fries, only to follow the intoxicating odor to a shimmering McDonalds banner ad at the bottom of the page.
A beautiful pop-up of a quaint Hawaiian shoreline will evoke the physical sensation of a tropical sea breeze at sunset, conjuring up the delectable taste of fresh coconut and roast pig, thereby compelling the user to impulsively purchase an 8-night Princess Cruises package from SF to Oahu.
A cursor moving towards the “unsubscribe” button would invoke the taste of ash, the feeling of pain, and the harsh imagery of eternal hell fire, subliminally deterring a user from unsubscribing from a newsletter.
Look around you. The future is here. Can you smell it?
2. Progress Spectrums
The progress bar has not been improved upon since the very dawn of the graphic-user-interface age. But technology is changing, our culture is changing, and the very framework with which we measure progress is changing, so why, then, do our interfaces for displaying user progress remain the same?
“Progress is a spectrum, not a bar.” — Chase Buckley
We as humans do not experience the world in broken-up steps, rather, our experience of time and events is fluid and organic. Lazy designers developed the progress bar as a metaphor for measuring our “progress” along a ”journey”, but in doing so they created a system that does not properly reflect the true user experience. Progress is a spectrum, not a bar.
A progress spectrum is a far more natural way of measuring “progress.” Instead of breaking up the user experience into unnatural, linear, paginated steps, a progress spectrum reflects the true experience of the user, one in which progress is experienced along a broad and continuous spectrum, where one event seamlessly flows into the next.
When we shop for groceries, we don’t rely on progress bars to tell us how many steps away we are from checkout.
When we’re at the bank we don’t look to progress bars on the ceiling to tell us how we’re doing.
And when we’re walking our dogs, drinking Soylent or giving talks on thought-leadership, we most certainly don’t think about what “step” we’re on towards completion.
The same should be true for digital experiences. After all, users don’t want to be told where they are in the process. They want to decide that for themselves.
Users don’t want to be told where they are in the process. They want to decide that for themselves.
Designers are already starting to experiment with this concept; showing that progress is not a binary, but rather an experience that exists along an infinite spectrum. One can never really “complete” their LinkedIn or Facebook profile, just as one can never truly “complete” an account sign-up process. Nothing in life has concrete steps, so why should our digital lives have them either?
Keep your eyes peeled for progress spectrums this 2018.
3. Disinformation Architecture
Information Architecture has many definitions, but in short, it refers to the practice of organizing and arranging information so that people can better understand their surroundings, both digital and physical, and find whatever it is they’re looking for. From the menus in our apps to the signage in our airports to the tables of contents in our textbooks, the role of information architecture is to make this complex world we live in that much easier to navigate.
“The role of information architecture is to make this complex world we live in that much easier to navigate.” — Chase Buckley
But the technologies that shape our world are evolving with ever greater complexity, and with every breakthrough comes another degree of separation between us and our digital surroundings. We are reaching a point of technological incommensurability, which no amount of architecting will be able to reconcile.
In short: The world has become too complicated to organize and make sense of. Even for Chase Buckley. Indeed, the only way that we will once again bring simplicity, understanding, and delight to our everyday experiences is through the practice of Disinformation Architecture. Allow me to explain.
Disinformation Architecture refers to the practice of organizing and arranging misleading and heavily-filtered information so that people can understand a more simplified and accessible version of reality.
Popularized by many Russian thought leaders, this tactic ensures that users don’t get caught up or confused by distracting “information,” and that they only experience and encounter the information that you want them to see — ensuring the most streamlined, frictionless, and delightful user experience.
Think of the commonly maligned “clickbait” article as an example of disinformation architecture. Rather than attempting to convey the extremely complex content in a headline, which users wouldn’t be able to understand anyways, misleading information is leveraged to make the article’s contents easier to understand and appreciate at a glance.
Another shining example is Stamps.com. The brilliant designers at Stamps have made it incredibly easy for users to “get in” and sign-up for this extremely valuable service. And, to mitigate the likelihood that users get overwhelmed and accidentally cancel their subscriptions, the service makes it exceedingly difficult to get out of. By hiding cancellation information altogether, Stamps.com is able to leverage disinformation architecture to ensure the most streamlined service imaginable. Kudos!
4. Neurotic Networks
Neural networks are complex machine systems modeled after the human brain. Neural networks significantly influence the ways in which we interface with the technology around us; they dictate the information architectures of our search engines, they shape interaction patterns through which we communicate, and they even affect the subtle ways in which we scroll through our Facebook Feeds and hand out our Instagram “likes.”
Neural networks are nothing new, but bleeding-edge thought leaders are realizing that, for neural networks to truly change the course of humanity, they must become that much more human-like. This next generation of neural networks, truly modeled on the human brain, will not just mirror the architecture of our synapses, but will mirror our feelings and emotions, too. These are neurotic networks, and they are right around the corner.
Don’t believe me? In 2014, Facebook utilized neurotic networks in a series of psychological experiments on 689,003 users, whereby, through the power of mapping human emotion via neurotic networks, researchers were able to design an algorithm that could manipulate user’s news feeds to provoke certain emotions. The experiment proved that Facebook, via neurotic networks, could make users feel good or bad simply by tweaking their news feeds. (Source)
While your typical graphic designer may have a hard time grasping the complexity of such “invisible” technologies, smart designers will realize that neurotic networks are invaluable to the arsenal of design tools at our disposal.
But be careful — never before has a technology given us such control over the emotions of others. And so, to quote the Dalai Lama, “with great power comes great responsibility.”
“With great power comes great responsibility.” — The Dalai Lama
5. Mood As Interface (MAI)
As a Future-Forward Innovation Evangelist, I have long been an advocate of interfaces that synergize bleeding-edge technologies with leading-edge designs. One such innovation that I am ecstatic to forecast is the paradigm-disrupting technology of MAI, or Mood As Interface.
The idea of Mood As Interface is as simple as it is intuitive: interfaces are becoming increasingly personalized, responsive, and customized per user, and now, with cost-cutting advancements in Wireless EEG technology, design pioneers can leverage brainwave biometrics to create highly customized interfaces that are shaped by user’s moods and emotions.
At the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, Acura, in partnership with the lovely Bradley G Munkowitz, created a “mind-bending interactive driving experience” that was powered by user’s brainwaves and biometrics to create a unique driving experience for each and every participant.
User’s were connected to fourteen electrodes via an EMOTIV headset, and placed inside of a virtual-reality simulation of an Acura NSX driver’s seat. From there, the “driving experience” was controlled solely by the user’s mind, where 30 sensory inputs captured brainwaves, pulse, and facial expression. These emotional inputs were leveraged to then create a responsive virtual-reality simulation that fluctuated and adapted in real time with the user’s innermost feelings, be they serene, relaxed, amazed, intrigued, focused, or excited.
Soon, these Mood-As-Interface technologies will enter the main stream, enabling user’s to control their content like never before:
Users with difficultly making decisions can rely on their moods to guide them through processes like ordering food off of menus; GrubHub could enable a plugin to allow user’s to place orders based on their gut feelings.
User’s could automatically conjure up the content they want on their newsfeed based on how they’re feeling; with Mood-As-Interface tech, someones experience of Facebook or Instagram could change wildly to console them.
This has radical applications for e-commerce as well, where custom advertisements, look-books, color pallets and filters could be automatically applied based on how the user is feeling at that particular moment.
All of a sudden the personal computer has become a whole lot more personal. How are you feeling?
6. Bowling Bumpers
In one of my previous articles, I wrote about the concept of Failure Mapping, the practice of mapping out non-ideal scenarios in which user failure is likely to occur. While it has taken some time for this concept to reach the mainstream, I believe that within two years time even the crudest and most basic design teams will be applying it to their day-to-day trade.
Through the practice of failure-mapping, designers will begin to utilize a new tool, bowling bumpers, to ensure that even the most senile, incompetent, and technologically illiterate of users are able to complete digital tasks without error. In the great game of bowling, barriers, aka “bumpers,” are placed on either side of the bowling lane, preventing bowling balls from ending up in the gutter every time.
This same principle can be applied to our digital apps and experiences, whereby bowling bumpers (digital barriers) can be used to prevent bowling balls (users) from rolling into the gutter (making critical errors). And, just as many modern bowling alleys have retractable bumpers which can be automatically raised and lowered depending on whose turn it is to bowl, so too can apps and websites raise and lower digital barriers depending on the competency or age of the user.
From user onboarding to to e-commerce checkout, there is virtually no element of the digital experience that is immune to failure. But with the introduction of bowling bumpers, failure is no longer an option.
7. Design Feeling
Design Thinking is a methodology used by designers to solve complex problems, and find desirable solutions for clients. Design Thinking draws upon logic, strategy, and systemic reasoning to explore possibilities of what could be — and to create desired outcomes that benefit the end user.
The problem with design thinking is that it relies almost entirely on thinking. Rooted in analytical reasoning, logic, ontologies and systems — design thinking is a left-brain endeavor. It may have the word “design” in its title, but don’t be fooled —this cult-like methodology is little more than a trick used by engineers to sound creative.
It is no wonder that the “designs” of today are so homogenous and dull; the prevalence of design-thinking, with its strict adherence to reason, has resulted in a generation of products that are fueled entirely by logic but completely devoid of passion. Everything has become templatized. What we end up with is a world full of generic forms, lifeless products, and soulless “innovations”.
But the monotony that pervades the world of technology and design may be nearing its end. As technology becomes more and more commoditized and undifferentiated, thanks to the soulless handiwork of design-thinking, companies are looking for new methodologies to innovate and distinguish their products. Many, including visionaries like IDEO’s Tim Brown and InVision’s Clark Valberg, are realizing that they should be thinking less, and feeling a whole lot more.
Design Feeling calls for a return to what is natural and intuitive. It is a movement that puts humanity back into design. It is about feeling problems out, not analyzing them. Its about sensing solutions, not testing them. And, unlike the wretched processes of design-thinking, design feeling is rooted in impulse, spontaneity, desire, passion, feeling, imagination, and indulgence. It represents creativity at its core. Design is not a process. Its an art.
“Design is not a process. Its an art.” — Chase Buckley
In an exclusive interview I had with Tim Brown, IDEO’s CEO famous for bringing design-thinking to the masses, Tim confessed that Design-Thinking has led to the hideous state of design that we are burdened with today. After providing Tim with one-on-one lessons on the virtues of design-feeling, he confessed to me, “so much of my life has been wasted prostrating myself before the false idol of design-thinking…I should have been thinking so much less, and feeling so much more..”
Design Feeling is already being used by the world’s most bleeding edge game changers, and soon enough, if you want to keep your job, you’ll be using it too.
8. Rumble Strips
Rumble strips are a road safety feature employed to alert inattentive drivers of potential danger by causing a tactile vibration and audible rumbling transmitted through the wheels into the vehicle interior. A rumble strip is applied along the direction of travel following an edgeline or centerline, to alert drivers when they drift from their lane.
There are literally millions of parallels between road safety infrastructure and user experience design, and rumble strips are no exception. Perhaps this explains why Eastern Europeans, and other such countries lacking in modern day infrastructure, have difficultly grasping the full breadth of UX design. With that said, allow me to explain the two primary use cases of Rumble Strips:
A.) Rumble Strips as Alerts:
In Digital UX Design, rumble strips can be used to alert inattentive users to dangers that lie ahead. For example, if a user clicks on a pop-up that may house potential malware, or may lead to NSFW content, or may be associated with a phishing scam, or which may otherwise hurt their browsing experience, a rumble strip can be used to send a tactile vibration (also known as haptic feedback) to the user to warn them that they are approaching dangerous content.
Users will be able to install rumble strips on their browsers so that, whenever they are veering towards a negative experience, be it a virus or an unsavory pop-up, their device will vibrate and rumble to alert them to “stay in their lane,” so to speak.
B.) Rumble Strips as Remedies to Fatigue:
Rumble Strips can also be used to help fatigued and lethargic users stay awake and focus. This feature is particularly valuable for websites and apps that rely on continuous scrolling, like Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook, which require users to tediously cycle through endless streams of monotonous content with little stimuli to keep them alert. By sprinkling rumble strips throughout their digital products, UX Designers will be able to send intermittent haptic cues to users to “wake” them up and help them to better engage their social medias.
Haptic rumble strips will help users to navigate the web that much more seamlessly, safely, and efficiently. Smart UX Designers have already begun implementing rumble strips across their products, and in due time, so will you.
9. Rogue Personas
A user persona is a representation of the goals and behaviors of a hypothetical user group. User personas help us to better understand our ideal target audience — what their hopes, dietary habits, pain points, fetishes, fears, and desires might be, and to design our products accordingly. In short, they answer the question, “who are we designing for?.”
And while user personas are invaluable to the artful practice of UX, they are far too narrow to be helpful on their own. While personas help us to understand our ideal user, it is just as important in this day and age to understand our non-ideal users; our trolls, our phishers, our poor, our elderly. Our rogue personas.
Rogue Persona A:
Facebook aims to be the largest, most inclusive social network on earth. Their headquarters undoubtedly house room upon room of binders full of user personas, but still, there are many rogue personas they have overlooked. Just look at this exchange between Denice and the Dollar Tree. Denice, clearly bewildered by the intricacies of Facebook’s interface, has shared highly sensitive information with the Dollar Tree. If Facebook had designed affordances for Rogue Personas like Denice — elderly personas who have trouble understanding the cultural and technical etiquette of Facebook — then this exchange could have been avoided and Denice could have instead consulted the proper authorities for advice.
Rogue Persona B:
A common Rogue Persona that many juvenile UX designers fail to account for is the notorious internet troll. Designers have been playing a longstanding game of cat and mouse with these trolls since the dawn of the internet, and yet still, the impact these goons have on our products and services is very rarely addressed in our personas. Whether its trolls exploiting Greenpeace’s voting system to name a whale “Mr. Splashy Pants,” trolls hijacking an online poll to send acclaimed rapper Pitbull to an isolated town in Alaska, or trolls hacking a contest to name the next Mountain Dew beverage “Diabetes,” its clear that countless incidents could be averted if only people had thought to design for these all too common edge cases and devious personas.
