Day 101: UX & Design Trends in 2020 — Part 1: General Theme
Hello, folks!
It’s been quite a while since I last updated this blog; now that holiday season is here, I finally have some time to organize thoughts and prepare for you what might be interesting!
After the retrospective of how this blog can bring value to you, I’ve decided to pivot the direction to a lighter-weight delivery on a daily basis, so that content are easier to digest, and I can balance my day job, family life, and all the audience of this blog.
Now, without further ado, let’s dig into the first topic from the revival of this Daily Agile UX: UX & Design Trends in 2020!
Why are you writing about this, Roger?
Recently I was talking to friends and coworkers about design trends in the industry; one idea said to me during the conversations, was for me to share my view on UX & Design of year 2020 in this blog. People close to me know that, although I enjoy conversations about horoscope, Chinese Zodiac, Myer-Briggs, and Enneagram, by no mean I’m a professional fortune teller or trend spotter. However, for the joy and fun of the holiday season, I’m happy to give it a (long) shot as a limited-time fortune teller!
As to my predictions of UX & Design trends in 2020, let’s break it down into these 7 parts:
- General Theme
- Design Process
- Sensory Design
- Emerging-Tech-Driven Design
- Visual Evolution
- Experience Design & Marketing
- Conclusion
General Theme
Throughout centuries, design almost always reflect the economical, social, technological, and political situation of the time period. Examples like Renaissance, Industrial Revolution, Modernism, and Post Modernism, we either read about the evolution of the change of design trends, or we experienced from Skeuomoprhism to Flat UI to Flat-ish UI (e.g. Material Design).
Looking at the news (or so called fake news), it’s not hard to summarize that we’re in the age of distrust. Some people don’t believe in climate change, some countries are in trade wars resulting from untruthful conduct or breach of agreement, and some authoritative school retracted dozens of published medical studies around stem cell research. It seems like everything is moving so fast, with such an abundance of information that’s hard to verify what’s true and what not; and obviously some took advantage of it.
How does it reflect back to UX & Design?
In the age of distrust, we’re seeing more and more customers searching for truth, and searching for tangible experience alongside with virtual, and searching for meaning instead of mere temporary experience fulfillment.
Therefore, there are more adoption on design process around getting the truth from customers faster and cheaper, so that we don’t have to wait till things get built and released then get the feedback. For example, Google Design Sprint.
There are more ways to market/experience a product or service, before the purchase happen; For example AR, VR, and virtual assistant like Alexa.
There are technology that helps ensure the authenticity of the product, and are in need of design talents to deliver the right experience of the technology. For example, Blockchain.
There are growing pains about Flat UI being a visual driven trend creates problem in usability, findability, and even desirability. Therefore, more and more designers are trying to evolve the visual language to something that’s more user friendly and exciting.
There are growing desire to be part of the journey of the product, service, or entertainment, so that it feels “real and relevant”. For example, participatory design in Adobe’s Red Box program, or Game of Thrones blood donation campaign.
Conclusion
These are all great opportunities for designers to be involved and make it great! At the end of the day, if it’s going to be used by people, designers can contribute value by elevating the experience through Design Thinking and craft. In the following article of this UX & Design Trends series, I’ll provide more examples to show how designers can be involved and drive the experience journey for the users.
Thanks for reading! Do you have thoughts around UX & Design Trends? I’m eager to hear from you.
ABC. Always be clappin’.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. They do not represent current or previous client or employer views.
