As designers it is important to always be aware of what is going on in the design industry on a wider scale, as we need to be able to spot trends that are up and coming that we can benefit from. I will be looking at a few different design trends that I think are relevant and will be helpful to look and understand, and I will be giving my opinion on them. Some of these may be UX/UI related, and some may be more broad and just about overall design.
Augmented and virtual reality are really coming into play and in has developed a lot in recent years. AR and VR allows users to step out of the real world and step into a new world that is both a mixture of the real world and a created world. I personally am not a huge fan of AR and VR as I think it brings us as humans further and further away from each other as they make social interactions not as necessary. I think that this could have a very negative impact on physical and mental health as we become dissociated with the real world into a world where we no longer need to interact with other people. AR and VR takes people away from the place and people they are around which can lead to sociological effects such as loneliness. One area that I think that VR is useful is emergency services and hospitals. They can be used for medical training, where it can simulate a surgical procedure to train and equip doctors and surgeons. One company that manufactures these types of products is Visualise. This is something that is very important so I do see the positive in VR as it does have positive benefits when used in the right way. Overall, I do think that AR and VR are very cool and interesting, I think that there is a limit with where it should go as I don’t think that it has any real benefits that are worth the implications it brings.
Leap Into VR/AR Design | Toptal®
Virtual Reality in the Healthcare Industry
Data visualisation is a recent UX trend that puts data into imagery and visuals. They usually are composed to build a story to the user, creating a better user experience and more engaging interfaces. Data visualisation is also becoming more and more personal and focused on the specific user, allowing them to understand better what is going on in their daily lives.
Some apps use data visualisation in forms of graphs, charts, and diagrams to visually communicate to users how their health and fitness is, whether they need to be on their phone less, or how many hours they have listened to one song. Data visualisation makes data easier to digest, as it compacts a lot of information into a user friendly and accessible format. It can also be useful for understand trends and patterns, which can lead to meaningful changes. Overall I think that data visualisation is a great part of UX design, and how a collection of data can be displayed in a easy to understand diagram or visual. One example that I love and use a lot is snap maps, a SnapChat feature that allows users to see their friends on an interactive map.
10 UX Trends That Will Shape the Industry in 2024
Your Journey into Data Visualization: A User-Friendly Guide 📊✨
AI is a new technology that has really hit almost every industry in recent years, but it is especially relevant in the design industry and is essential to understand and use for designers to be effective. Recently Figma have released a plugin called UX Pilot AI, which can generate wireframes as well as high-fi UI’s from some prompts from the user. When I found this out I was surprised with the ability of AI and how far it has come, and how it can create something that would take humans hours in just a few seconds. ChatGTP is a AI tool that allows you to have conversations with a computer. One thing that I found super cool was that using ChatGTP, you can create a user persona, which is super helpful and can save a lot of time doing research. What I did find quite weird was the fact that you can ask ChatGTP to role-play as the person in the user persona, meaning you can ask them more questions. This is super cool and weird at the same time. What I think of AI in the UX industry is that while it can help reduce the time spent completing tasks which is great and make it more efficient, I think that a key part of UX is that is done with humans, and not computers. We want to ensure that while we are using AI to make the process more efficient, we should ensure that we are not placing efficiency over quality. So overall I think that AI is a useful tool to assist us in design, and shouldn’t completely take over our jobs.
AI UX design: A New Way Of Designing [October 22, 2024]
10 UX UI Design Trends that Dominate 2024
Emotionally intelligent design is another UX trend that has come about in recent years. Emotionally intelligent design is when designs are created to evoke a certain emotion from the user, and this normally comes on 3 levels which are visceral, behavioural, and reflective. Users connect products or design with certain emotions, so us designers need to be able to understand what evokes certain emotions, and how we can use that to our advantage to enhance our designs and create an emotional connection between the user and the product. We should first of all be focusing on our users needs when designing, but we should also be aware of how our users feel about our products, and then we can use UX techniques such as user personas, user stories, and problem statements to target them and pull them in emotionally. I think that emotional intelligence when designing is a fundamental thing to consider as a UX designer, as we want our products to not just be usable but also emphatic and connecting. We want to give our products replay value, and make each user feel special. This is something that I am keen to learn more about and what techniques there are to enhance this side of UX.
Emotionally Intelligent Design Beyond Usability
What is Emotional Design? — updated 2024