The world of web and mobile app design is constantly evolving and being pushed to new horizons. For a UX designer, this means there is always an opportunity to learn and grow, something many would agree is one of the best parts of the position. Learning new tricks, studying new trends, and discovering new tools is important for every designer and integral to the success of designing/building world-class apps.
As we enter a new decade, I thought it was important to reflect on the past in order to prepare for what lies ahead. Reviewing past projects and discussion topics from 2019, I’ve summarized the trends that the UX Industry is most focused on. Here are the Top 3 UX Design Trends I have identified for 2020:
Voice Design
Voice technology is one of the fastest growing industries, so voice-enabled apps have a considerable presence these days. Smart speakers were estimated to be worth $7 Billion in 2019 according to Deloitte Insights. Nearly 70% of people who own a smart speaker say it’s part of their daily routine. If you’ve ever used one, however, you know that there’s a great deal of room for user experience improvement. VUI (voice user interface) is the primary and/or supplementary visual, auditory, and tactile interface that enables voice interaction between people and devices. Justin Baker, the lead designer at Atlassian, explains and explores the importance of VUI. I think we’ll see more and more designers looking to add VUI skills to their portfolio to keep up with the ever-growing, ever-improving field of voice technology.
UX Writing
A large portion of a user’s experience is dependent on the quality of content they read. We already know that users tend to ignore long paragraphs, so providing short, highly digestible content is crucial to an app’s success. This is where UX writers come in – we need UX writers to compose microcopy that keeps the user engaged while also maintaining the voice of the company. Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, and many other high-performing tech companies have already hired UX writers, and I see this trend continuing on in 2020. For smaller companies that don’t have the budget for a UX writer, designers will be tasked with offering better guidance on content, word limits, etc. The benefit to either scenario is that design and content creation can be done in tandem, ensuring an overall better user experience.
Designing for Those with Disabilities
People with disabilities make up the largest minority group in the world. Maintaining an inclusive mindset while designing is not only the right thing to do, it will broaden your user base and keep them engaged. If a user can’t use your product with ease, they won’t use it at all. WCAG 2.0 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is a set of guidelines and principles that provides technical specifications to improve the accessibility of web content and applications on computers, laptops, tablets and mobile devices for people with a wide range of disabilities, including but not limited to auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, speech and visual disabilities. The tools designers need to make these changes are available, so there’s really no reason we shouldn’t all be working towards ADA compliance. See our recent blog post for more information.
Further Reading: How to Ask the Right Questions for a Successful UX Research Interview
