Design thinking as a universal skill
Design thinking and human-centred design are no longer just for designers: they are processes and ways of thinking that more and more professions and fields will adopt. Today, design is already part of many people's work, but alongside designers, developers, and copywriters, it could also apply to, say, bartenders. They too shape their environment and adjust it for a specific user experience — such as a visit to a bar.
An important task for designers in the coming year will be to teach those around them to think "designerly" and to pass on to team members the knowledge that enables them to make good design decisions — even when no designer is at hand.
Graphic design is no longer enough
The prototyping tools market is growing: from InVision and Marvel to Principle and Flinto, all the way to FramerJS and Origami. The reason is simple: prototyping is becoming increasingly important in product design, whether you're prototyping the core idea of a solution (e.g. within a Design Sprint), or just fine-tuning micro-interactions.
This trend will continue next year, because static wireframes simply aren't enough anymore. Finding out how a product behaves before you start developing it not only makes user testing easier, but also helps uncover pitfalls and dead ends before you invest time and money in implementation. With the wide range of prototyping tools available today, there's no excuse for design to remain in static form.
Only truly great brands will survive
The dramatically growing number of companies, products, and services across all sectors will force even small businesses to start thinking strategically about their brand. Brand work significantly determines whether they get lost in a sea of competition, or whether they can differentiate themselves and attract customers.
More companies will reflect on who they are, who they're trying to reach, what value they offer compared to competitors, how they communicate, and how they're perceived by their customers. Because brand is not just a visual identity — it touches many other areas.
Brand will therefore increasingly become a key component in the design of products and services.
Beyond the traditional screen
Virtual reality (VR) was talked about a great deal last year. Many VR devices came to market: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Google Daydream. The number of active users is growing compared to 2015, and this trend will continue next year. Another platform has established itself, and we'll be designing for it. Designers will need to expand their skills and adapt their working style accordingly. Are you already friends with Unity?
Let's not forget augmented reality (AR) either. That will likely come into its own once the VR hype dies down. But that doesn't mean many companies aren't working on it already: examples include products from Daqri or the mysterious startup Magic Leap. Augmented reality holds greater potential than virtual reality, as it will bring more practical uses. In the future, it could replace screens and displays as we know them today.
We'll see whether 2017 turns out to be the year of virtual or augmented reality. What's certain is that we'll start learning to design for these new domains. Also check out the VR resources that Facebook recently published — a great place to start if you're interested in designing for VR.
Artificial intelligence getting even smarter
Every year, AI improves and moves forward — every year it's smarter and can do more. In 2016 we witnessed the launch of many products where AI plays a central role: home assistants like Amazon Echo and Google Home; autonomous cars, when Uber introduced the first fleet of self-driving "taxis" in Pittsburgh. Chatbots are also increasingly built on AI.
Designers in 2017 will thus be able to ask: How could artificial intelligence solve this problem? AI will thereby become another weapon in the designer's arsenal.
Writing as part of designers' skills
Chatbots were undoubtedly a big topic last year: Facebook launched Messenger API, we saw new chatbots on Slack, Telegram, Kik, and other platforms. Conversations are increasingly becoming part of the user interface.
Chatbots bring new ways for services to communicate with people, and it will be interesting to see what uses companies come up with. We can expect that we'll increasingly communicate with services through apps like Messenger. With this trend, text becomes a key tool for designers: we need to get better at working with text.
But communication isn't just about chatbots: in general, the importance of text in product design is and will be increasingly recognised. A new role is even emerging called "UX Writer". And how do you actually design text? Read something from John Saito, a designer at Dropbox.
Service design rules the world
In our field, it's common practice to address not just user experience, but also customer experience. But only some companies realise that these are just parts of a whole called service design. UX/CX typically doesn't begin or end at a website or app — every interaction with the service, however small, determines the overall experience.
Imagine you want to buy shoes online. A seemingly simple scenario that brilliantly illustrates the fact that a perfect website is far from sufficient for overall customer satisfaction. Think about your last experience and try to answer the following questions:
- How quickly did the e-shop respond to your email? Could you sense genuine interest, or just a desire to "get through" your enquiry?
- Did the person on the helpline help you? Was it a pleasant phone call?
- Do you know which size to choose? Does the shop help you with that, or are you guessing?
- Did you read the terms and conditions? Really — did you read them completely and understand them?
- Is the collection point open at a time convenient after work? Is it a warehouse with disgruntled staff, or a place where you feel welcome?
- How was the shoe packaging? Did you struggle to get into the box, or did it arrive in elegant packaging that opens easily?
- Oops, the colour looks different from the computer. How (un)pleasant is the return or exchange process?
- You described your experience on a review site — did the retailer respond? Did they dismiss you or offer a solution?
This is all service design, and this all determines whether a person buys from you again. For a start, try the book by Adam Hazdra et al.
2017 will mean a lot of learning for designers. They will learn to design for new technologies and step out of the comfort zone of traditional screens. They will prototype more and design text and conversations. Beyond that, they will also share design skills with others — such as entrepreneurs who will realise that a good website isn't enough, and that the overall service design or brand perception increasingly matters.
Article by: Adam Amran and Jan Junek