UX Trends to embrace in 2021
The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted pretty much every facet of our lives. We all are involuntarily pushed and have altered our ways to the restrictions levied upon us all by this virus. Millions of shuttered businesses, record-breaking unemployment, the cancellation or postponement of sporting events, etc. It has impacted all industries and how we connect with the world, both digital and real.
Digital technology has been an uptick among individuals and businesses which encompasses consumer-facing apps such as food delivery, grocery, B2B, E-commerce applications, online schooling, banking, appointment, and video conferencing to name a few. We all have started to spend more time online and this, in turn, has impacted our behavior in many ways. We all can notice and recognize consumers who are transforming from their physical service to a digital dominance solution.
UX design trends and methodology change but designing fundamentals and processes remain the same, nevertheless, the trend of UXD evolves.
Five trends to keep an eye on in user experience and user interfaces in the upcoming year to come are :
- Integrating UX Design with Behavioral Design To Boost Retention
To understand the logic, what drives users to a specific behavior, we need to look into the psychology that is rudimentary to the method of triggering and executing behavior.
To say, user’s habits and switch them into habit loops to make usable interfaces. Adding behavioral design to common UX principles to retain users. A useful framework for watching what enables behavior is BJ Fogg’s Behaviour model. The model states that, for a behavior to occur, three elements must converge at the same moment: motivation, ability, and triggers.
As per the model, Motivation is your desire to do the behavior. Ability is your capacity to do the behavior. And Prompt is your cue to do the behavior. When a behavior does not occur, at least one of those three elements is missing. (For example, A consumer needs to travel for work, and that they have access to a cab service app and are reminded to perform it by a trigger.)
2. Contactless Interactions (VUIs, Air Gestures, and AI’s)
Way back in 2019 voice interactions were considered one of the major trends and today that trend has been paving the way for in-depth study in Interactions that are touchless such as Voice User Interface (VUIs) and Air Gesture Control. UX has played a significant role in this process to bridge the gap between humans with technology
Using a voice-user interface to your design allows the user to interact with a system through a voice or speech command that can widen its reach. As reported by one of the research 41% of adults make use of voice search at least once per day. VAs (Virtual Assistant) such as Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri are among various which are laying the foundation of usage in commonplace like our household around the globe.
Some of the facts why contactless interactions are making the way:-
2. 55% of teenagers are using voice search daily basis.
3. 50% of searches will be done without a screen or a keyboard by 2021
Air gesture control is a mechanism that takes various gesture control that was introduced with the advent of touch screens to a new level. Movements in the air to make things work on the devices.
For example, Lately, a European luxury car brand unveiled its new contactless controls through mid-air haptic feedback and gestures, resulting in three-times greater accuracy when compared with a touchscreen.
3. UX for wearables
Though wearable technologies were mostly associated with the fitness tracker with the advent of the COVID-19 outbreak wearable technology has emerged as an upcoming trend. These devices not only count steps but monitor vital signs of our body like heart rate, blood pressure even can detect atrial fibrillation, etc.
A survey run by Nielsen shows that 1 in 6 users are currently using wearable technology.
UX is the essence of wearable technology which includes glanceability, lightweight interactions, and minimum interruption. The idea behind using the UX principle is that every interface is designed to entitle a user to perform the desired activity quickly and with ease.
4. Screen Size and Visuals
We all accept that the screen sizes are getting bigger and attention spans are getting shorter. To lower the bounce rates and to make sure people stick to your website is the usage of immersive full-screen UI.
With immersive full-screen, we can remove the distractions and reduce signals that might hamper the user. One can keep users engaged and interested. Especially the notification panel at the top on the mobile devices is considered as a big culprit.
Moreover, foldable devices are anticipated to become popular in 2021, and full-screen design functions well on foldable devices too. By preparing for what might become a trend is always an intelligent move.
Furthermore, when we talk of visuals high contrast with a minimalistic color scheme screams out which has been increasingly popular across digital platforms.
5. Device Synchronization and Design for Speed
Users are not only using one device anymore. Usage of multiple devices armament gave rise to UX design that not only performs equally well on one device but well across multiple platforms. The experience across all of them should be in sync and consistent. Here we are not only referring to mobile, tablet, laptop, or desktop but it encompasses wearables too.
The massive requirement for the level of connectivity has started shaping up 5G technology as mainstream and shaping upcoming trends. With high-speed Internet, a service, application, or website needs a UX that permits fast load times. Additionally UX also plays a heedful judgment role which guides to add only those elements that give absolute value to the end-user while not pulling down the load times.
Wrapping Up
Many additional trends will create their way to make 2021 a progressive and exhilarating year in each aspect. All UX trends mentioned here have been popular for the last few years, but by adhering to UX principles more, we can be assured it can result in a total revolution on how it will attract the intended target audience.
However, this year showed us it is impossible to prophesy everything. Staying connected with these UX trends will practically help us to thrive in this hyper-competitive digital world.
Are you ready to embrace the UX trends in 2021?
