Choosing the best UX for a mobile app is like picking the best clothes for a date — it’s always different and it depends on the occasion. As a matter of fact, UX is the fashion in the mobile app development industry and it’s just as versatile, titillating, and modifiable.
What is more, UX has a direct impact on other aspects of your business as well. Take marketing, for instance — UX and UI are tightly related to the fruits of your marketing campaigns as they have a critical effect on your conversion rate. You might have done everything right to get the customer to your site but if he failed to navigate correctly, you might never get a conversion.
The truth is that things move very quickly in the mobile app universe. In order to succeed when it comes to mobile UX design, you’d have to have the foresight and to prepare for all the brand new challenges lurking around the corner.
As a UX-focused digital marketing agency, Rioks takes the liberty of outlining a few of the biggest trends to look forward to in 2018. We’d also like to point out a few effective tips and tricks that might help you find the best piece of clothing for your mobile app if you catch our drift.
The 5 Biggest UX Trends in 2018.
1. Voice First
By the end of 2022, an estimated 55% of all US households will own speakers enabled with voice. It goes without saying that making these as user-friendly as it is humanly possible should be a priority for every designer. In 2018 understanding and being able to design for voice shall be critical.
But there’s more to it. The rice of voice signals that there’s a defined shift towards ‘screenless’ design. This would substantially reduce the overall number of the physical points of contact between the user and the device. This should provide UX designers with a wide leeway to innovate and to experiment.
2. Here Comes VR
VR has become a true phenomenon currently standing on the cusp of mass adoption. While VR is yet to make its big break, numbers seem to be shifting towards this direction. By 2022 the VR market is expected to hit the staggering $26.89 billion.
However, there’s a catch here. The only way virtual reality can slip into our daily lives and into the mainstream is through the help of spectacular UX. In other words, UX designers now have a huge responsibility and a substantial learning curve to go through.
As Aldric Chang, CEO of Swag Soft — a Virtual Reality and mobile app development company in Singapore, defines it:
“Virtual reality development involves the creative process of designing and creating the virtual environment in which to house the user and programming it so that the user can interact with it.”
Does this sound brutally familiar? It should.
3. The Tides are Turning
In 2018 you can expect for UX to finally receive all the recognition that it actually deserves. What is more, we may already be there. Over the last 10 years, business driven by design has managed to outperform the stock market by as much as 228%.
This means one thing alone — brands are catching on, demonstrating a clear shift in attitude on behalf of businesses throughout 2018. UX is no longer going to be a dreamland for designer alone — it will be thoroughly acknowledged as one of the most substantial branding elements. What is more, we may even see it become a top-notch priority.
4. Collaboration is King
2018 will be a dynamic year as designers would have to adopt a range of new approaches. What is more important, though, is that these approaches have to be communicated to developers. In other words, teamwork is going to become even more crucial, especially when it comes to navigating through this particularly fast-paced environment.
To be more precise, developers and designers would have to pull together in order to ensure that the wave of new technologies is perfectly fit for mass adoption.
So, yes, UXers with in-depth coding knowledge are likely to be in the driving seat throughout the next few years to come.
5. Tools — The Key to Success
2018 shall convert UX into a team effort as we’ve stated above and, as this starts to take place, establishing efficient workflows will be more critical than ever. Different project management tools will start playing a bigger role throughout the year.
What is more, this particularly close collaboration between UX designers and developers might actually give birth to a new generation of tools which are developed with the intention to help the two converge.
So, there you have it — the 5 biggest trends in UX to hit the market in 2018. Needless to say, these don’t exhaust what’s to follow in the field and just like in fashion, things can change in the blink of an eye.
Now, the journey to creating the best UX design for your mobile app is a two-fold one. You need to follow trends but you’d also have to be knowledgeable. And, when it comes to it, the simplest things are usually the ones which have the biggest impact. However, they also tend to be the ones which are left behind.
5 Quick Tips to Improve Your UX Design Practice.
1. Prune Your Vocabulary
While you, as a UX designer, might be tempted to use complex words such as phenomenology or heuristics, for instance, you’d like to keep those between you and your designer buddies.
Keep in mind that your client is the stakeholder in the project. You need to use his language. Failing to do so accomplishes only one thing — quick alienation. That’s undoubtedly something that you want to avoid.
2. Avoid Following the “Yellow Brick Road”
While scripts for user research might provide you with great insights and a common path to follow, you shouldn’t be overly reliant on them alone. Being able to stray away from a rut and explore something new and contemporary is just as relevant and important.
In other words — don’t be afraid of change. UX is amongst the most versatile fields and being static at it isn’t going to do you any good.
3. Take a Look Back
This one goes out to UX designers with a few projects behind their backs. If you’ve already managed to complete a few successful projects, don’t be afraid to cycle back to them every now and then. You’ve probably gathered prominent insight that you could take advantage of.
You could effectively extract information and pin down approaches which were working perfectly in the past. This way, you might adjust their employment and use them again.
4. Don’t be Afraid to Mix it up
New tools come out regularly in the world of UX design. While it’s true that there are some golden basics, it wouldn’t hurt you to try out something new.
What is more, choosing a brand new wireframing package, for instance, could mean adapting to a brand new design process which could help you innovate or come up with something you wouldn’t have come up with otherwise.
5. Read!
In a field of constant change and fluctuation, your only option is to stay informed. Follow what’s going on. Set aside time to read. Don’t allow yourself to fall behind what’s current and popular. It’s impossible to stress out how important information is.
If there is one thing that you have to understand from all this is that there is always room for improvement. I hope that these trends and tips help you get started on the path of streamlining and maximizing your performance in your UX practice.
