The Future of UX Design: Exploring Emerging Trends and Technologies

Publishing products online has never been easier. There are various platforms where you can launch your online business in a few hours. And that also means competition is piling up. 

What can differentiate you from all of them is the quality of your online presence and the experience your consumers are getting. Always keep your radar on them. They’re the ones you’re doing all this for, right? 

This requires keeping track of future technologies’ novelties and improving UX design, aka the user experience. And those new technologies are coming, that’s for sure, more and more each day. So, don’t be a boomer; jump into the world of new possibilities!

In this article, you can find out what you need to pay attention to and what new UX design trends are a must. 

But before we dive into the matter, let’s define what UX design is and what it can do for you.

What is UX design, and why is it important to you? 

User experience (UX) design is the whole process of making your product as useful to users as possible. Meaning it covers all the product development steps, including design, usability, and even branding. It’s the process of making sure your product finds its way to consumers and serves them well.

If you do this part carefully, your success is inevitable. Your business depends on the satisfaction of your consumers, or users. So, it’s no wonder that their experience is what you have to consider the most, especially with all the competition out there. 

And where’s the user’s experience focused? To start, your business website. First impressions are important. That means that how your website looks means a lot. Statistics say that 94% of first impressions of the website are related to its design.

But you can’t get credit points just for looks. It’s what’s inside that counts if you want to keep their attention. It is quite similar to ordinary human interaction. You can be charmed by someone’s looks, but if you find them boring or have to lead the whole conversation, you’ll quickly lose interest in that person. 

So, work on your website’s content and, most important, make it easy for users to search for and find information.

And that’s where UX design can work—it’s magic! Buckle up, because here are those tips and new trends you’ve got to know about. 

Emerging UX design trends you have to know about

New trends are always coming. They can be influenced by market situations, social movements, art, and what’s most important for digital world trends: new technologies.

Sometimes, following or not following trends can make a big difference in your online business. People usually don’t trust brands with outdated websites. And with all this crazy technology outburst, we’re all a little bit spoiled, used to the fast flow of information, and quickly adapt to new, faster, and better trends. 

So, here are five UX design trends to upgrade your UX design:

  1. AI and machine learning implementation
  2. Voice user interfaces (VUI)
  3. Augmented and virtual reality
  4. Inclusive design
  5. Adaptability for various devices 

Let’s elaborate a little on each of them.

1. AI and machine learning implementation

If you’ve ever used a chatbox during your consumer journey, you’ve experienced the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in UX design. That’s the customer service of the future, for sure.

Since UX design is all about creating the best possible experience for users, AI and machine learning (ML) have become very important new features of the process. But what’s the difference between the two? 

Well, in short, AI is the creation of computer systems capable of activities like speech recognition, visual perception, and decision-making that normally require human intelligence. 

ML, on the other hand, is a branch of artificial intelligence that focuses on teaching computers to learn from data without explicit programming, like remembering or learning your behavior on a website, learning your likes, and therefore suggesting more similar content to make a more personalized experience.

Even if you’re a total opponent to this new type of intelligence, you must admit this is quite a good use of it. Also, people are very quickly adjusting to it, so it becomes a sort of must-have on the website. 

2. Voice user interfaces (VUI)

Another feature that mine, the X generation, used to watch in Star Track or other SF movies. A human (or some other humanoid species) is talking to a computer. It seemed so far beyond the future, then. 

Now you don’t have to be the commander of an intergalactic spaceship to get that opportunity. You just have to have internet connectivity. The future is here and now. 

You’ve surely heard of Aleksa or Siri. Well, they are VUI. Actually, they are types of AI, but instead of typing while communicating with them, you can just talk to them like you are talking to another human being. 

And people are loving it. Especially the younger generations, of course. It’s beneficial in situations where you can’t use your hands and keyboard for communication, for example, when driving. Or you’re just feeling lazy. And also, it’s a much faster way to get the information you need. 

Consider implementing this trend into your newly upgraded, user-friendly website.

3. Augmented and virtual reality

If you thought VUI was science fiction, wait till you hear about this new trending feature. Augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR). These are certainly not just trends for today, but for tomorrow too. 

How can you use them? And what are they? 

These new realities are technologies that use software to generate realistic images, sounds, and other sensations. Like you are actually in another world. 

They were primarily just for games and the entertainment industry, but they are finding their way into our everyday lives very fast. 

You can use them to improve the interaction between users and products and to create better images of products in a three-dimensional space. 

Imagine you enter the website to look for the clothes, but then you can see how they would look on you without leaving your room. Wouldn’t it be great? 

4. Inclusive design

Inclusive design is the approach of creating products that can be accessed and used by as many people as possible. With this approach, you make sure that everyone can use and enjoy your product regardless of what sex they are, what skin color they are, what nation they are from, or what language they speak. It also provides your business with a variety of new consumers. 

For example, if your website was in just one language, like Greek, you’re focusing only on a small group of people from Greece or who speak Greek. But if you add a few more languages, especially English, which is known by many people around the globe, you are increasing your audience and making your product available to many more consumers. 

Also, if your content is designed with clear and unambiguous messages, making your users feel welcomed and included, you can say that inclusive design is what you’re practicing. 

5. Adaptability for various devices 

Considering that every user has multiple devices for searching through an online network, your user-friendly design has to be adapted to all of them. 

We’ve all experienced at least once the problem of finding some great stuff on our mobile phones, as we saw earlier on PC. We found the website, but it’s all upside down, and that one thing we’re looking for is nowhere to be found. It’s exhausting and disappointing, and all in all, it makes us never want to go on that website again. Right? 

When making your design plans, you have to include this adaptability for various devices.

It’s called adaptive design, and it’s a process in which you can form several versions of your website that’ll fit all the devices your users are using. 

That way, you’ll get to keep their satisfaction and improve their experience, and that’s all this is about, right?

Why wouldn’t you hire someone to do it all for you?

After hearing about all these great new technologies and trends you’ll have to follow, you probably think this is too much. And maybe it is a bit, but it’s a brave new world we’re living in, and embracing new technologies is an everyday action. 

This is as important for you as a business owner as it is for your users. If they are satisfied, you will know for sure. 

But if this looks that hard, there’s always the possibility of hiring someone else to do it for you.

There are a vast number of UX companies in the US that you can choose from. And they will do all the research and prepare the new updates your website needs. 

Here’s a list of five top companies for you to consider: 

  1. Hubble
  2. Neuron
  3. Clay
  4. Atomsix studio
  5. Daito Design

These are just suggestions, but you can find a lot of good-quality designers and companies to work with. And then just sit back and relax while your users are having the time of their lives. And watch your business grow. 

What are you waiting for? 

Maybe this is just too much of the new technologies for you. Or maybe you don’t know where to start. But now this: the future is here, and it’s here to stay. One way or another, if you want to stay in the game called business, you’ll have to adjust to its novelties.   

The only question is: are you going to do it before or after the competition?