Are you using fancy animations that give your app a lot of attention? A UX of a self-driving car shifting from active human piloting to passive monitoring? Chatbots augmented in virtual reality? These are a few of the cool things that people will consider the hottest UX design trends of 2020, but there is much more on the other side. The next big thing that is going to take over the market is ‘product design.’
Bringing successful products to the market is a result of teamwork, and designers need to be included in order to find the best ways to ensure the launch of a successful service or product. This discussion is not about how to design, because that has already been tackled with the development of the UX method. However, companies need to focus more on what to design and what the features of a winning product will be.
During the good old days of web design, an expert would draw a pretty skin for your websites, and it was good to go. And then, the UX and usability revolution came. This is when more and more designers began heavily focusing on how to design easy-to-use interfaces with iterative user testing and design.
Incorporating UX allows us to be an essential part of the product development process. It can help you to understand the product in a more thoughtful way and use it more often too. It also adds far more value as compared to just a nice skin.
What to design – the new UX design trend
Product designing is much more than just creating a specific function for your product. The most critical part is deciding what to design, how to find the pain points of people, and what problems and needs your target audience has.
To understand the process better, product design companies do a lot of market research, interviewing, UX strategy workshops, and competitor research.
So here is the list of UX trends of 2020 that requires closer attention
Usability and market research
While usability majorly focuses on what people do and analyzing their observed interaction and behavior with the product, market research focuses on how a user feels, views, and opinions about different features. Merely ensuring design usability is not enough, and you have to do in-depth and thorough market research. The more research you do, the better you will understand the needs and problems of your target market.
Talk about what to design
So far, you must have talked more about how to design and get started. But, it is essential to pay closer attention to what to design and who you are designing it for.
Focus on organizational and communication issues
In 2020, design will have even more added value. Product design companies and designers will have become more important players. However, this is not the only aspect you have to pay attention to. You have to make sure to minimize communication and organizational issues. If you want to build a great product, you often need to change the flow of the organization and establish a great design culture.
Designers will have to take part in strategic decision-making
Until fairly recently, designers were not even in the same room as decision-makers. The “higher-ups” would gather to talk strategy and as soon as they decide on the plan, they would call the designer to execute it. But things have changed over time, and a business can benefit through the creativity and passion of the designers. They are advocates for the product and need to be at the forefront of the decision-making.
Business managers should listen more to the designers
Product design companies should listen more to their designers at all levels. Designers should be encouraged to take part in the decision-making and allow them to use new methods. Designers better understand customers, and they can create a huge competitive advantage for a company.
Holistic approach
Apart from the traditional look and feel, designers need to find a way to articulate value. They need to figure out new and innovative approaches to implement in a project.
If the conversion rate of your product or service is low, then you have to rethink your strategy. Do a UX audit that can help you pinpoint usability flows in your product development process and define critical steps to improve your performance.