Unless & until your website design makes major advances, it is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. If properly created, it can catch the eye of your potential customers even before they come across the product pitch. And if not, nothing can stop your site from being a major turn-off.

First impression matters the most. No, I am not talking about the elevator pitch or any other short conversation. I am concerned about your website which can be judged by your potential client in just 50 milliseconds. And if you aren’t lucky enough, this impression will be carry forwarded upon your business as well.

In simple words, web designing is all about creating an impactful first impression. Now as you are reading the post, I assume that you must be familiar with the importance of web designing and all the related trending topics like self- animating content, vivacious pop-ups, Infographics which populate as you scroll down, dominating the landing page and the list goes on.

Making a good first impression or making it last isn’t easy but is definitely doable. Do you think that your web visitor would even care about the design of your website? I mean they just look around for products, shop and go, isn’t it? No! Most of the people visiting your site will rate your credibility on how effective your web design is. And maybe that’s the reason why businesses emphasize on staying on top of web design trends. While for others, all I can say is- Whoops, dodged that bullet… I think this was a close call!

UX In 2018

Don’t even think about creating a corporate-speak copy, it’s boring. At present, visitors would love to know a real human is behind this business. In fact, technology continues to make advancement towards systems with neural networks that mimic the human brain and adaptive programming features. Although, 2017 has been reckoning with many fonts while the year 2018 is hot on our heels. So, no matter where you fall on the UX adoption curve, it is worth knowing about top UX trends to learn about different technologies complimenting UX and its integration into existing systems.

It’s all about making things that simply matter!

Earlier, professionals were bound to certain kind of limitations, they used to design just because it was their duty to. But table has entirely turned, experts going all guns to make a mark in the current age of tech revolution. For example- Uber- the company has absolutely nailed its on-screen interaction but at the same time it has missed the mark on equity for drivers, access for all people, and working within both the spirit and the letter of the law. This is quite a risky business because you are only enhancing UX which is just one aspect of the overall experience.

As a designer, one needs to simply focus on ethics, diversity, and inclusion – before aesthetics and before screens. Think hard, research well on how your design will affect people around. Try making your personas true and diverse. Focusing on the need of the end users can be called as a hallmark of good design and work.

Outlining the Future Trends of UX

Setting up the right mood is the best exercise to kick-start a day. And nothing is better than having a time travel machine that allows you to see what expectations came true and which ones were probably too ambitious. So, sit back, grab a cup of coffee and read away!

The previous year was set to transform the way we use to interact with the digital world featuring borderless designs, wearable devices, AR and VR mushroomed and what not! With 2018, it’s time for embracing inclusive designs, face recognition, screenless world with AR, Focusing users of gen z, re-shaping content-driven design, interacting with virtual assistants and so forth. Further, I would like to shed some light on certain upcoming trends that will probably guide you in nailing down the art of UX designing.

#1 Journey Simplification

If a user has visited your website, it means he must be having a specific intention in mind. Some of the most user-friendly applications are the ones which strive hard to simplify a user’s journey with time-saving designs. And what matters is, reducing a number of steps that a user requires to take in order to achieve their end goal. With the easy-to-use format and smooth navigation flow, one can keep their customers happy and loyal.

• Linear design: Creating a structured journey that comprises of an established layout for beginning-middle-end points. Such kind of designing enables the user to do one action at each point in their journey. Flow remains consistent so that viewers know how much time is necessary to complete the task.
• Anticipatory design: The main objective of such designing is to recognize a user’s needs to swiftly and efficiently accommodate them.
• Progressive disclosure: Does your website contains a lot of information? If so, it is always advisable to consider a progressive disclosure technique, of course, to enhance user experience. The technique makes information visible only when a user needs it. As a result, viewers aren’t bombarded with information or distracted by content that is irrelevant to their goal.
• Context-Based Information: As the name suggests itself, this technique is all about displaying the most relevant information specific to user context.

#2 Content has become the emperor

Do you know what appeals your expected users the most? It’s offering a properly organized content emphasizing on the recent trends and eliminating unnecessary distractions. Shining the spotlight on what is truly relevant and nothing else!

Offering content-centered experiences aren’t that difficult! All you need to do is design highlighting content or else create one that frames a beautiful design. Make sure that there is nothing obstructing a user’s exposure to your website. A good web designer will always remove the excessive visible clutter helping them concentrate on the essence of the message they wish to convey. Certain visual features include:

• Precise visual order: Expedit a user’s ability to comprehend content. Make use of powerful visual signals like dissimilar colors for call-to-action links to guide a user’s focus on your website.
• Operative decluttering: Eliminating irrelevant and useless details will result in magnifying important information, creating a more concerned experience.
• Whitespace: By increasing the space in content, you won’t just allow your users to breathe but even dramatically enhance their overall experience.

#3 Consider offering a personalized touch

Being a technique embedded within the strategy of time-saving designs, UX deserves such kind of extra emphasis. At present, businesses seem to be looking around for new means of crafting individualized brand experiences. Which means it is very important to understand the wants and needs of users on a deeper level.

With the advancement of technology such as augmented reality, machine learning, the era of digitalization is becoming capable of adjusting automatically for specific users. In fact, several contemporary applications and websites feature personal recommendations on the basis of user behavior. Such suggestions will improve the chances that a user will take action as soon as they visit your site.

#4 Humanization

Like I said before, a visitor surfing your website simply wants to know a real human is behind this business. Touch and voice recognition on smartphones have become the thing of past. People nowadays expect to interact with digital products in the same way they interact with another human. So it’s a hint to start creating a human experience website for your end users.

Start taking inspiration from real people around, understand their behavior and allow users to feel connected to their devices in an emotional way. Create a beautiful sync with how the human mind thinks. You may find this quite contradicting but great design doesn’t guarantee a great experience. Unfortunately, many of you as a designer engrossed in your own creative flourishes find it hard to follow. You people think that users will appreciate all the nuances in design. But that’s not true! A user way more interested in fulfilling his or her desires. He wants a website to be beautiful only if your hacks and tricks provide him some help in achieving his/her objective.

But the question is how to design for a human mind? You can try these tactics out:-

• Sharing emotions with face recognition
• Micro-interactions
• Creating natural means of interacting with apps
• Mimicking emotions in feedback

#5 Biometric Authentication

Are your users fed up with complex identity verification steps? If yes, it’s time to chuck all the conventional means of entry. The biometric technology offers easier identity recognition procedure. It simply recognizes a person’s identity based on particular characteristics creating an effortless authentication process for users.

In addition to this, instead of managing an assortment of passwords for different websites and apps this technology verifies users with facial or voice recognition or fingerprints.

#6 Video is in vogue

Every business endeavors hard to provide an optimal user experience and video content plays a vital role in doing so. So what designers require to do is.

• Keep some legroom for portrait frames- With the rise in smartphone users, people are getting used to portrait orientation most of the time. So make sure your video content and even the general one is adjusted for such kind of frames.
• Videos are a must to grab short attention- Formatting methods such as 360-degree videos and Facebook live can present crucial information even in a convenient manner. Always choose the modern means than the conventional ones.
• Try using HD images- Providing a full-screen experience has become a norm these days. After all, the quality of the videos on your website or application will have a major influence on user experience. Avoid creating pixelated images and let your users enjoy HD images and videos.

#7 Voice-Based Interaction

Once, the Internet was the shiny new object in the room and now, it has become the undisputed foundation of the digital age. With the rise of the latest smartphones, tablets and even laptops losing more and more buttons with every generation, UX has to go through one unique development; voice user interface (VUI).

Riding high on the boom sentiment, companies like Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft are utilizing technology by the hordes. Smart systems like Watson, Amazon Alexa, and Apple Siri learn more or less the same way as humans do. So now it’s your turn to figure out how your website can benefit by such adaptation.

Summing it all up!

For now designers, it’s time to listen to new voices and seek some help from the emerging technology in the tasks that you don’t want to be doing anyway. Well, I am no well-known expert but the aforementioned principles are all tried and tested and trust me they work wonders if done properly! So, are you ready to create a frictionless journey for your users?