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UX Trends For 2013

Video Transcript

Shefik: Hi I'm Shefik Bey.

Sean: And I'm Sean Smith.

Shefik: We've been doing a little whiteboarding today to talk about what we see as the trends to watch in User Experience in 2013.

Sean: Here we've got the top five trends that we think are things to watch out for. Shefik what would you like to say about Number 1?

Shefik: OK, well the first one is omni-channel UX. This is an interesting one that we are working a lot more with clients on.

This is really about looking at the user experience across every channel that the business operates—whether it's mobile, iPad, website, in-store or point-of-sale. Any particular medium.

The point about this is that it is really about driving loyalty and a consistent experience through these interfaces. It's obviously a difficult one to execute, but nonetheless a really important one.

Aberdeen Research recently suggested 42% of individuals expect a consistent experience across each channel. And not many are delivering, so ... big challenges ahead.

Sean, what's at Number 2?

Sean: Here we've got the prevalence of mobile.

It's no real surprise that mobile is on the rise. But what we're seeing at the moment is that the iPad has lead to a number of other tablets coming out on to the market.

And what we're seeing a lot is that clients are actually re-configuring their design through responsive design. They're taking elements that work on mobile devices, and reconfiguring the desktop experience so that they only have to have one design, which works across multiple platforms. It fits in with the omni-channel experience as well ...

Shefik: ... making it a lot more scalable.

Sean: Yes, definitely.

Shefik: OK, at Number 3 we've got summative user testing.

And really this is about providing some quantitative insights and confidence around testing results.

As a compliment to lab-based testing, this is something that's happening more and more. It's often a chance to provide some benchmarking data, and mark some performance.

It includes elements such as Path Analysis, Task Completion, Net Promoter Score (to see whether people are advocates for a product), and SUS score (System Usability Scale) as well.

It's really about providing information up the value chain, and convincing the “powers that be” that decisions are actually tried and tested, and trusted.

Sean: OK, Number 4 is gestural interfaces.

OK, so we've seen with devices like X-Box and Wii that the person is the controller, and there's a lot more gestural control for devices.

So we think that something to watch in the the future is the individual being able to use more natural gestures in order to interact with appliances around the home and consumer electronic goods.

So for example, if you download a movie to your TV: “Do I want to pay for it?” “Yes” (thumbs up) or “No” (thumbs down).

Shefik: One to watch—it's certainly a move away from the mouse and keyboard, in a certain context.

The last one we have here is Lean UX. And this is one that we've been experiencing some significant growth in the last 6 months. And in 2013 we expect this to grow even further.

This is really about offering a more regular and consistent approach to research and testing that's both quick, informative and iterative.

It fits much more with an agile approach to research.

It's making sure that we can work alongside developers and creatives to ensure that we can provide that actionable and timely feedback. And not necessarily spending hours, weeks and months on preparing pretty reports. Although there's always a place for a pretty report! But often it's the case of ensuring that we're getting that timely insight out to market.

Sean: And it's a very collaborative experience, where the the designers are there watching the research, so they're able to have a conversation with us about experiences. And this leads into them into quickly making some improvements, which in turn goes back into testing.

Shefik: So that's our thoughts for UX trends for 2013. We'll keep an eye!

Sean: Yep!

Shefik: Thanks!

Sean: Happy New Year!

Use the comments to let us know what you think the trends in UX will be in 2013!

Shefik Bey

Shefik Bey

As leader and co-founder of U1 Group (formerly Usability One), Shefik Bey has a relentlessly curious nature and loves discovering new things. Renowned for being one of Australia's UX pioneers, he is constantly seeking out knowledge and is an expert in all things business management and project development. He speaks regularly at industry events and conferences and facilitates training through institutions such as the ADMA.

Sean Smith

Sean Smith

With over 16 years’ UX experience, Sean is an invaluable member of U1 who leads the Melbourne team of consultants. Sean has worked in Australia, UK, Europe and USA and has qualifications in Psychology and Software Design. He has a keen interest in how we understand and interact with the environment around us and how that relates to the design of interfaces, products and services.

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