User Experience Design Trends to Follow in 2023

In recent years, we could have noticed how the importance and quality of digital experiences are constantly growing. This phenomenon only started to speed up during the pandemic. This directly impacts the business, making it more and more critical to follow new, innovative trends in many areas, especially technology and user experience. We are confident that the year 2023 will surprise us with many new tendencies and directions indesign. To make sure we are all ready for this we have prepared a list of top trends to observe in the following months.

Personalization

Thanks to technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) we can notice stronger and more significant personalization patterns in both: UX and UI. Since mentioned technologies are becoming more and more prevalent, we may see increasing use of personalized UX designs that are tailored to individual users' needs and preferences. How does it work? Machine learning analyzes given data to make predictions. Then machine learning (based on AI), utilizes data about each user, collected through e.g., browser cookies or the user’s activity on the website to discover some patterns and create an algorithm. Later, these patterns serve to make predictions about the user’s needs and behaviors.

Also, the importance of machine learning-based personalization grows in thee-commerce sector. More and more online stores pay more attention to building a good user experience (UX) on the website. A properly tailored offer is a quick way to finalize the transaction, so it is good to ensure that the purchasing path is personalized at every stage. E-commerce personalization provides a unique experience in an online store thanks to dynamic content, product recommendations, and special offers generated based on user’s behavior, interests, purchase history, and other data. According to a study by Bloomreach, online stores record an approximately 20% increase in sales after introducing personalized content. In turn, as many as 80% of customers are more likely to make a purchase in an online store if there is personalization introduced to the website. Additionally, up to 77% of consumers would recommend a brand that provides a personalized shopping experience.

Voice And Natural Language Interfaces

The use of voice assistants and natural language interfaces is on the rise, and it is expected to continue growing even faster in the following years.

While sight is perceived to be the strongest human sense, the best-known and most practiced model of human communication is spoken. We were ignoring this fact for too long. And in the tech world, the long lack of development in this field was mostly caused by the difficulties in processing speech efficiently by computers. Recording, and interpretation of verbal instructions (let's not forget about the multiplicity and complexity of languages, the multitude of accents and dialects, and the ambiguity of the message that can only be understood from the context) consolidated into a process that must fit into seconds were simply out of our reach for a long time. But not anymore. We are entering a new era of data research, where machine learning and AI are introducing new opportunities in the field. Therefore, designers will need to consider how to create even more intuitive and seamless experiences for users interacting with these technologies.

An important factor that influenced the development of VUI (Voice User Interface) is the multitude of devices that support the voice model of interaction. Today, almost 1/3 of the population owns smartphones that support voice interactions (source: statista.com). Let's add smart speakers to this (i.e., Amazon Echo, Google Home, Apple HomePod, Sonos One) and we can say that most users are ready to adapt to the VUI already. We can simply add that it will be very exciting to see what news will 2023 bring in this field.

AR and VR

It seems like we've been thinking and talking about AR and VR as the future of design already for decades. But looks like the time finally has come and we can tell with confidence that now they really are the next frontiers in UX and UI design.

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies have recently become more widely available. More importantly, we may finally see an increase in the use of these technologies also in UX design.

Nowadays,UX and UI design are still mostly created in the context of screens – mainly desktop, tablet, and mobile. But the technologies, such as the Internet ofThings, AR, and VR are consequently changing this pattern. Soon we will require graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that can overlay experiences that only AR orVR provide.

When designing a UX for VR, designers need to remember that VR is a way more physical experience than other technologies. It naturally involves a more sensual reception of reality. Gloves and vests allow users to feel and touch things, as well as experience other phenomena such as simulations of bullet impact, etc. These devices also incorporate physical feedback which consists of vibrations and other alerts indicating if our actions are correct or not and if the process is fulfilled in a successful manner or quite the contrary - has failed.

Accessibility

UserExperience plays an increasingly important role in many different areas. It is very important that users find websites intuitive, functional, and tailored to their needs. Because of that, inclusive UX is becoming a growing trend right now. What is it and why is it so important? In simple words, it is ensuring that products and services are accessible to users with different kinds of disabilities. We find it to be a long-awaited and very socially aware trend that hopefully will continue to be a key focus for UX designers in 2023.  

Understanding the needs of all kinds of users is undoubtedly difficult, which is why an inclusive UX may seem difficult to achieve for many entrepreneurs. However, it is worth implementing, since with such solutions you will already be one step ahead of the competition and you will meet the modern trends.

What to take into consideration? While working on your site UX designers should think if their solutions do not exclude anyone, due to age, level of ableness, or social background. This includes providing adequate contrast needed for visually impaired people or those who use their devices in full sun, such as construction or gardening workers. Thinking about people with poor eyesight, it is also required to have the option to zoom the page by at least 200% to provide easy readability. In addition, you should avoid animated elements on pages that may adversely affect people with epilepsy. Out of concern for the hearing impaired, audio files should be supplemented with text transcriptions.You should also pay attention if all kinds of software you might build including the option to be navigated only by using the keyboard, so as not to exclude people with problems with motor coordination.

Ethical design

As the impact of technology on society becomes more widely recognized, at the same time we can notice a greater emphasis on ethical design practices that prioritize the well-being of users. What kind of practices we are talking about?

There are plenty of concerns about unethical behaviors among Internet users. From the fear of exploiting users’ private data to the distinction between real and fake news to social media addiction - there are different ways to cross an ethical line during the users’ interactions and experiences on the Internet. You can count even more if you add the activities perceived as those from the moral gray area.

The UX designers are the ones at the frontline of these concerns. Therefore, their goal should be to satisfy the needs of the users, including their ethical expectations. To reach this goal UX designers preferably should have a fine-defined value system that will help them to make the right decisions in various difficult ethical situations. What should be avoided are so-called dark patterns. Their goal is to trick the users in many ways, such as: inadvertently agreeing to expose more personal information than intended, using language that shames or prejudices users for resigning from the purchase or other actions, adding some additional charges and fees in the final step of a checkout process, or highlighting and enlarging the buttons to accept the terms and conditions, while hiding and obscuring the “decline” button. This type of influence on user behavior crosses an ethical line. Other patterns to look out for and avoid are designs that: make choices for the users, designs intended to persuade or modify behavior, and designs that may be addictive. In general, even though the websites work for businesses, they cannot put the business needs utterly over the user needs, since in the long-term this won’t provide a satisfactory experience with the brand.

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That’s just a few of the rising trends we have identified and described for you. If you want to share your own predictions for top UX trends or other tech predictions, or maybe you have some questions that need answering - please do not hesitate to contact us, by clicking the link below.

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