11 Ways Digital will Continue to Re-Design and Develop in 2018

As 2017 has continued to change the way that digital does things, the year ahead will continue to capitalize on some of the world’s biggest trends in digital development.

Effortless Navigation

Expect navigation to become increasingly linear and sometimes driven by voice user interfaces as opposed to graphical user interfaces. As speech recognition technology continues to advance, the ways in which this interacts with existing systems will progress as well.

Reducing Visual Clutter

Minimalism reigns supreme in UX design this year. Remove irrelevant noise and prioritize the most relevant information. Content will increasingly be brought to the forefront and advertising messages will become clearer than it ever has been before in this arena.

Animation used to Electrify Content

Functional animation will continue to simplify content interactions with many consumers, while delightful animations will create more human, emotional experiences with users.

Videos continue to Dominate

Of all internet users, 78 percent of people watch at least one video per week and 55 percent watch at least one video every day. Video will continue to dominate every category of the digital space. Expect ‘short attention span videos’ limited to less than four minutes and more video implementation on pages to welcome users in thirty seconds or less.

Wearables to begin Replacing Smartphones

Wearables have not quite caught on in the way many predicted they would. That said, more people will use them in 2018 to replace smartphones than ever before. Get ready.

Content is still a #1 Priority

Producing high quality content is not enough. Posting on sites like Facebook is going to be one of the most important determinants of success. Generating content credibility by using bigger, corporate brands is also going to play a role in gathering attention.

Smarter and Simpler Authentication

The old login and password may be a sign of the past as simpler authentication becomes the norm. There is much debate on how authentication may advance, including the controversial biometric authentication currently being utilized by iPhone X users.

Design to become more Emotionally Intelligent

Design driven to cultivate positive communications with users will further improve the user experience. Failure mapping to track alternative design experiences among users and more conversational interfaces can be expected to grow in numbers.

Increasing Personalization

Beyond all else, personalization may be the most important marketing tool in 2018 to digital businesses.

Digital Payments to acquire more users

By the end of 2017, digital payment methods will see a significant rise in users. Apple Pay is expected to grow to 86 million users while Android Pay is expected to close out at 24 million.

Augmented Reality vs. VR

VR is another trend that has not quite seen full development in the general public. In its place, augmented reality has been making ways through Google Lens and the release of more AR apps seeking to solve user problems such as IKEA’s.

Looking to the Year Ahead

2018 is going to be a big year with a lot to get excited about in the world of digital design and development. In the twelve months to come, enjoy the continuance of many cutting edge trends along with the rise of new, unexpected technologies still on the horizon.