UX Trends 2017-18

'Pick up where you left off'

Simon Nalley, UX designer at Bozboz:  

This year has been pretty fast moving in the UX space. Key trends we have seen at Bozboz include cross-channel/device experience which allows the user to 'pick up where they left off' from different devices, e.g. Netflix, Spotify etc. allowing the user to continue watching or listening to their choice of entertainment.

Digital binging continues to be all-encompassing.

Design ops

Andy Budd:

Another area of interest for us has been the emergence of design operations as a way to describe something we’ve been helping clients with for a while now. As the name suggests, design ops looks at ways to make design teams more efficient and effective, in order to get better work to market faster.

This can involve everything from skills development, process improvements and governance, through to the creation of specific tool sets that allow design teams to integrate their work into the code-base much faster. The concept started at tech companies like AirBnB, but has quickly spread. So for companies with large design teams, design ops is likely to make a more prominent impact in 2018.

Digital service design

Andy Budd:

The growth of digital service design has been another area of interest for us. As traditional services become more and more digital, and as digital services break out of their product silos, we’re seeing an increasing need to join all these disparate elements together through some kind of service layer.

As a result, we’re seeing increasing demand from digital directors, CX directors and more recently ops directors, for people who understand both traditional service designpractices, but through a digital and technology lens.