2018 UX Trends
Every interface is a story
Storytelling and writing have never been so present in the design world. As customer journeys become more fragmented, it is our job to ensure brands are telling a coherent story across channels — and that those stories are clear, interesting, and human.
We have been hearing about the term microcopy for some time — a few years, maybe. But 2017 was the year the design industry has finally awaken not only to the importance of choosing the right words when crafting interfaces, but also how the experiences we design are part of a broader, more holistic narrative.
Browsing a well-crafted interface is like reading a great story. Which means that every designer is a storyteller — whether they are designing a landing page, a product page, a signup form, or a chatbot conversation.
When you design a page, you are essentially telling a story to your audience. Forget modules, column grids, iconography, colors for a second, and think about the core of what you are trying to communicate. What if, before jumping into a design software to start wireframing, you created simple story outlines using a text editor?
Stripping away all the visual clutter can help you focus on the core of the message you are trying to communicate.
The popularity of conversational interfaces amongst designers and developers has also raised a lot of awareness to the importance of copywriting for the user experience. Chatbots, for example, are experiences that rely almost completely in a word exchange between user and machine; every word has to be carefully selected, to make sure people know how to interact naturally with the bot.
And the reality is that an increasing number of users are consuming your content in a design-agnostic fashion — whether they are using a screen reader, the reader mode in a certain browser, subscribing to your content via an RSS feed or newsletter, or even viewing your site via Google AMP.
When you remove all styles, does your page still tell a cohesive, clear story?
2017 was the year of unseen collaboration between UX Designers and Copywriters. The cross-pollination between UX and copy tends to grow in 2018, as the term “UX writing” starts to be used to describe not only a technique, but also job titles within design companies.
As a designer, how can you incorporate more sophisticated storytelling techniques into the experiences you create?
