We trend spotters at the Institute of Customer Experience (ICE) are always on the lookout for innovations that are defining/changing the way people perceive products, brands, experiences and design. We researched several articles, new innovations that people are talking about and trends that will change the course of action in the coming years.

We came up with a long list of trends and finally –shortlisted these 5 trends that will have a significant impact on Design and UX in the year 2016.These 5 trends represent what companies and consumers will want next and provides some thought provoking direction to people who are working towards making this world more user and design friendly.

Let’s read, think and act!

UX AND DESIGN TRENDS - 2016

Companies will start focusing on building “ambient” intelligent environments that are responsive to the presence of people and function in tandem with the growing AI-powered apps. Recently, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook had announced his resolution to make not just his home AI compatible, but his workplace too.

India-based startup Niki.ai is focusing on redefining and making the entire ordering experience easier for its users—with their AI-powered Chatbot app. This app eliminates the need for several other e-commerce apps to be downloaded as users can do a multitude of tasks with Niki. According to financial analysts, the global demand for applications like Niki is undoubtedly growing, and predict its upcoming value to be in billion dollars.

This combination has the power to make your surroundings and lifestyle more secure, predictable and safe.

It’s More About Ambient Intelligence: Designing For AI Environments

Be it Apple's Siri, Window's Cortana, or then Samantha – the human computer from the movie Her, there is one thing in common—they all are Artificial Personalities.

When the conversation is the interface, experience design is all about crafting the right words and in conversational UI's, personality is the new UX.

It’s one thing to design a Chatbot app and it's a totally different game to see the behavior in a real-time conversation. Companies will focus more on creating these real-time experiences more intelligent, personified, fun, convincing and trustworthy. Who knows, this might lead to an interesting job profile of “Bot Conversationalist Writer” because after all, choosing the right words and tone at the right time is the catch, and that requires expertise.

Conversational UI - Convincing Artificial Personalities for Millennials

A few years back, data and design were largely agnostic to each other and then companies started using data to understand consumer behavior. Today, consumers are conscious buyers and focus a great deal on how their decision will impact their lifestyle and are always on the lookout for a personalized experience.

This year will see an advent of SMEs using big data and analytics to grow. Data will be more accessible and powerful and will be used to make personalized experiences for the users.

Swarm, for instance, gives brick-and-mortar stores the ability to analyze foot traffic so they can make better decisions and tailor customer interactions. There’s also Collect, which gives merchants insights into the spending habits of their top customers, allowing them to send personalized rewards and offers.

Be it banking, retail, health, hospitality, travel or the food industry, this will be a common trend across all.

Big Data And Personalized Experiences

Connected devices are the talk of the town, and we keep hearing so much about how they will intuitively monitor anything and everything—from the water level in your plants to pet foods or reordering goods when the supplies are low.

We call it the “Internet of Things” and for sure it has grown at an incredibly fast pace in the last 2 years. But of late, companies are also realizing that there is a certain pace at which people are willing to accept these technological changes—leading to individual behavior shifts. This understanding is crucial for the success of any product.

Users do not need more things and objects to carry around but they need to make what they already use, smarter.

With the smart home actually becoming a “thing,” the next problem that we’ll undoubtedly face is how to control all our separate components, without juggling a 100 different apps. Nest and Apple’s Home Kit are working on such a solution and the future will demand making existing apps smarter in order to work in synch with other objects/apps seamlessly and accurately.

Consolidated App World- Shift in the Internet of Things

There used to be a time when products and brands needed to market themselves to be introduced to the users. Now, it’s no longer about introduction or acquaintance. Today, brands have to become familiar with their loyal users—know them, their requirements, and their personal preferences at the right time and the right place. If users have a need, favorite brands are expected to meet that need anywhere, anytime.  With the “Internet of Things” comes the concept of contextual design at every touch point. Companies have started tapping every need and requirement of the customer and are designing their channels in such a way that they fulfill their needs of every moment. Companies have been focusing a lot about “Omnichannel Strategy” because they want to be present everywhere and explore every possible channel of communicating with their users and fulfilling their desires. But strategizing just that is not enough anymore. It’s also important to be at the right place and at the right time. In the next 12 months, we will see that products and services will not be designed in silos but will be designed with a laser focus on the customers’ ecosystems, their deep needs and wants at the right place and time.

‘We’ hear you- Anytime- Anywhere!

The Domino's Pizza AnyWare initiative is a great example of contextual omnipresence. After understanding their users and the ecosystem, the pizza chain came up with this innovative idea of being able to order a pizza from anywhere and any device. This includes ordering via text, tweet, echo, smart TV, car, smart watch or voice. So if you are hungry for pizza, just text an emoji of a pizza slice and you are done! A similar example is that of Amazon Dash Buttons, wherein users have to simply press the Dash Button and Amazon will reorder and deliver that item at your doorstep—it’s literally one-touch ordering.

The world is changing at a much faster rate at present than we would have anticipated few years ago. Thanks to technology, innovation and design, companies and businesses are understanding the value of design and the role it plays in bringing a sea change in the way customers look at their products and services.

We believe that these trends outlined for 2016 are here to stay for a while. It is just the beginning and a larger outcome will be seen few years down the line. However, it is important that businesses understand the need of the hour and start preparing themselves before the competition takes the leap forward.

If you want to know what lies in the future of your business, reach out to us at ice@humanfactors.com

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Trend 1http://www.thestartupjournal.com/niki-ai-chatbot-cab-booking-recharge/http://gizmodo.com/mark-zuckerbergs-2016-resolution-build-an-ai-to-run-hi-1750819422

Trend 2http://www.fastcodesign.com/3054934/the-next-phase-of-ux-designing-chatbot-personalities

Trend 3http://uxmag.com/articles/the-top-ux-predictions-for-2016

Trend 4http://uxmag.com/articles/the-top-ux-predictions-for-2016

Trend 5https://anyware.dominos.com/http://www.amazon.com/b/?node=10667898011&sort=date-desc-rank&lo=digital-texthttp://trendwatching.com/trends/5-trends-for-2016/

Content:Snehshikha Gupta, Kalika Sharma,Apala Lahiri Chavan & Rasika Wadodkar

Illustrations:Omkar Lotlikar