Powering the great wave of deep tech UX UI Design

Technology is advancing faster and more omnipresent. People are no longer confined to engaging and interacting with individuals via phones. It is a new universe of interaction. This means that UX and UI designers have the opportunity and task of developing novel interactions and experiences that did not initially exist.

UX and UI designers currently rely on collective and generic psychological profile approaches and pure conjecture to identify user wants. This is not an effective method because each user is unique and has different interests and preferences. To address this issue, UX UI designers have begun integrating deep tech to gain actionable insights into how users visually interact with a mobile app or a website.

Top 5 Deep Tech Trends That Can Disrupt UX UI Design

Artificial Intelligence for UX UI design

AI and machine learning technologies are a part of the online buying experience. Conversational chatbots are one of the most noteworthy examples of consumer-side AI-driven technologies. AI chatbots are becoming increasingly adept at conversing with shoppers on eCommerce platforms.

Users can order a product with the voice-only interaction utilizing smart speaker devices such as Amazon's Echo. This emergence of chatbots, smart devices, and AI-powered apps will continue to grow. But, user data collection can be complicated and ambiguous for UI UX designers. Personalizing user preferences before using an AI-assisted service will lead to extensive user input and engagement.

However, as technology advances, this tedious procedure will become less complicated with time. The advent of AI learning may reduce the necessity for on-screen interaction and allow voice-first interaction to leapfrog. Thus, enabling voice interaction designers to rise to the occasion.

Cloud Computing to the Rescue

The emergence of serverless computing has been seen in the development of cloud computing. It allows individuals and businesses to operate enterprise software without installing it, ensuring security and stability. Cloud computing eliminates the need to purchase and maintain hardware. Teams can also browse content from virtually anywhere, thanks to the cloud.

It is particularly advantageous for UX UI designers who prefer working remotely and collaborating with a multi-functional development team. Their coworkers can share ideas, mockups, wireframes, and chat with each other whenever they want via cloud computing. Designers, developers, and other team members can coordinate more effectively using cloud-based tools.

Touchless Gesture Interaction

Touchless Gesture Interaction is a revolutionary motion-sensing technology that operates by tracking the user's hand movement. Motion can lead a user through a series of actions that need to be performed to accomplish tasks. Motion can enhance the user experience by delivering visual feedback, such as animation, text, or graphics, to let users know when tasks are accomplished. A person's hand acts as the interface, and movements become the input by radar to detect touchless gesture interactions.

Google recently announced the Pixel 4, its latest smartphone. Basic commands such as dismissing or snoozing alarms, cancelling phone calls, skipping to the next song, etc., are possible just by waving the hand with the Pixel 4 thanks to the motion-sensing technology developed as part of Project Soli. Some phones already feature similar capabilities, such as unlocking phones using retina recognition.

But what's in it for UX UI designers? Motion-sensing technology can support usability. Users can now form a visual representation of what they're seeing. A UX UI designer's task is to bridge the gap between the user's perception and expectation. It will necessitate advanced prototyping, user testing, and user research techniques.

The Rise of Smart, Connected Devices

Cookers, headphones, speakers, security systems, wearables, self-driving cars, and vacuum cleaners are just a few examples of smart products that are interconnected or connected through the internet for everyday users. Many of these devices can get paired together to gather data and conduct automated operations.

The leading product category among the 'smart' devices is voice assistants. Alexa, Google Home, Siri, Google Assistant, and Cortana are some of the voice assistants available, with physical and built-in virtual software product settings. Users will acquire more trust in these products as the 'connected home' notion spreads across the market. It might complicate the research process for UX UI designers.

Before examining a physical product's interaction with the user, designers would undoubtedly require a better grasp of how it works on its own. Formerly, designers used to create mockups and send a prototype to a user, receive immediate feedback, and make adjustments rapidly utilizing software or digital apps. Because of the rise of connected physical devices, user testing will now necessitate on-site or in-person assessment.

AR and VR Products for the Future

AR/VR is dissolving the boundaries between the digital and physical worlds. Users now have a new avenue to interact with businesses, revolutionizing commerce. These technologies have the potential to help a wide range of industries, including real estate, training and education, tourism, fashion and retail, mapping, interior design, healthcare, and, of course, the game industry.

UX UI designers need to understand what makes the virtual and augmented reality experiences enjoyable, entertaining, and reliable. Creating wireframes and high-fidelity mockups for these apps will necessitate more advanced animation skills and prototype tools that incorporate motion technologies. AR and VR will contribute further innovations to make the experience more convenient, smoother, and maybe more cost-effective for users.

Conclusion

New mental models are bound to emerge as a result of innovative deep technology and products. The Internet of Things (IoT) trend promises to integrate the digital and physical worlds to revolutionize the settings, working, and living spaces. Likewise, the opportunities for voice, motion, and sensory interactions are enormous. Undoubtedly, it's an amazing time to be a user experience and user interface designer.

With the rise of AI and ML changing the way we use gadgets, there is a rising demand for immersive, instructive, interactive, and intriguing user experiences and interfaces. At the same time, it is critical to remember that with opportunities come constraints and challenges. New technologies are intriguing, but they might fail unless they satisfy user needs and improve the user experience.

While designing for people, UX UI designers must constantly learn and grasp new technology and settings. People's interactions with new technologies will differ from their interactions with today's technology. Therefore, UX UI designers must encourage perpetual design thinking and anticipate user requirements for making the most of deep tech.

The article has been written by Naveen Puttagunta, co-founder and CEO, Divami