Apps as we know them will disappear. Luxury will trickle down
to the masses. VR will go mainstream. These are just a few of the major
design and technology trends shaping the world in 2016. The trends we've
identified focus on issues we—a firm with over 600 designers and
developers—expect to tackle in the coming year. They reflect what
clients are asking for, our experiences as citizens and users, and our
well-informed guesses (we hope!) on the impact of emergent technology.
Today, someone is always listening. We have listening devices
strapped to our wrists that encourage us to run farther or put down that
extra slice of cake. Devices in our homes listen and respond. Listening
technology allows us to act on any impulse whenever, which has broken
down the customer journey into a plethora of real-time, intent-driven
micromoments. It follows a very predictable pattern—immediate need,
relevant reply, repeat—but in an unpredictable sequence. It’s changing
the way we consume. People go online more often, but don’t spend as much
time per visit.
Each micromoment is an opportunity for brands to shape our habits.
And being able to detect exactly how and when consumers decide to
reorder a recurring product could prove priceless. AI is key. IBM’s
Watson, which uses cognitive technology in a variety of applications
from oncology to cooking, is a technology platform
that uses natural language processing and machine learning to reveal
insights from large amounts of unstructured data." This type of
cognitive technology is the start of the next wave of digital
disruption.
Be first or be non-existent. Early movers will have
the ultimate advantage. Imagine a scenario where you ask Alexa for more
yogurt, and she orders a brand you preselected. Instantly, every other
brand is edged out with a single command. Not every brand should develop
its own wearable, nearable or connected environment. Consider whom to
partner with to distribute your service. Listen and learn. Brands must be able to listen to
the messages they are being sent, either explicitly or implicitly. At a
minimum, design to show you have heard.
Collecting personal data is nothing new. However, in the post-Snowden
era, the public has developed an Orwellian sense of mistrust.
Businesses can turn that anxiety into an opportunity by implementing
services with manners. The concept of "privacy by design" is key here.
Privacy by design is the notion that you embed privacy into technology
and the product design process from the get-go. Companies like Microsoft
have already implemented strong privacy programs, and the EU’s
impending General Data Protection Regulation includes privacy by design
standards, will mark the first time they have been incorporated into
law.
Act it out. Act out interactions as if they were a
conversation on stage. Make your experience a human one. Imagine you
were asking a stranger on the street for private information. How would
you go about it in a way that would make him or her feel comfortable?
Empathetic design changes the camera angle and puts you in other
people’s shoes. Be real. Be explicit. But also be nice. Make sure the intent of a data exchange is upfront, friendly and clear. Find etiquette allies. Seams matter. Yes, seamless experiences are the
goal, but be transparent about transition states. People want to know
when they’re getting locked into something. Hire a Chief Security Officer. Beef up resources
dedicated to data privacy and security. On a systems level, invest in
new platforms and technologies equipped to handle data responsibly
through the supply chain.
Career paths are no longer linear journeys. Employees once started
with a foot in the corporate door, paid their dues, and worked their way
up the proverbial ladder. Now, employees are treating their careers as a
series of "tours," using each new employer as a way to establish a
self-determined path, build critical skills, and grow. As a result, we
are seeing the emergence of employee experience (EX) design, where
workplace processes, structure, and culture are reimagined at an
organizational level. (It was the fastest growing category of work at
Fjord in 2015 across many industries, from banking to telecom to
pharma.) The smartest companies will build cultures of purpose.
Empower your people. Autonomy breeds motivation. No
one wants to feel like part of the machine, nor do they want to feel
that taking initiative at work is daunting because of unclear processes.
Employees tell us they want to feel inspired to work and focus on what
matters to them, be essential to the success of the company, and be
trusted to make important decisions autonomously. Embrace the person in your professionals. Who we are
is as important as what we do. Employees want to feel assured, open,
and included. Work should be a peer experience that is an extension of
their social world. Reward and recognize regularly. Money isn’t the only payoff. Employees also want to be acknowledged, feel unified, and have support with the right tools.
The act of toggling between apps may disappear. Look at WeChat, a
Chinese messaging app with nearly 600 million monthly active users.
Known as the "everything app," WeChat functions beyond the traditional
definition of an app or even a browser, with 10 million third-party apps
hosted inside. One feature controls the lights, temperature, and
settings of your hotel room. Visa is another example. The company is
researching a commerce-connected car that pays for groceries, takeaways
and fuel—literally payments (and collection) on wheels.
The future of "app" design will be counterintuitive. Most
organizations currently focus on the transaction of a service—and
rationally so. However, if you focus on the interaction, or "point of
x," and make it as smooth as possible, the transaction will happen
naturally. It’s about designing for humans, focusing on interactions
instead of transactions.
We’ve reached a point where all the technologies and services we have
created over the years can intersect and interact with each other
autonomously and independent of hand-held devices. Nest is a promising
"point of x" that could evolve quickly to be a home hub in rivalry with
Amazon Echo. Imagine banking apps seamlessly integrated within a
domestic device like this, allowing a user to pay bills, bring in a
cleaning service, order groceries, share pictures and more. Cars present
another environment where "point of x" thinking will trump apps.
Companies should invest in understanding what future "points of x" will be for users and design around them.
Think outside the screen. We are moving beyond apps
as "things" and into services that may or may not require human
interaction to activate. We can untether ourselves from the need to
design an app for everything; very often we can find better entry points
for services than mobile apps. There must be incentives to motivate
this shift—ease of use and fewer steps, for instance. Service design tools reveal opportunities. Journey
maps, service blueprints, touchpoint reframing: these are standard tools
in the design kit these days and they are becoming even more relevant
as the self-contained certainty of apps dissolve.
In the past, highly tailored experiences were reserved for the
wealthy, with cost and scale being the main barrier to entry. But with
digital technology enabling scalable yet personalized experiences,
luxury is available to the masses like never before. Examples abound in a
variety of areas like personal assistants from Facebook with M,
affordable luxury getaways with Tablet Hotels, pampering with Birchbox,
and your own personal fashion stylist through Trunk Club.
As we see the flattening of services, expect to see the emergence of a
new strand of luxury, enabled by digital and available to the only to
the top of the wealth class. Think personalized technology platforms, or
rather, a platinum iOS. After all, mankind is still a status-driven
animal.
Build multidisciplinary teams. Business analysts,
designers, marketing, product and service managers should work hand in
hand. A collaborative and diverse work environment will become an
intangible asset that will help companies better aim their efforts
toward understanding the users of the future. Look for the platform. Seek to transform
one-directional businesses into scalable platforms that will empower
future users not just to consume services but to find solutions to their
problems. Redefine luxury. In the luxury business? What does
it take to remain a true "luxury" brand in an era of digital
democratization? Examine your role from the consumer perspective and ask
how you can disrupt your service model now that delivering luxury can
be done by anyone. In the era of liquid expectations, what exactly is
luxury and high-end?
Digital natives are entering junior ministerial ranks, bringing with
them their knowledge of, and passion for, technology. This is the year
technology will be used in service of the public good. And more
importantly, technology will enable a new breed of citizenship.
We've already seen promising developments. In the U.K., the
Government Digital Service team designed, built, and ran the gov.uk
alpha site in 10 weeks. In Washington, D.C., the U.S. Digital Service’s
goal is to ship a minimum viable product within, at most, three months
of a project’s initiation. Both the U.S. and U.K.’s digital government
departments have published digital design guidelines that are simpler
and more sophisticated than those of many commercial organizations.
We’re also seeing a rise in private digital citizenry, where
technology enables social good. In the case of the recent Syrian refugee
crisis, Berlin-based Refugees Welcome, described as "Airbnb for
refugees," has helped refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Burkina Faso,
Mali, Nigeria, Pakistan and Somalia. So far it has allowed 26 German
citizens to invite refugees into their private homes. Mobile Justice is a
mobile app responding to the rising awareness of race-driven conflict
with police in the U.S., resulting in the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
The app has a simple feature allowing smartphone owners to send video
footage directly to the American Civil Liberties Union—all with the
simple shake of a phone. The ACLU then systematically reviews it for
potential legal action.
Use plain language. Governments should use simple
language focused on content, structure, navigation, grouping, and
completion. Sweden, for example, has legislation that requires all
government communications meet plain language standards. Employ outside-in design. Use a research-led
approach to generate new ideas. By considering the entire ecosystem, and
using research to uncover insights, service design reveals an
outside-in view of:
•The people in the ecosystem (citizens, intermediaries and government staff)
•The places in which the service is experienced (face to face, online, on the phone)
•The products used by everyone (software, digital tools, printed material, physical products)
•The processes that people follow
•The performance of the whole system Be sensitive. Too many government services, tools,
and processes are opaque and cumbersome. Immigration, taxes, lawsuits,
adoption—these are very important but also anxious experiences for most.
All the more critical that governments inject some humanity into their
interaction with citizens.
Health is no longer a complex cost managed by a closed set of
entrenched players. With the rise of self-monitoring technology, like
fitness trackers, health is now something we can all keep track of,
learn from, and reward. This allows us to emphasize preventative care
and positive behavioral changes; facilitate more productive and timely
interactions with healthcare practitioners; and minimize avoidable and
costly healthcare emergencies.
Imagine your products and services as wellness agents.
Companies like Kaiser Permanente and Aetna are opening their platforms
to third parties to enable them to build new services on top of their
data connecting third-party wearables, apps, and services. Think beyond the pill. The emphasis in health care
is changing from product-focus to outcome-focus. Pharma companies are
now taking to heart the idea that in every product there is a service
waiting to get out, which means integrating a holistic service offering
providing added value through digital services like telehealth, wellness
programs, connected devices, and smart pills. They will also have to
invest in consumer-facing brand development. B2WE wellness. On the employer side, companies
across all industries can tap into the nearly $2 trillion in health
savings that can be realized through guided behavioral change. Examples
of this are data-powered companies like Vitality, Castlight Health, and
HealthSparq. Under the U.S. Affordable Care Act, employers can give
their employees up to a 30% discount on insurance premiums for
participating in company wellness programs. Facilitate cultural change. To rebuild healthcare in
a sustainable way, we need a new mindset. The customer journey has to
be rebuilt from the ground up, moving the "point of care" (or as we
might say, experience) from costly hospitals to the patient’s home and
the level of care from specialized care to self-service.
Virtual reality will make its mainstream debut in 2016. Not too long
ago, VR was a technology so bulky and expensive that it was relegated to
military flight simulations. Fast forward to 2016, the "critical year
for virtual reality," as Sony, Oculus, and Samsung will release consumer
versions of their products in the first half of the year.
VR will obviously offer the next dimension in gaming, but it’s the
unexpected applications that we are intrigued by. From education to
tourism to health, VR will begin finding its place in our work, play,
and homes.
In order to look into the future, sometimes you must look back.
Technology like augmented reality has been in the market longer than VR.
Take for instance, the Blippar app, which brings ordinary objects and
posters to life with an augmented layer. QR codes are yet another
precursor to the VR wave. Designers instinctively recoil at the thought
of QRs' visual clutter. But in the Asia-Pacific region, QR codes work
surprisingly well at a mass level. They signal to the user that an AR
layer exists, albeit in an ugly manner. Will AR and VR merge to create
an entirely new experience?
Try it. Oculus, Sony, OZO or Samsung Gear? It may be
difficult to know where to start with VR, but we believe that market
leaders will take the view that anywhere is better than nowhere. Google
Cardboard makes it easy to obtain a low-cost initial experience with VR. Resist starting a VR unit. Many of us know the
challenges of having an organization that mirrors a device ecosystem. As
new technologies such as VR emerge, resist the urge to create a
specialized team only dedicated to that device. Instead, think about how
the overall user or business process should be supported by the
technology, and they’ll work together with a unified, device-agnostic
team. Think beyond gaming. It will be crucial for
businesses to understand how the technology can be used for business
processes as well as customers. Will VR conference calls be more
productive? Can travel be eliminated or scaled back, in favor of virtual
collaboration? Can you work on-site, while staying off-site?
Thanks to the digitization of everything, we now have the most
hyperreactive markets in history. However, innovation at this speed
comes with an unintended consequence—a never-ending glut of options.
From more than a million apps in the Apple Store to your grocery’s milk
aisle, every aspect of our lives now requires making a choice. It is
becoming increasingly difficult for consumers to make sense of all the
noise. In 2016, brands will help people take things off the "thinking
list."
Companies have already enjoyed some success doing so. Aldi built a
successful and disruptive business model while offering significantly
fewer choices than traditional supermarkets. When Proctor & Gamble
cut its Head & Shoulders line from 26 products to 15, the
organization saw a 10% increase in sales.
Services that are able to automate low-maintenance decisions will be
an especially important step. We’re already starting to see this with
Google Now, while Australian startup Pocketbook prompts users of their
upcoming payments and bills to avoid missed payments.
Remove the burden of ordering. Think of ways to help
your consumers stop browsing. Find the things they like and don’t know
about. And get it right. For example, the point of a snack subscription
like Graze is not to be a grocery store to order from, but a service
that does the selection for you. Use diverse interaction paradigms. Gestural,
environmental or ambient interactions are able to interpret an input and
provide a response that is available when needed, and not demanding
when it’s not. Traditional push/pull interactions typically require a
user’s attention, decision-making ability, and learned behavior. Use algorithms and expert curation. We don’t
necessarily want a music service to clean up its music to just the most
popular. Bottom line: While simplification wins, don’t oversimplify and
sacrifice thrill of discovery.
In 2016, corporations will bring design thinking in-house. The
average lifespan of an S&P company has gone from 67 years in the
1920s today to just 15 years today. The pressure to innovate has never
been stronger. In 2014, $1.6 trillion was spent in R&D globally.
Yet, in consumer goods, for example, research shows that more than 85%
of the products fail.
As a result, we’ve seen corporations invest directly in business
incubators and innovation labs, bringing design thinking and problem
solving in-house. It’s almost become the price of entry in the
consulting and financial industries, with the recent acquisitions of
Adaptive Path by Capital One, Spring Studio by BBVA, and Designit by
Wipro Digital. Why? Arguably it’s harder than ever to differentiate
yourself with technology- and business-focused innovation alone.
Culture—as experienced through design-led innovation—may be the best way
to claim sustainable territory, because it is so much harder to copy.
More of our clients are asking us to set up design studios in
collaboration with them. We asked our studios how their clients are
handling design within large organizations. The conclusion? There is no
one consistent solution clients are applying. In particular, the most
asked question is, "Where does design sit? With the CIO, CMO or
elsewhere? Or even as a separate unit?"
Success looks like this. Consider having C-level
support, pilots and MVPs use a common language for design. Drive
conversations from principles and bridge organizational silos. Encourage
collaboration and co-creation workshops. Size doesn’t really matter. Obviously, it depends on
the business but the central number in an in-house design "swat" team
seems to be around 30. The important part is having the right mix of
players. Hire change agents and create the conditions for them to
thrive. Make sure they are nimble at facilitation, concepting,
prototyping and experimentation. Cultivate a great culture. Isolation = bad. Be wary of the temptation to have a
totally separate design/UX team. It may be better to build small groups
into the existing organization, alongside design-savvy product owners. Space does matter. Create spaces where design can
thrive and foster creativity in everyone. Make places where the walls
become the workspaces and everyone sees the collective progress being
made. This article was adapted from Fjord Trends. Read the full report here.
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