The Year In Review: Your Ultimate UX Roundup For 2018
It’s been an exciting year in the world of UX, with technology, business, and user experience becoming increasingly intertwined. As 2018 draws to a close, what better time to reflect on this burgeoning industry? We’ve rounded up some of the main goings-on over the last twelve months, from highlights and trends to changes and challenges. So what actually happened in UX this year? Let’s take a look.
UX as a business tool: An ever-prevalent topic
The fact that good UX and good business are synonymous is nothing new. You’ve no doubt heard that design-led companies can outperform their competitors by as much as 228% — and UX as a business tool continued to be a prevalent theme throughout 2018.
In October 2018, McKinsey shared the results of a comprehensive study into how design can be used to unlock business value. Over a five-year period, they tracked the design practices of 300 publicly listed companies across multiple countries and industries. Finally, they evaluated how strong each company is at design and how this correlates with financial performance. The report found a correlation between high MDI (McKinsey Design Index) scores and superior business performance; in fact, top-quartile MDI scorers enjoyed 32% higher revenue growth and 56% higher total returns to shareholders (TRS) than their industry counterparts over the five-year period.
This message is one that Ryan Burke, SVP International at InVision, can only reiterate, stating that: “Design is no longer the group that makes things pretty; it is a driver of business. Everyone needs to be involved at the front end of that process.”
A design-thinking approach can save money, increase sales, and boost customer loyalty. This might seem like old news to those in the industry, but in reality, design is a huge opportunity which many companies are yet to discover.
The rise of data-driven UX
Once upon a time, the idea of data and design working hand-in-hand would have seemed absurd. In 2018, however, data-driven UX really came into its own.
As Jeffrey Humble, Head of UX Design at CareerFoundry, explains: “For me, this year was all about learning the power of measuring design for effectiveness. Ten years ago, measuring a design would be seen as breaking some kind of code; there are some things that should be left to artistic instinct, they thought. However, with the rise of UX and new data collecting tools, measuring the effectiveness of a design has never been easier. UXers who design with data understand that measuring design is a superpower that can shorten the product evolution cycle by years. I think this is happening because, as design systems mature, designers have found themselves with a bit more time to focus on the utility of design.”
In other words, the focus of design continues to shift away from aesthetics and towards effectiveness — a shift that could prove crucial in encouraging businesses to adopt a design-first approach. If you can measure and prove the ROI of UX, it’s much easier to convince the boardroom that good design is a worthwhile investment!
Over the last year or so, data-driven UX has become a hot talking point — a trend that will no doubt continue to gather speed in our Big-data world. You can learn more about designing with data here.
GDPR and privacy by design
2018 was, of course, the year of the GDPR — and this brought the topic of privacy and ethical design right back to the surface.
Introduced on the 25th May, GDPR is a set of regulations governing how businesses are legally allowed to store and use consumer data. While non-compliance carries major financial repercussions, there is also the issue of consumer trust. GDPR calls for privacy by design, meaning that UX designers must be especially diligent when considering where and how to present certain information.
In light of the GDPR, embracing ethical design is absolutely critical if a brand wants to gain and retain the user’s trust. This means giving the user a highly visible, user-friendly way to opt out if they wish to do so. It means providing clear microcopy stating what happens to the user’s data, and being transparent about things like how you’re using cookies.
Ethical design and consumer trust have always been crucial to a user-centric approach, and the advent of the GDPR served as an excellent reminder for the industry. You can learn more about the GDPR and what it means for UX here.
The (continued) rise of specialist job titles
In 2018, there was plenty of talk about the all-encompassing UX designer job title no longer being entirely relevant. As the field becomes more complex, the industry seems to be moving towards more specialist job titles — a trend that UX Collective highlighted in their report on the state of UX in 2018:
“Our field is maturing, budgets are increasing, and the design landscape is getting more complex and competitive. We can’t expect every designer to be the jack of all trades. We can’t be doing our job in 2018 the same way we did in 2008. As the broad “UX designer” title starts to dissolve, we see fellow designers focusing on new paths and specializations.”
More and more, we’re seeing UX professionals — and hiring managers — focusing on specific areas of the UX design process. From UX researcher to information architect or UX copywriter, there’s a whole host of job titles making their way into the arena. For both employers and designers alike, navigating the ever-growing field of UX job titles will be crucial as we move into 2019 and beyond.
DesignOps: Not just a meaningless buzzword
Earlier this year, we discussed whether DesignOps is a must-have strategy or just another meaningless buzzword. As the year comes to an end, it’s safe to say that the DesignOps hype has only increased.
Atlassian and Airbnb were among the early adopters of DesOps in 2017, making it a hot topic for 2018. So much so that InVision released a DesignOps handbook, while the DesignOps Summit enjoyed a successful second year with speakers from the likes of MailChimp, Shopify, Twitter and Facebook. Described as “the first conference dedicated to helping design leaders and managers create design capacity that scales with change,” the summit covered four main themes which will no doubt set the tone for the future of DesOps: communicating the value of DesignOps, integrating DesignOps into an organization, growing people and teams, and different methodologies and work environments.
Many big businesses are on board, and 2018 was all about showing others how they can follow suit. DesignOps received more and more coverage as the year went on, with the focus on defining DesOps and devising an effective DesOps strategy.
Did DesOps move up from buzzword status in 2018? Despite being the centre of many a discussion, we’ve yet to see if DesignOps takes off as an industry-wide practice — watch this space!
2018: It’s a wrap!
So there you have it: some of the most talked-about topics in UX for 2018. As we can see, the role of the UX professional is evolving well beyond design — and at a rapid pace! As businesses increasingly recognise the power of user experience, UX designers are getting involved in virtually every aspect of the product. Strategy, branding, and data are no longer the sole domains of board members and analysts; they’re becoming part of the design process, too. It’s an exciting time to work in design, and we look forward to seeing what 2019 has in store.
About the author:
Emily Stevens. Originally from England, Emily moved to Berlin after studying French and German at university. When she’s not writing for CareerFoundry, she can be found travelling, hula-hooping or reading a good book.
