Businesses have been increasingly appreciating how far digital can reach, and how instrumental it can be to running a business, especially when the face-to-face contact world is no longer possible. No one could have predicted the sudden change in our day-to-day lives in 2020.

We are seeing a new wave of users who are transitioning from their regular physical services to a digital solution. In the digital universe, we at least had the advantage of being a non-physical contact world, so fortunately for many of us it was business as usual. As a result, as we go into 2021, online services are more popular than ever, in areas from conferencing to online banking and appointment booking.


1. More behavioural research

Regardless of the product you design, one of the essential truths you need to remember is that you are not your user. We hope to see more designers using it next year as it's extremely fascinating and insightful to not only observe user issues, but to validate design decisions also.

Session replay software is a great way to get behind the movements of the user, it uncovers opportunities that you cannot easily pick up without actually seeing the journey being carried out.

2. Easy to follow onboarding

It’s something commonly used in mobile apps, however I think we need to treat website apps and services the same: have something quick, snappy and informative, right at the start of the journey that will relieve any frustration. Fingers crossed we'll see better on-boarding across the board this year.

We usually get there in the end, but I can’t help but think that some initial on-boarding screens with tooltips would make for a much more pleasant experience. There were some challenging moments on the phone in 2020 trying to get family members to install and work video conferencing software.

3. Skeuomorphic design

In 2021 I think users will seek some form of tangibility from this digital world they are getting even more engrossed with. Skeuomorphism is a term most often used in user interface design to describe interface objects that mimic their real-world counterparts in how they appear and how the user can interact with them; it's the opposite to the minimal flat design style more commonly used.

In user experience design I think we will see more of a pull towards the skeuomorphic aesthetic to bring in these everyday textures we are seeing less of, it has great potential in bringing rich emotional experiences to digital devices, which are otherwise impersonal.

4. User interface animations

Userface animations can be utilised to enhance the user experience by guiding the user flow, revealing the process of the interface much better than a static graphic. For mobile especially it will be a space efficient way to get the message across instead of using banners and pop-ups.

I expect we'll see more animated button experiments in 2021. Animated buttons in apps could be really powerful to visually indicate to the user that an action has taken place, whether that be a purchase, sign up confirmation, or account log.

5. Immersive virtual events

It seemed as though the events industry was doomed last year: there were no conferences and no exhibitions. However, we've seen many quickly adapt to online virtual events, so instead of physically having to attend an event, you can instead do so from the comfort of your own home. It was one of the first sectors to really feel the effects of the non-contact world.