Changes in Design and Trends for the Future
A blogpost by
In the last 60 years, design has undergone many changes: Change from tangible to intangible, from value-added to driven
Here are some modern standards for great design:
- Adaptable — Adaptable to the needs of our users
- Equitable — to solve environmental and social problem
- Usable — To be good and fun
- Impactful — demonstrating impact through adoption, scale, and growth
- Transformational- Transform, redefine, change past perceptions
What are some of the key changes that have taken place in design between 1959 to 2019？
1. Design has graduated from “value-adding” to “value-driving.”
2. Design from synonymous with style to accompanies disruption.
3. From emphasizing design as a noun to design as a verb
4. From design for the few to design for the many.
Future Design Changes — Society, People, Things, Ways of Thinking
People are shaped by digital society. The popularity of cloud life and online society have extended another virtual world, and digital calligraphy and painting have changed the way we socialize and entertain ourselves and are also shaping a new line of cognition. The world of singledom, consumerism, and female independence all seem to signal an era of ever-changing change. The post-00s, who are deeply immersed in the mobile Internet, have a more diversified world view. They will become the core group of entertainment consumption in the next 10 years. The traditional social form of solidified, static and conservative society has been replaced by the modern social form of constant flow, light spirit and network, and the individual is becoming the “trademark” of modern society.
Change of “things”
Thing is no longer a traditional entity, but a combination of virtual and entity. Material value is shifting to digital value, and owning assets in the future is a different concept from owning digital assets
Seven trends for future design:
- Mixing: real and virtual Mixing, design and manufacturing Mixing, process and result Mixing, work and home Mixing
2. Intelligent: Everything is Intelligent, Metaverse is everywhere, no intelligence, no survival
3. Participation: More Stakeholders are involved in the design, the decision-making process, and the consumer is a part of the design process
4. Filter: Filtering under information overload is more important than acquiring. The initiative, methods and tools of information are crucial to decision making
5. Mirror: Real world will be replicated into virtual world, virtual experience will replace real experience, virtual design will become mainstream
6. Open: Open determines fluidity and velocity tension, and solid is synonymous with the past era
7. Super: The sameness and mediocrity will be abandoned. Only the extreme can be invincible in the flow forever
Design for “more people”
(Alibaba- Alipay Design Team shared a Design Project for the Elderly )
Smartphone has become an essential tool in our daily life. It can be said that no matter what we do, we will take mobile phone with us. Without smart phone, we can’t go anywhere. At the beginning of the outbreak last year, the problem of the elderly not having access to smartphones and not being able to use them has been exposed, affecting the basic livelihood of many elderly people.
With the rapid development of The Times, smart products such as mobile phones are updated at a faster pace. People of older generations at sometimes unfamiliar with or find it difficult to adapt to electronic products. More needs to be encouraged, as their usage patterns in terms of apps and so on are very different compared to the younger generation.
Alibaba Design guideline for the seniors — “Nine Good Guidelines”
1. Set font size larger than 18DP/PT
In order to enable older users (who may have impaired vision) see the information clearly, the main text message of the boss should be no less than 18DP/PT (it is 36 font size when converted to 2 times screen).
2. Apply high contrast
Increased contrast allows information to be displayed more clearly and can be used to identify information. The contrast between elements such as text/text image presentation, charts, etc. should be at least 4.5:1
(Text and text image contrast should be at least 3:1 for font size greater than 18dp/pt)
3. Avoid Abstraction
People are faster at processing representational information. In the design scene, we preferred realistic images over abstract illustrations.
4. Use verbs, avoid noun phrases
The phrasal verb of an action is easier to understand than the descriptive noun phrase in a written expression.
For example: Traveling — to go out/ Mobile phone recharge — charge the phone charge
5. “Familiar” is better than “new”
Considering the cognitive differences of older audiences, try to keep the operation process and the conventional operation in general design all the time. Also, avoid using professional words or new words from the Internet. If necessary, the user should be given the necessary prompt before operation.
6. “Color” is better than “Figure”
According to the order of human physiological memory, colors take precedence over shapes. In the design, color attributes can be added to make it easier for the elderly to find and understand. For example, the same service icon color is easier to recognize than a single color.
7. “Clicking” is better than “Sliding”
“Clicking” is one of the last human functions to deteriorate, and it’s the easiest thing for all users to do. So, if you can solve a problem with a “click” on a page, you should avoid letting the user swipe. The main components on the page should have a clickable focus area of at least 60 x 60 dp/pt, and all other clickable focus areas should have a focus area of at least 44 x 44 dp/pt.
8. “Clicking” is better than “typing”
Whether it is “pinyin input” or “handwritten input”, since not all users know the difficulty of implementation. Consideration should be given to providing more default options for older users to reduce operational costs.
9. Leverage more senses than just sight
In addition to vision, we can use the stimulation of users’ tactile, auditory and other senses to further assist their operations. For example, in the case of incorrect password input, in addition to text prompts, vibration or voice broadcast can be used to assist in reminding users of incorrect input.
Ageing is something we all have to deal with; Ageing is also an inevitable trend in modern society with medical advances and declining fertility rates. As a growing group, the elderly will have more and more voices in their demands for life. The needs of older people must be taken into account in all aspects of design in order to create an environment suitable for the future and benefiting more people.
Other great design moment in Alibaba Design Week Event:
