1. How to deal with trends, fads and constant change in UX Design
Rupert Platz | @r000pert | #uxce17 | Berlin
Hyper! Hyper!!

2. 2000:
Discomfort.

3. „ForgetHTML.WAPisthefuture!!“

4. 2007:
Excitement.

5. „Everybodycantageverything!!“

6. Hypesandchange.

7. Hypes:
There‘salwaysabigfussaboutsomenew
bigthing.

8. Today:
Artificial Intelligence!
Chatbots!
Anticipatory Design!
Proto.io!
Flat 2.0!
Social VR!
Machine Learning!
Conversational Commerce!
Augmented Reality!
Design Sprints!
Everybody is a designer!

9. Yesterday:
Microinteractions!
Beacons!
Lean Startup!
Kanban!
Google Glass!
Dual Track Agile!
Jobs-to-be-done!
Flat vs. Skeumorphic!
IoT & Wearables!
Sketch & InVision!
Designers should code!

10. The day before yesterday:
Parallax Effect!
QR Codes!
HTML5!
SmartTV!
Scrum!
Design Thinking!
Storytelling!
NUI vs. GUI!
Quantified Self!
Gamification!
Native vs. Web!

11. The day before the day before yesterday:
Social Media!
Web.TV!
Podcasts!
Wikis!
Ecosystems!
Social Tagging!
Gamification!
Perpetual Beta!
Second Life!
Mental Models!
RSS Aggregation!

12. Realchange:
Thingsdokeepshiftingallthetime.

13. Project
Waterfall
Build & Test
Org Silos
?
Product
Agile
Rapid Prototyping
Digital Teams
Process and organisation

14. Information Architect
Concept developer
Digital Art Director
User Researcher
Project Manager
UX/UI Designer
UX Strategist
Product Manager
Product Owner
Data Scientist
?
Roles and job titles

15. Websites
Software
Apps
?
Multi-touchpoint
journeys
Design systems
Design objects

16. Breadcrumb Nav
Teaser Carousels
Mega-Flyouts
Hamburger Icon
Skeumorphic Design
?
NUI
Microinteractions
Cards / Material
Bold typography
Flat / Flat 2.0
UI Patterns

17. Personas
Card Sorting
Design Studio
Journey Mapping
Usability Lab Tests
?
Biz Model Canvas
Remote User Testing
Value Prop Design
Lean UX Experiments
Jobs-to-be-done
Design Sprints
UX Methods

18. Omnigraffle
Axure
Fireworks †
Photoshop
Confluence / Jira
Adobe Xd?
Proto.io?
UXPin?
Origami?
Pixate?
Framer?
Zeplin?
Macaw?
Principle?
Atomic?
Smaply?
Mural?
Asana?
Sketch
InVision
Slack
Trello
Tools

19. Agency
E-Commerce
Startup
Corporate Digital Unit
Innovation Lab
Employers
?

20. Thechallenge:
Hotodealwithhypesandchange.

21. Whatwillreallybecomeimportant?
What‘sjustbeinghypedup?
WhatshouldIbepreparedfor?
WhatcanIignore?
WhenisitOKtojustwaitandsee?

22. HowlongwillIdotheworkIdotoday?
HowwillIworktomorrow?
WheredoIwanttogo?

23. (Andbytheway:
WhatarealltheAdobeFlashdesigners
doingtoday?)

24. Reactingtohypes.

25. Psycho test: What‘s hype reaction type are you?
ExcitedUnsettled Sceptic

26. „Cool! I want to do that too!“
„I always want to be at the forefront of things.“
Excited:

27. Risk
Lose focus
Waste time / money
Latest solution
instead of best solution
Dismiss established concepts
too early
Opportunity
Healthy openness!
Experiment & learn
Get first mover
advantage
(Have fun!)

28. Blindexcitementleadsto
HypeSolutionism.

29. (Rupert‘sLaw:
GivesomeUXDesignersaproblemto
ideatefreelyupon,andthey‘llalways
comeupwithsometrendyhype
solution.)

30. In love with shiny objects:
„Then her Apple Watch will tell her she has a new task.“
„Some Artificial Intelligence will tell him which product he needs.“
„She then aks her voice assistant to change her status .“
„When he enters the store, he‘s greeted via a beacon.“

31. Unsettled
„Do we need to do this too?“
„Are we lagging behind?“

32. Risk
Fear of missing out
Reactive thinking
Blind actionism
(Feel bad)
Opportunity
Healthy vigilance!
Threats of
change are real
Always question
your practice

33. PerceivedBackwardness:
Uneasinessabouthypesandchange
maymakeyoufeelmoreoutdatedthan
youactuallyare.

34. Z.B: Agile, Sketch: Vieles ist heute noch gar nicht so
Mainstream wie man denkt.
„My name is Carl, and I‘m still doing website wireframes with
Axure.“

35. Uneasinessabouthypesmayleadto
aimlessactionism.

36. „We need the Next Big Thing. Quick, please.“

37. Sceptic
„Nobody will need this.“
„It will disappear eventually.“
„We‘re doing this right.“

38. Risk
Miss chances
Get stuck in routine
Become outdated
(Boring!)
Opportunity
Healthy calmness!
Realism
Critical thinking

39. Rigidscepticismleads to
misjudgements.

40. Being wrong about hypes is easy.
2006: AJAX?
„Irrelevant programming
tricks.“
2007: The iPhone?
„Haha, it doesn‘t even
have a keyboard!“
2007: Twitter?
„Who needs this 140
characters crap??“

41. Ingredientsofahealthyattitudetowards
change:

42. OpenVigilant Critical+ +

43. Enthusiasmforthenew...

44. ...combinedwiththeseven-stage
HypeBullshitDetector.

45. 1.Knowhypefromactualchange.

46. Hype vs. Change = Talking vs. Doing.
Attention in industry media Adaption in practice

47. The Gartner Hype Cycle
Peak of Inflated Expectations
Valley of Disillusionment
Slope of Enlightenment
Jackie Fenn: The Microsoft System Software Hype Cycle Strikes Again, 1995
Plateau of Productivity
Time
Attention

48. Example: The Hamburger Menu debate

49. The Adaption curve: Things dont change overnight
Everett M. Rogers: Diffusion of innovations (1962)
10% early adoptors
40% early majority
40% late majority
10% laggards
Time
Adaption

50. „The future‘s already here, it‘s just not evenly distributed“.
You are here.
Responsive Web
Chatbots??
InVision Prototyping?
Design Sprints?
Time
Adaption

51. Some things aren‘t even as mainstream as we think.

52. Hypes make excited proclamations ...
Attention „X is the new thing that
will change the game!“

53. ... that may eventually lead to mainstream adaption.
Adaption
X slowly becomes a thing that actually
changes the game.
Attention „X is the new thing that
changes the game!“

54. (Do we still need to discuss Responsive Design?)

55. Examples
Mobile Web Social Media Responsive
Design

56. Other hypes just die away.
„Nope.“
„X is the new thing that
changes the game!“

57. Examples
Google Wave Second Life WebTV Portals

58. Mostly, hyped topics are here to stay but dont keep their
promises.
Zeit
X becomes just another thing.
Makes sense and works,
but not for everyone and everything.
„X is the new thing that
changes the game!“

59. Zeit
Examples
Blogs Gamification QR Codes

60. Some hypes are like volcanoes: They quake from time to
time – and might just erupt the next time.
Hype 1 Hype 2 Hype 3

61. Example: Mobile Web
2000
WAP / imode
2005
Symbian
2008
iPhone/Flatrate

62. Social Virtual Reality?
1999
Cycosmos
2005
Second Life
2017
Facebook Spaces
...?

63. Augmented Reality?
2010
AR Apps
2013
Google Glass
2016/17
Pokemon Go,
World Lenses,
Hololens ...?

64. Virtual (voice) assistants?
2010
Website avatars
2011
Siri
2016
Chatbots?
Voice Assistants?
Since 80ies:
Phone dialogue
systems(IVR)

65. 2.Understandtherhetoricofhypes.

66. TheeternalSilverBulletpromise:
„TheNextBigThingwillblowaway
everythingelse.Itwillbethesolesolutionfor
allproblemswehavetoday.“

67. HypeClickbait:
Dramaticbinarystatements
Lifeordeath.
Winnerorloser.
Neworobsolete.

68. If you‘re not mobile friendly, you‘re dead.
„You‘re in danger.“

69. „What you know and do is dead.“

70. „What you know and do is broken / over.“

71. „What you know is dead, the New Thing is the boss now.“

72. „The New Thing is the new old thing.“

73. „All of you should do something more.“

74. 3.Knowmotivationsbehindhype
proclamation.

75. Whofuelsthehypefire–andwhy?

76. Consulting companies:
Push the hype to sell your knowledge advance

77. (Aspiring) thought leaders / influencers:
Join the hype to be seen and grow a reputation.

78. Originators and subject domain experts:
Sell books, conference talks, workshops, webinars, tools, ...

79. Big brands and their agencies:
Do hot new experimental stuff and look innovative.

80. Stock corporations:
News of digital innovations drives shareholder value

81. 4.Clarifyterms.

82. Buzzwords:
Doeseverybodyunderstandandmeanthe
samewhenusingthem?
Neverbeashamedtoask!

83. ... Self-learning system?
... Minimalistic?
... Material Design?
... Design System?
... Microinteractions?
... Chatbot?
What exactly do you mean by ...?
... Prototype?
... Lean?
... MVP?
... Anticipatory Design?
... Rapid User Testing?
... Innovation?

84. ... AI / Artificial Intelligence?
... Machine Learning?
... Deep Learning?
... Neuronal Networks?
... Anticipatory Design?
What‘s the difference between those to you?
... Chatbots?
... Conversational Interfaces?
... Virtual Assistants?
... Voice Assistants?
... Agentive Systems?

85. 4.Askfornumbers.

86. How many Amazon Echos has Amazon sold in Germany yet?
How many people actually download and use smartwatch apps?
Who uses SIRI or „OK Google“ commands on their smartphone regularily?
How many active users does Proto.io have by now?
How many employers actually demand UX designers who can code?
Cool stuff, but what I‘d be interested to know:

87. What do the numbers behind the numbers look like?
„They already have
a million users!“
„Usage numbers
have doubled!“
„[Big Brand X] also
does it!“
... in China and
South Korea.
... from 1% to 2%. ... with their 20
million $
innovation budget.
„[X] is becoming
increasingly
popular“
... I don‘t have
numbers. Just a
personal feeling.

88. 5.Don‘tforgetreality.

89. „Watchyoungmothers,notgeeks.
Theydon‘thavetimeforanythingthat
isn‘tuseful.“
Clay Shirky (?)

90. Example: Conversational
Banking on
WeChat
(China)

91. Reality Check for German banking customers today:
Does it solve a known
problem in a new, better
way?
Do our customers have
the problem?
Does it fit their culture
and media usage
patterns?
Yes: It‘s faster and more
convenient than opening
a banking app, logging
in, etc.
Yes: Checking balance
and transferring money
are top tasks for them
Are they as keen as us to try
& adapt new things?
How about German data
protection Angst?
Do they chat? Is there sth. like
WeChat in Germay?
OK, Whatsapp is no 1 here
– do they have a dev
platform for bots?

92. OK,sothiswontbeakillersolutionfor
Germanbankingcustomersfornow.
Buttomorrow...?

93. 6.Knowyourmotivationand
expectation.

94. Why try new routes?
I want to create actual
business & user value
here and now.
I want to try new things
and become ready
for the future.
I want to be perceived
as innovative by others.
Caution: Will the new hot
thing be the best solution
for the biggest impact?
That‘s a great side effect
(and a buy-in strategy) –
but shouldn‘t be an end
in itself.
Experimentation leads to
failure, learning and
higher flexibility!
Your investment will bear
fruit some day.

95. 7.Rememberwhatalwayscountsinthe
end.

96. Despitehypes,thingsareconstantly
changing.
Isthereanythingconstanttosticktoas
designer?

97. Wedesignforpeopleandtheirneeds.
Peopledon‘tchangeasfastastechnology
anddesigntrends.

98. Weuseaprocessthathelpsusunderstand
aproblembeforesolvingit.

99. Wehavetwobrainhalvesandwe‘reable
tousethemboth.
CREATIVITY
IMAGINATION
HOLISTIC THINKING
FEELING
INTUITION
LOGIC
ANALYSIS
FACTS
LINEAR
LANGUAGE

100. Weourselvesarealsoactorsofchange.By
design,weinfluencetheexperienceand
valueofnewthings.

101. Changeisnotachallengetoourjob,but
oneofitsconstantcharacteristics.
Resilienceisacorecompetence.

103. resilience:
„The capacity of a person
system to maintain its core
purpose in the face of
changed circumstances.“

104. „Resilience is an essential
skill in an age of
unforeseeable disruption
and volatility.
It means to stay on your
path while expanding the
range of alternatives that
you can embrace if you
need to.“

105. Danke!
@r000pert
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