We have collected six of the foremost important trends we expect will define web and mobile experiences in 2019.
Every year, we review the highest trends we expect will influence mobile and web design, experience, and commerce over subsequent 12 months. Our goal? to spot the foremost important ones you would like to be ready for, and provides you a couple of pointers for what to try to to to remain ahead.
So without further ado, here are our top 6 picks for web and mobile trends to observe in 2019!
- Gated Content will Get smaller
We think that the classic Hubspot model of content marketing is on its answer , and corporations who abandon it quickly are best-poised to win in 2019.
First, what’s the Hubspot model?
Content marketing, popularized and enabled first by Hubspot, is where organizations build plenty of content, attract users with low-value (e.g. blog posts) content, then “gate” high-value assets, effectively selling high-value content (e.g. a white paper) in exchange for private information. This is often called a gate, or gated content.
Over time, that user gets “scored” and eventually converts to a marketing qualified lead (MQL) and passed to Sales, who attempt to close a purchase . And for years, this model has worked. However, in 2019 marketers got to get a touch more creative.
People are extremely skeptical of abandoning their info. they’re knowing the system and haven’t any desire to interact with a sales rep only for downloading some Google Docs template. It’s not an excellent experience, and as organizations attempt to make their customer experience frictionless, they’ll start to transform how they capture MQLs for his or her sales processes.
That’s why we expect the thought of “gated content” to fade. Instead, organizations are getting to specialise in building customized content paths, providing specific content to specific people at just the proper time, and use opt-in forms, AI-powered live chat, and other optional lead capture tools to feed their sales team.
How to stay ahead
- Ungate all of your content and build alternative, opt-in forms to drive lead capture.
- Test ungated content and track opt-in vs gated MQLs through to conversion. We suspect that they’ll convert at a better rate, so you’ll need less of them.
- Rethink your content experience. What’s the simplest thanks to provide a frictionless experience for your users, instead of the simplest thanks to capture leads?
- AI-Powered Interactions will Become the Norm
AI tools are getting more and more popular, and we think we’ll start to ascertain this in web design and mobile/web experiences.
In particular, especially within the context of ungated content and conversational marketing, we expect that AI-powered chat functions will become much more common.
AI also will evolve over 2019 to assist analyzing data and supply better, more personalized experiences, identify high- and low-value users, and help businesses provide better products and services. Besides, AI’s tongue processing capabilities will drive further digitalization, enabling better front-end experiences for the users while the machines “sort it out” within the rear.
One thing that we expect also will expand, but not come to fruition, in 2019 is the rise of AI and machine learning-led development. While that field will still advance, we don’t envision AI launching any new apps on their own over subsequent years.
How to stay ahead
- Recognize that this is often a world of buy, not build. AI is extremely difficult to create , and consumers are notoriously short-tempered when it involves bad AI (just check out gamers complaining about playing against the computer!) So first, come to terms with the very fact that any AI tech will probably be purchased.
- That said, don’t buy AI only for the sake of it. Apply an equivalent rigorous tech review process you apply to all or any your tech purchases, specifically around integration. Remember: AI is merely nearly as good because the data you’ve got to power it.
- Identify where in your customer journey there’s friction, and where getting an individual to streamline that friction is operationally inefficient. Those are the points where AI is best .
- Accessibility will not be Optional
Accessibility has, for many organizations, been largely optional up to the present point. However, that optionality is out for 2019.
We think this for a couple of reasons. First, AODA compliance will demand a better standard in 2019 for Canadian businesses. Second, other accessibility compliance frameworks will still put pressure on organizations to satisfy higher standards because of the default, instead of the exception.
Third, in mid-2018, WCAG 2.1 standards were released, including accessibility standards for mobile apps. Now, there’s a transparent guideline and benchmarks that organizations can aim to realize .
And finally, Google. We predict that 2019 is going to be the year that Google takes a really active step by making accessibility a more critical SEO ranking factor, giving businesses of all sizes an incentive to satisfy higher accessibility standards.
How to stay ahead
- Get an accessibility consultant to assist you review your website and app. Establish a benchmark, so you recognize where you’re and what you’ve got to enhance.
- Review your website and app(s) within the context of WCAG 2.1. Are there quick fixes you’ll make which will help you?
- Improve accessibility in small, fast, and cheap ways and track your SEO performance (domain authority, SERP position — however you track it) and see if it improves. Even a little change here is usually a simple thanks to secure buy-in for further accessibility time, resources, and work, and positions you effectively against future Google algorithm updates.
- Design is Getting More Human — and it’s Led by Gradient
Gradients have been available and out a minimum of fourfold over the years. And if 2018 was the year of bold colour blocking, 2019 is going to be the year of sentimental gradients.
Web design is becoming softer and more human. Rounded corners, softer colour palettes, and gentler contrasts are all becoming more popular. Even in historically stodgy and conservative industries (banking, insurance, etc… ), the human side to technology is increasingly the side that’s emphasized.
For example, Stripe’s new website involves a hero gradient, soft colours, and rounded corners on the buttons. The results are a product that feels modern, approachable, and friendly.
How to stay ahead
- Review your website. are you able to change your hero images for gradients
- Review sub-elements within your site and across your brand. Buttons and button states, customized icons, background colours and pictures , even logos themselves are all good opportunities to usher in more gradients.
- Search for opportunities to get images, icons, and sections, in order that they “spill” off the visible page to offer a more immersive experience, instead of a blocked “what you see if what we have” one. Gradients that taper off-screen are superb thanks to doing that.
- Serif Fonts are Back
Finally, at long last, the winds of change are finally shifting the bulwark of flat design that’s sans-serif.
Serif fonts have started cropping up more and more, from Wealthsimple’s logo to Medium’s whole website to style, to internet pros like MailChimp.
Even traditional industries are becoming a shakeup (so soon after they moved to sans-serif logos too!), with Oscar insurance embracing serif fonts on their gorgeous website.
We think this trend is first, an attempt to differentiate during a visually saturated market, and second, a move towards accessibility and better user experience.
While sans-serif font is usually considered fine for block headings, paragraph text is usually considered easier to read in serif typography.
With a stress on user experience, it’s hardly surprising that organizations are moving back towards serif fonts.
How to stay ahead
- Expand your typography horizons. For years, anything serifed was firmly out. Now, there’s more flexibility, so it’d be worth reviewing.
- Consider what you would like your type to try to do . Are you writing flowing paragraphs or snappy headings? You don’t necessarily need an equivalent font for both.
- When you’re considering what font to use for your brand/rebrand, think beyond the quality sans-serif options. There could be options within the serif family that tell your story better and assist you stand out.
- Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) will still Grow
We’ve talked about Progressive Web Apps before. Progressive web apps, or PWAs, are essentially an internet site , built using standard website technology but that behave sort of like a mobile app.
The advantage of a PWA is that:
- you simply got to build and maintain one, vs building and maintaining two apps for Apple and Android
- you’ll build them on an equivalent infrastructure you have already got , rather than building out a replacement tool
- you’ll (usually) use the team you’ve got , instead of building/buying a fanatical “app” team
- your users don’t need to attend a special store to download your app
And with “add to home screen” functionality, Google is making a lively effort to market PWAs as a best practice.
For these reasons, plus the functionality and recognition provided by lightweight, modular frameworks like ReactJS, mean that in 2019 PWAs are set to explode onto the scene. There’ll still be an area for mobile applications, but we expect that space will become increasingly dominated by a couple of specific niches, namely games, with more and more use cases (e.g. an app for a B2B SaaS product) being filled by PWAs.
How to stay ahead
- Build PWAs rather than apps (obviously).
- Clear technical debt which may substitute the way of adopting a more modern framework.
- Think outside the narrow confines of the App Store — start from an area of “what do our users want, and what’s the simplest thanks to provide it?” instead of “we’re building an app. What should be included?”
- Consider the upkeep costs of getting two disconnected content hubs — how are you getting to keep everything up to date?
Wrap up
As always, we’re keen to urge cracking in 2019. Change is afoot, both at a technical and a design level, and we’re excited for all the new ideas, solutions, and ways of doing business which will begin.
We also think that 2019 is going to be the year of customer experience. We believe that the common thread throughout all the trends we reviewed may be a specialization in helping customers get what they need , as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Needless to mention , we’re pretty excited to be along for the ride.
Hope you join us!
