8 QUICK DESIGN TIPS FOR 2015 TECH

Ryan Bousfield Creative Director Digital Annexe

FIRST PRESENTED AT DAU2014 EVENT LONDON, NOV 2014

THE NEXT 5 YEARS IN DIGITAL DIGITAL ANNEXE UNIVERSITY 2014

@digitalannexe

TOPICS: • Why? • Wearables • Google Glass • Virtual Reality • Wider considerations • About me  

Why? We like to tinker with new things, some so new they’re still not out yet. The benefit is we find out what works and what doesn’t early on. So here are some of the things we’ve picked up about the tech coming out over the next year.

WEARABLES

1. The user is in control, keep it that way.

When your most intimate “Heartbeat connected” communications are controlled by a watch, buggy-slow apps or the “blue screen of death” simply won’t cut it.

WEARABLES

2. Keep it short.

Watch screens only allow limited content over a limited time. Create a simple hierarchy and keep the content short. Users can always connect to different devices to follow up on the message.

WEARABLES (GOOGLE GLASS)

3. Utilise voice command. The built in voice recognition system in Google Glass is pretty astounding, easy to implement and it can even understand a hybrid Yorkshire/Geordie accent like mine.

VIRTUAL REALITY (VR)

4. One button for all.

A one button “contextual” action works best to allow simple exploration of a virtual world. E.g. “Open the door?”

VIRTUAL REALITY (VR)

5. Episodes.

It will take time to get used to VR content and the hardware is still pretty big. Keep content short and produce episodes of content.

VIRTUAL REALITY (VR)

6. Don’t break the spell.

Virtual Reality is believable because movements are tracked to match real life. As soon as the VR glitches, slows or stops, the immersion is broken. Don’t take people out of this for menus or ads.

WIDER CONSIDERATIONS

7. Link with other things.

The “Internet of Things” is happening already; link your service to others. If you can, go even further and put your service on IFTTT.com, so anyone can officially hack your product or service into their day to day lives.

WIDER CONSIDERATIONS

8. Speak to people, don’t shout at them.

Wearable tech places us closer to users, don’t ruin that intimacy with shouty advertising… Instead, to integrate into users’ lives as something more.

About me.

I'm a Creative Director from a Graphic Design background who jumped in to digital back when it was called multimedia. Some years on, and I have produced apps, utilities, tools, games and countless web sites. I also like Moccasins and Mr. T

@ryanbousfield

THANK YOU