Creative Predictions for 2015 and beyond!

Creatives must stay constantly apprised of current trends and styles, and must be able to change course at a moment's notice. How is it that we're able to accomplish this? We're all soothsayers. We gaze deep into the future. Literally. Paul has already watched the series finale of "Better Call Saul", and Jared has foreseen the terrible "smart refrigerator" hack of 2017 (hundreds hospitalized with food poisoning due to hacked temperature controls and rowdy deviled eggs). We've seen amazing and terrifying things! Robots, augmented reality, the chilling rise of Jaden and Willow Smith, drones, bla bla bla. However, I'm really just interested in what the future has in store for my colleagues and my job!

Here are a few predictions for the coming years!

Redefinition of our roles

No, robots and AI aren't going to take our jobs...yet. However, I do foresee a change for designers. I hesitate to say we'll be working less in Photoshop, but I believe our deliverables will never be the same. 2013 and 2014 were the year of the "mood board" or "style tile," whereby we establish mock styles in an effort to get some ideas on the table at a high level. Similarly, we often design what we call the "kitchen sink" composition that includes as many default element styles (headers, forms, blockquotes, buttons, etc) as possible for a site and our developers. In the future, we'll take this a step further, setting guidelines and designing systems as opposed to rigid compositions. As a more agile process takes hold, we'll see the lines between creative and UX become even more blurred. Traditional deliverables like individual flat page designs become less important as prototypes and real time development becomes widespread.

Mobile first, with a catch

Mobile first is hugely important for all kinds of reasons we've already covered. We've seen a ton of big names roll out their responsive redesigns. However, a lot of these pay more attention to mobile and modular chunks than they do the big picture. 2015 will be the year that we not only create solid mobile work, but also shift attention back to cohesive and rich experiences on ALL screens, especially larger ones. Christopher Ratcliff recently described this as "mobile first, but not only" which I think sums it up pretty well.

Death of break points

Content should and will dictate your responsive design "breakpoints." The idea of "Mobile, Tablet, and Desktop" is already on its last legs. Create your breakpoints where they make sense and complement the content. Utilize every corner of real estate to provide the best experience. 2015 will be the year that new conventions and mentality inadvertently reignite the debate about "pixel perfect" design and "the fold."

Return of concept and metaphor

“Practice safe design; Use a concept”
― Petrula Vrontikis

Flat design has been all the rage for several years now, and the community needed it! However, over the coming months, clients and users alike grow weary of generic looking and interchangeable layouts. Without a strong visual metaphor to tie everything together, "flat design" becomes the "rounded corners" of 2015. "Flat" and "Clean" are attributes, not concepts. I'm not saying you won't see clean or "flat" work, but the successful ones will be accompanied by strong messaging and ties to real world elements and familiar concepts.

Wearable tech

Wearables and smart watches are a hot topic right now, but won't be as big as we imagine. They will, however, force one thing: distillation of brands into hyper-digestable formats. Companies will have to think long and hard about representing themselves within a truly limited space. I can take my pulse with my bare hand or smartphone, so certain "useful" features of wearables will be lost on many. A more useful scenario would be my watch detecting the motion of my hand going for my wallet and giving me a discreet representation of my checking balance for example. Data visualization will evolve in 2015 beyond infographics and will manifest in unique and surprisingly custom ways.

Welcome back...

Motion to convey emotion

We've been missing subtle and rich animation for while now. Comeback time!

Made by hand

3D printing had a rough start. A resurgence of handcrafted physical goods forces people to rethink personal design. I expect to see retailers offering unique customizations based on more industrial custom fabrication and integration. RadioShack may be closing, but we'll still see a new breed of tinkerers experimenting with product design in new ways.

"Desktop" computing

As smartphones and tablets become more powerful, we'll see a decrease in laptop use, but also a spike in people wanting powerful workstations where they can ground themselves and interact in ways that are limited on touch and wearable devices. With cloud computing becoming more mainstream, we can access our data from anywhere on any device. The same way we see laptops and docks today, I predict we'll see a new evolution on that concept, without the need to carry a laptop around wherever you go.