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XD Ideas   /   Principles   /   Emerging Technology

Emerging Technology

New and emerging technologies like augmented and virtual reality are reshaping the ways we live and work, and their effects naturally influence product development. Product creators quickly embrace new capabilities and turn them into valuable products. Emerging technologies also require designers to rethink the fundamentals of human-computer interactions. Read on for the latest updates on this new frontier of technology and how UX design is adapting to emerging tech.

Emerging Technology

How Nina Oria-Loureiro Designed an Accessible Login Experience with Voice

By Matt Rae

Nina Oria-Loureiro created the top prototype using XD’s voice features, designing with accessibility in mind.

Emerging Technology

Voice Technology’s Role in Our Rapidly Changing World

By Mark Webster

The latest results of our voice survey show users are embracing the technology in more ways than ever.

Emerging Technology

Designing for the Differences Between AR & VR

By Will Fanguy

Virtual reality and augmented reality aren’t just for movies and video games anymore. Learn about the differences here.

Emerging technologies like voice UI (VUI), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI) are characterized by novelty, growth rate, and impact on human life. With so many new inventions, it is imperative for design practices to quickly transform their process to adapt to these new technologies.

AR/VR devices are also having a significant impact on education and entertainment. Through the use of these devices, it’s possible to immerse users in experiences within augmented or virtual worlds. Today, you no longer need to imagine what the world of ancient Greece looked like based on pictures or videos you’ve seen. Instead, you can simply put on a VR headset that will transport you back in time virtually so you can see and experience it with your own eyes.

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What New Technologies Are Emerging?

Technology is evolving faster than ever, and understanding trends in emerging tech can help organizations prepare for opportunities and seize them when they come. Emerging technology is ever-evolving, but some of the most buzzed-about trends are IoT, 5G data networks, autonomous driving, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality.

What New Technologies Are Emerging in Education?

VR technology can engage students in subjects like geography, history, literature, and beyond by offering immersive senses of place and time. With VR, students are no longer limited to words in a textbook. Now, they can visit anywhere in the world, at nearly any time in history. Not only does this help students who are visual learners, but it encourages creativity and inspires emotional reactions.

Emerging tech in education also lends itself to virtual field trips and even high-tech training. VR education can help highly technical training fields like the medical and military industries through immersive, virtual learning.

AR/VR devices are also very helpful for designers; they can be used to explore and experience products as they would look and behave in real-world settings in a simulated environment. We can expect more significant changes in industrial design and architecture due to this technology as well.

What Are the Impacts of Emerging Technologies?

Emerging tech is calling on designers to think “beyond the screen” and take a deep dive into a new world of possibilities to create rich immersive experiences powered by voice, AR/VR, and AI.

The significant evolution of smart assistants, such as Apple’s Siri, makes it clear that AI will power the next generation of digital devices. In a not so distant future, artificial intelligence will be able to predict and solve key problems for us, even before they’re evident for users.

Other voice-first devices, such as the Amazon Echo, help people find information and complete tasks such as checking the weather using voice inputs alone. Voice-based interactions are also extremely valuable in certain situations, like when driving a car, because they are much less distracting compared to interactions with traditional graphical user interfaces.

Even the most advanced technologies are nothing without great design. Experience design plays a vital role in the successful creation and adoption of emerging tech; at the same time, emerging technologies are the next great frontier for user experience. Many common design language decisions and heuristics related to emerging technology are yet to be clearly defined.

Now is an excellent opportunity for designers to use the knowledge they have about prototyping to build engaging and innovative user experiences with new tech.

Read on for more details on the many new forms of emerging technology, as we regularly post about the latest discoveries and developments in UX design knowledge.

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Emerging Technology

Best Practices in Voice User Interface (VUI) Design

By Will Fanguy

A voice user interface (VUI) needs special design considerations. Here are some best practices for designing for VUIs.

Emerging Technology

How to Prototype Your VR Project Without Code

By Patricia Reiners

For designers working with VR, prototyping is paramount to testing your solution.

Emerging Technology

What Is Computer Vision & How Does it Work? An Introduction

By Nick Babich

In this article, we will review the concept of computer vision and how this technology evolved.

Wireframing Automation & AI for UX Design
Wireframing

Wireframing Automation and Artificial Intelligence for UX Design

By Nick Babich

Learn what the future holds for wireframing technology and AI as part of this process.

Illustration of the letters AI
User Research

Heuristic Analysis in UX Design for Artificial Intelligence

By Nick Babich

Heuristic analysis supports user research and minimizes the risk of post-release product failure.

yellow x marks on a black background
SoDA Series

Design & Responsibility at the Dawn of Interspace

By North Kingdom

Interspace is a future that is screenless, searchable, and contextually relevant. What does the future of tech really look like?

abstract shape in the background with a blue outline of an augmented reality sketch on top
SoDA Series

In Developing AR Experiences, Creatives Must See the World Through a New Lens

By Remco Vroom

Learn how designers can equip themselves to deliver best-in-class designs for augmented reality.

An abstract image of green circular squiggles on a blue background
SoDA Series

Voice in the Roaring 20’s: Platform Disruption, Multimodal, and Voice SEO

By Dr. Joan Palmiter Bajorek

Tech giants are investing heavily in developing voice technology hardware and software. Is voice the next gold rush?

An abstract depiction of emerging technologies at work in design.
Emerging Technology

Emerging Technologies in UX Design

By Oliver Lindberg

Technology is evolving at a dizzying speed. The world wide web is just 30 years old but it has changed massively over the last three decades. Now we all carry powerful computers in our pockets, which means that the way we design has transformed, too. W

Image of a square with light beams in the pattern of a grid emitting from the center of it
Emerging Technology

Yes, AI Has a Carbon Footprint – So How Do We Deal With It?

By George Kafka

One of the foundational materials of computer science is an endless piece of tape. “An unlimited memory capacity obtained in the form of an infinite tape, marked out into squares,” is how Alan Turing described his 1936 mathematical model and the forefa

Photograph of a woman with an AR mask penciled in over her face.
Emerging Technology

UX Design Principles for Augmented Reality

By Nick Babich

Over the past several years, augmented reality (AR) technology has established a home in entertainment, marketing, education, and many other industries. The use of AR apps in the enterprise will grow to $2.4 billion in 2019. On the flip side, augmented

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