16 Design trends, 2017

December is a good time to introspect. Design activities slow down due to Christmas and you get some time to reflect on what’s been the ride like!. It also helps to get a bird’s eye view of what worked for you and what did not and most importantly why? I discussed my learnings with friends and I am not very surprised to get similar feedback on their learnings. When amplified they do seem like trends worth sharing.

1. Design today has moved up the ladder — articulate and own the ‘problem space’, not limiting to ‘form giver’ to a solution.

2. Designers continue to address only a part of the problem. Larger issues are visible but cannot be solved by design alone, you need sensible people, deeper connections, great processes, well-articulated frameworks, and greater collective value for life.

3. Design will continue to react to external forces as competition gets amplified. Not all reactions may not undergo a process of fine humanised detailing.

4. Design is far away from addressing the “Ways of nature” and frankly no one is ready to think about it seriously. But design will tail with AI, VR, AR, Batteries, Solar, Brain-chips, Robotics, IOT, Nanotech, Biotech, and many other scientific tricks that show a promise to shape the material future.

5. The design will continue to drive Global ideas focussed on core human behaviours and replace traditional habits, local ideas will be limited to geography or community.

6. Design today works better as a collaborative process. New tools will speed up this process rapidly.

7. Design’s love affair with tech is over, today it is married, I do not see a divorce in near future.

8. Many designers hope to move Design from a “Problem-solving framework” to address the zone of human emotions, increased sensibilities, and sensitivities. Designers will join Marketers, psychologists, and neuroscientists at this party!

9. Design today is everybody’s business, stakeholders continue to surprise you with their fancies.

10. It is easier to hire a Designer today, but not so easy to get an “involved” one. Today’s designers sketch lesser but may use “Sketching” software more, creating a gap between conceptual and practical.

11. The design has moved away from simply 2–3 dimensional output to a more holistic outlook involving people, business, tech, services, and so forth — Designers are naturally more burdened! Designers struggle to ‘Bill’ this complexity.

12. Corporates are more likely to influence “Design Philosophies” than Design Schools or Individual Practitioners.

13. “Expression” and “Refined Language” the next frontier of Design that our traditional craftsmen mastered have still not found their place, due to rapid advancements in new tools and the shrinking time of projects.

14. The design has found its way in persuading people into buying experiences hence accepted by businesses.

15. Many Tech tools are geared up to replace mundane design activities with Machine Learning.

16. You see a rise in Designer Entrepreneurs. Design process is capable of shaping new ideas rapidly with end consumers and validating businesses.

Design is not science nor does it have any magic formula for success, it is an iterative process that hopes to improvise the quality of living. Trends show us general directions in which we are approaching this journey.