Interactivity and Internet Communication

7 Important Interactive Design Trends for 2015

Here is a list of what Michael Meder  thinks are the emerging trends for interactive website designs in 2015.

1. Mobile First Responsive Design

While this isn't a new trend, it is important to recognize the strength in the mobile audience. They mobile audience is about to outnumber the desktop audience, so websites must learn to cater to them. This presents difficulties with one code that will work perfectly across many devices.

2. Flat Design

Have you noticed the slight change in the look of your apps on your iPhone as you upgrade to the new one each year? The design is called flat design and gained momentum over the last couple year. This trend is catered to the mobile audience, since icons now have clean typography, are easily scalable, and a small memory footprint.

3. Responsive Interactive Infographics (aka Webgraphics)

This trend has taken infographics and made them interactive. The new infographic style, or webgraphic, creates a memorable and fun experience by adding interactive elements and animations.

4. Focus on Typography

As previously mentioned, in the past year responsive design and flat design have become increasingly popular as to make sure that sites are consistent across all platforms.

5. Long Pages, Shallow Websites

Websites are starting to include only a single-page long-scrolling experience. This again caters to the mobile user, who wants to scroll rather than click to experience a webpage. Websites like Tumblr and Pinterest come to mind, that you can endlessly scroll without ever have to click on something to gain more information.

6. Bigger Images

Over the past couple years more designers are using full screen images, and is now showing up on mobile platforms as well.

7. Video Backgrounds

This trend is not seen on mobile because of certain restraints. Websites like Square Space and Take Your Pulse use engaging video backgrounds to add personality to a layout.  

I think it is important to note that most of these trends are focused on the mobile user and making sure that websites are consistent among all platforms. This shows the extent that the internet is in our life. Many of us cannot stand to leave our phones at home, or to not look at our phone multiple times within an hour. The internet is connected to us almost every second of every day. You no longer need to startup a bulky desktop computer to access it. So it makes sense that interactivity would shift to encompass the shift from desktop to mobile users, while still ensuring that you get the same experience on your phone or your desktop. The way we communicate with and on the internet is still evolving as we move towards a more mobile internet.

Measuring interactivity with these new trends may be a bit more difficult. One way to measure interactivity would be to have viewers fill out surveys after a couple seconds on the website to see how much they have enjoyed it. This could be tricky because you don't want to annoy the user with a pop up or discourage interactivity, but you would want to see want features they like or didn't like and if they had fun with it. You can also measure how long a user was on the site and with a heatmap for where the mouse was, or finger in the case of mobile phones, to see how much they interacted with the website.

Information and Networks

I agree with Reed's Law the most as it applies to Web 2.0 and how the majority of people use media today. The way people interact with the internet has changed and therefore their power has changed. Reed's Law states that the utility of a network with n members increases exponentially. This explains why videos, such as the ice bucket challenge, go viral. In this example, one person started a video and then posted it for his "friends" on Facebook to see. Then his/her friends could share their video version of the ice bucket challenge with their "friends." With each share, the network of people that this video reaches grows exponentially.

However, I also believe that Sarnoff's Law and Metcalfe's Law are valid when discussing specific networks.  Sarnoff's Law states that the value of network increases linearly with the number of people on it. This works with traditional television shows. The power of a television show is based on the number of people who watch it. So if 50 people watch a show, then advertisement on the show would have the power to reach 50 people.

Metcalfe's Law states that a communication network with n number, each member can make n-1 connections. So its power is roughly to its square. For example on a phone network increases with each user. A single phone is useless, but the more people on it the more valuable the network.

Five years from now I think our smart phones will be more advanced so that they know how we are feeling. It will be able to sort through information and present what I would want to see in that moment. Although I hope that we have a way to block what information we don't want in the moment. I also believe there will be a bigger shift to put everything online and smart phone compatible. Laptops are already becoming too cumbersome to carry around. It is easier to access everything from my smart phone.