Top 5 Trends Influencing UX in 2012

An interesting question about the state of UX in 2012 was raised on Quora last weekend, one that I actually found quite difficult to answer, given that there are so many cool things rocking the UX world at the moment.

Whether or not my top five influences will be the top five or not remains to be seen, but these are certainly five trends and movements that will have a massive impact on UX over the next 12 months and onwards. This post expands on my answer on Quora, which was written at about 11pm on a sunday night, and so probably wasn't an insightful read.

Collywell Bay, Seaton Sluice

I wasn't feeling well this morning, but I hadn't been out with my camera for a while, so felt compelled to get myself out. I couldn't be chewed to travel far, so I took a short trip back to Collywell Bay to see if there were any better viewpoints. The only radically different viewpoint I found was this little cave.

EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 133secs : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 1.2 ND

 

This was shot from the top of the cliff. At 50mm, my Zeiss lens flattens everything out, so St. Mary's Lighthouse was barely noticeable. I headed down onto the rocks to see if I could get closer, without getting the other half dozen photographers down there in my shot.

EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 45secs : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Soft Grad : Lee 0.9 ND Hard Grad : Lee Big Stopper

 

I managed to get down in time to catch the sun just above the lighthouse. It's difficult to get a good even exposure on a shot like this, even with the ND Grads. This was the least burnt-out version of the three I shot before the sun disappeared behind a cloud.

EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 39secs : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Soft Grad : Lee 0.9 ND Hard Grad : Lee Big Stopper

 

Closer still, the lighthouse looked better, but there was a distinct lack of foreground interest and what there was was hard to get in shot with a 50mm prime. I think it's about time I saved up to get myself a super-wide - perhaps an 18mm or 21mm.

EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 180secs : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Soft Grad : Lee 0.9 ND Hard Grad : Lee Big Stopper

 

I only got one run at this one, as the sea was swirling in around my ankles. Thankfully my new GoreTex Salomons lived up to their reputation and kept me dry, but my filters were getting sprayed, so I had to head home.

EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 100secs : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 ND Soft Grad : Lee 0.9 ND Hard Grad : Lee Big Stopper

 

Warning: If you're planning on heading over to Collywell Bay, be seriously careful over at the Seaton Sluice end, as it's very slippery and there are tons of plunge-holes big enough for a grown man to disappear, and deep enough that it would be difficult to climb out of. The number of flower wreaths tied to fences on the way down serve as a grim warning! The New Hartley end isn't so treacherous.

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Kielder Water

After the weather sent me a curve ball last weekend, I decided to try Kielder Water again this morning. The weather wasn't much better, but at least it wasn't pissing down!

EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 0.5sec : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 Hard Grad

 

EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 80sec : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 Hard Grad : Lee 0.9 ND

 

EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 35sec : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 Hard Grad : Lee 0.9 ND

 

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Minority Report UX just around the corner...?

 
Okay, so it needs some refining, but Russian company Displair has come up with an exciting new technology that projects images on to a stream of cold fog, and uses an infra-red camera to track hand gestures. Having boot-strapped this prototype together with minimal government funding, I image it's only a matter of time before they get some serious funding together!

Read the full story at TechCrunch...

Collywell Bay, Seaton Sluice

I was missing the cold wetness of getting soaked to the bollocks in the North Sea, so I took a short drive across to Collywell Bay in Seaton Sluice this morning to shoot St. Mary's Lighthouse.

EXIF: 50mm : f/1.4 : 8sec : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 Hard Grad : Lee 0.9 ND

 

I was running late, and by the time I got there I didn't have time to change into my trusty waders, so I had to go down onto the rocks in my trainers. This wasn't too bad, but the tide was coming in fast, and with 5 minute exposures, the sea was sloshing around my ankles by the time I got some decent shots.

EXIF: 50mm : f/1.4 : 19sec : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 Hard Grad : Lee 0.9 ND

 

It wasn't until I'd been there for about 15 minutes that I realised I was sitting in some other photographer's shot! Really sorry, whoever you are; I hate it when people do that to me. I'm just a skinny wee fella, so hopefully I wasn't too much trouble to remove!

EXIF: 50mm : f/1.4 : 311sec : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 Hard Grad : Lee 0.9 ND

 

Despite being out of practice with long exposures and becoming photoshop-fodder in someone else's picture, I came away with some okay shots. Nothing startling or new, but nice nonetheless, and hopefully something a little different from the usual shots we see of the lighthouse.

EXIF: 50mm : f/1.4 : 285sec : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 : Lee 0.9 Hard Grad : Lee 0.9 ND

 

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Bishop Auckland, County Durham

I had originally planned to drive up to Scremerston this morning, but slept in. So I decided to drive back down to Bishop Auckland and see if I could get some of the shots I hadn't been able to get last week due to the crappy weather.

EXIF: 50mm : f/1.4 : HDR : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4

 

The weather wasn't much better this week. The only shots I was anywhere near pleased with were the two from the bridge with the sky aflame. Although my HDR skills are improving, I'm still not completely comfortable with it as a technique. It somehow feels synthetic and unnatural.

EXIF: 50mm : f/1.4 : HDR : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4

 

The bridge gives a good vantage point, although you need a tall tripod to see over the anti-suicide fence. On the other side of the bridge (heading out of the town centre) is a small picnic area, which also has a good viewpoint.

EXIF: 50mm : f/1.4 : HDR : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4

 

At the picnic area, heading back to my car, I saw another photographer - a portly fellow - who couldn't even be bothered to get out of his car. He was leaning half in and half out of the door and using his big zoom to frame his shot. It made me feel all the more assured that the secret to great photography is getting out there and putting the effort in!

I was tempted to tell him that if he got his fat arse out of the car and walked 10m across the grass, there was a breathtaking viewpoint to be on the other side of the hill. I didn't though. Guess he'll never know what he missed.

EXIF: 50mm : f/1.4 : HDR : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4

 

I drove further along to Hamsterley in the hope of seeing the evergreen valley shrouded in mist, but was sorely disappointed. I'll try later in the year when the ground is frosty and the magic hour sun evaporates the dew.

EXIF: 50mm : f/1.4 : HDR : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4

 

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Aruna Ratanagiri Monastery, Northumberland

I was eager to continue my experiments with inland photography, so I took a short drive up to Belsay this morning. I'd been that way numerous times on my motorbike, and figured that with the right light, it would be pretty breathtaking. I didn't know at the time that it would lead me to one of the most bizarre mornings I've ever experienced.

EXIF: 50mm : f/1.4 : 1/250 sec : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4

 

I passed a huge hill that offered the best possible vantage point looking east toward the coast, and turned into a side-road to see if I could get up there. The road led all the way to the top, where a farm - or at least what I thought was a farm - was situated with 360˚ views of the Northumbrian hills.

When I got out of the car, I was met by a friendly Dutchman by the name of Herman. At first I thought he might be the farmer, and that I was about to be kicked off his land - that was until he offered to make me some breakfast!

EXIF: 50mm : f/16 : 1/15 sec : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4

 

I politely declined, as I didn't have much time before magic hour and I wanted to explore the hillside for the best possible viewpoint, and went on my way.

With the sun tucked between the trees, my ND Grads weren't much use, so I took the opportunity to experiment with HDR. I've tried it in the past, and was never satisfied with the results, but I was determined to get it right. All of my wide landscape shots are HDR, albeit very subtle (I'm not a big fan of over-processed HDR).

EXIF: 50mm : f/1.4 : 1/15 sec : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4

 

Further down the hill, I found a tiny broken-down play park, with some makeshift swings and a crooked old bridge. When I leaned against one of the supporting trees, it almost came down on top of me, as the whole thing was rotted and brittle.

What made this place all the more weird was the strange singing noise drifting down from the top of the hill on the wind. It was very slight, but I was sure it was definitely not my tinnitus, and in the dead silence of the morning was actually quite comforting.

EXIF: 50mm : f/1.4 : 1/40 sec : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4

 

When I returned to the car, Herman was waiting for me, and told me had a surprise for me. With a glint in his eye, he took me to what I thought was the farm building at the top of the hill, and invited me inside. It was in fact a working Buddhist monastery, and the singing I had heard on the hillside had been the monks.

Inside the monastery was a beautiful Buddhist temple that Herman told me he had helped to build some twenty years ago from the ruins of an old farm building. It sounds odd to say it, but the building filled me with an overwhelming sense of goodwill.

EXIF: 50mm : f/1.4 : 1/400 sec : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4

 

He made me a cup of tea, and told me that he and his wife travel across from Holland each year to spend four weeks looking after the monks. The monks apparently can't cook for themselves, nor do their own gardening (for fear of killing worms and other creatures), so they're somewhat dependant on kindly volunteers to help them get by.

It was a strange little place, and yet very tranquil. Herman and his wife were lovely people, and even the sheep were quite sociable. My only regret was that I didn't get a photograph of Herman, although I did get his email address to send him some of my pictures.

EXIF: 50mm : f/1.4 : 1/200 sec : Canon EOS 5D Mark II : Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4

 

Click on any of the photos to see them full-size against black, and please do leave a comment below if you like the photos.