Last term, I researched the topic of Social Design, more specifically: Social Poster Design. Unfortunately, while enjoying learning more about it, I eventually hit a wall. Simply not enough research exists about what a “good” Social Poster should look like or what social impact in can have. Even though I was fascinated by the subject, I decided it would be better to switch to a different topic. In addition, I have a lot of passion for poster design but especially when considering the future, I would rather like to use my master’s degree to hone my digital skills a little further.
As a result, I decided to switch to the topic of UX/UI design. While working as a web designer prior to my studies at FH, I already familiarized myself with some issues and practices in this area. For a possible research topic, I started out by mind mapping different points of interest, while keeping my own skillset in mind.
On the one hand, I am very interested in inclusivity in design. Especially since the current EU directive on the expansion of accessibility requires the implementation of measures by mid-2025, the topic is very urgent. However, I feel that already a lot of research has been done in this area and many students already wrote their thesis on this topic.
Secondly, I considered some minor ideas surrounding the gamification of sustainable behaviour, emotions in UX/UI design and typography in the web. However, all those topics did not really strike a nerve with me.
My final idea, and the idea I would like to proceed with, was born out of the consideration of my own roots. As a communication designer, it could make sense to work on a topic at the intersection of UX/UI design and “traditional” graphic/communication design. In this liminal space, I found myself intrigued by the topic of aesthetics in UX/UI design. There seems to be a long history in the debate of a “beautiful” design vs. functionality. The visual appearance of UX/UI design changed over time and also differs from culture to culture. I would like to focus my following research on this and find out
…how important aesthetics are for UX/UI design?
…what the connection between the two of them is?
…how UX/UI aesthetics changed over time?
…what are the current UX/UI design trends?
…how does culture influence the visual appearance of UX/UI?
