10 UX design shifts you can’t ignore in 2026
Another year, another wave of “What to expect in 2026” guides. I’m sure you’ve already scrolled through a few.
In this article, the first one I’ll be publishing this year, I won’t make bold predictions. Instead, I’m sharing what I’m observing firsthand while collaborating with enterprise design teams, and from all the news, conversations, and insights I’ve gathered at the many conferences I’ve attended in the past months.
These are my top 10 UX design shifts I’m seeing for 2026, with AI (surprise!) at the center of it all.
1. Explainable AI becomes non-negotiable
When users interact with AI tools, many walk away uncertain about what the system actually did or the reasoning behind its decisions. This is a design challenge we can address.
Products are already displaying their reasoning upfront, communicating decisions in accessible language, and allowing users to intervene when the AI makes mistakes. In 2026, this adoption will accelerate.
The explainable AI market is expected to reach $33.2 billion by 2032, as people won’t trust systems they can’t understand. The difference between AI products people adopt and those they abandon may come down to one simple question: do users know what the system just created in response to their prompts?
2. Agentic UX and human-agent ecosystems
With 88% of business leaders planning to increase AI budgets for agentic capabilities, AI agents are becoming a strategic priority. This aligns with something else happening: users are developing stronger intuitions about where, how, and when these agents deliver genuine value versus when they just get in the way.
The result is consolidation. Rather than juggling dozens of fragmented agents that each handle one narrow task, master agents will coordinate specialized agents automatically. They’ll route work based on task type, context, and importance, powered by advances in LLM reasoning that make this orchestration possible for the first time.
Designers must build experiences for these human-agent ecosystems. That means overseeing agent lifecycles, managing handoffs between agents so context doesn’t get lost, and defining the exact moments when humans should step in. It’s a different kind of design problem than we’re used to solving.
3. Dynamic, personalized interfaces generated on demand
Large language models like Gemini 3 Pro now generate interactive, customized interfaces in real-time for individual prompts. Research shows these interfaces matched human expert-designed work 44% of the time, which is impressive given they are generated in seconds.
Instead of handing off fixed screens, designers will craft constraints, safety rails, and evaluation criteria that shape how these model-driven interfaces operate. They’ll be designing the rules that generate interfaces on the fly, adapting to what each user needs in that specific moment.
4. Voice interfaces finally find their moment
Voice technology has been heralded as transformative for over a decade. In 2026, it stops attempting to replace typing and begins complementing it effectively. Indeed, in the US alone, 157.1 million people are expected to use voice assistants by the end of next year.
We’ll see context-aware, multimodal experiences rise. These interfaces blend voice, touch, and visuals depending on user actions. Strong UX design accounts for situations when people’s hands are occupied (cooking, driving, carrying things…) or their surroundings make typing impractical, like when you’re in a meeting or walking between buildings.
5. Micro-interactions become the language
Think back to when those small animations and hover effects were extras designers tacked on at the project’s end, like decorative flourishes. A button shifting color, a progress indicator filling, a brief celebration when you finish a task… we considered them nice-to-have details that made things feel polished but weren’t really necessary.
These micro-interactions now serve as the primary communication method between interfaces and users. They confirm actions without requiring people to pause and digest confirmation messages and provide feedback that keeps you oriented without interrupting your flow.
Interfaces lacking them feel unresponsive, similar to conversing with someone who never makes eye contact or nods to show they’re listening. The interaction feels off, even if you can’t immediately pinpoint why.
To learn more about the importance of micro-interactions and how they enhance user experience, I recommend reading Dan Saffer’s Microinteractions: Designing with Details and Kolte & Rao’s 2024 study Exploring Microinteractions in Human–Computer Interaction.
6. AR transitions from demonstration to daily application
I’ve attended countless impressive AR demonstrations at industry conferences over the years. Witnessed innovative concepts, watched cool demos, then returned to my desk wondering “when would I genuinely use this for actual work?” The gap between what looked impressive on stage and what I’d incorporate into my everyday workflow was always enormous.
That disconnect between impressive showcase and practical tool is narrowing. For example, retail businesses enable you to visualize furniture in your space before purchasing. This is now a decision-making tool!
Design teams are already using AR to evaluate designs in the real world, not just on screens. By placing 3D models into the physical spaces where they’ll exist, teams can identify spatial and layout problems early.
Treeview’s Spatial Computing Industry Statistics Report 2025 shows AR adoption surging, moving beyond demos. This means designers now need to make AR easy to use, reliable, and practical for everyday tasks.
7. Personalization that respects boundaries
Users want personalized experiences until they realize what the system needs to know to deliver them. Predicting what you need before you ask sounds helpful, but it requires constant behavior tracking to work.
Consider Netflix’s recommendation engine. It succeeds because users consciously chose a service centered on personalization. Everyone knows Netflix watches what you watch, and that’s the deal you signed up for. Contrast this with retail websites tracking your activity across countless unrelated sites to display ads for products you glanced at once. Identical technology, vastly different user perception of whether it’s valuable or intrusive.
The best enterprise software gives users control over how much the system adapts to them and makes privacy settings visible. 2026 could mark the year companies master adapting to user preferences without intrusive surveillance, giving you the personalization benefits without the feeling that something’s watching your every move.
8. Accessibility becomes foundational, not supplemental
Accessibility can’t be an afterthought or a compliance checkbox anymore. In one of my latest Forbes articles, I discussed how accessible design can drive ROI and become a competitive advantage.
Designing for cognitive diversity from the outset benefits everyone, not just people with disabilities. Motion-sensitivity controls assist people with ADHD alongside those who simply experience dizziness from animations. A clear visual hierarchy helps people with attention challenges and also makes your interface easier for everyone to scan quickly.
Accessibility will likely emerge as one of UX design’s defining conversations in coming years, considering its capacity to transform how we develop products and who can use them effectively.
9. Cross platform UX that works
Users are switching between phones, tablets, laptops, and smartwatches multiple times a day. They go to work, take breaks, return home, and expect their experiences to follow them as they move.
Genuine cross-platform UX means work accompanies you across devices without friction. Initiate a task on mobile during your commute, advance it on desktop when you reach your desk, complete it on tablet during an evening meeting, all without conscious consideration of which device you’re holding or where your files live.
This will feature more prominently in business discussions throughout 2026 as hybrid work models mature and people expect their tools to be as mobile as they are.
10. Biometric authentication becomes the norm
Passwords have been authentication’s vulnerability for years, and the industry is finally advancing beyond them. Nearly a third of cybersecurity leaders have already begun implementing passwordless authentication, with another 38% planning to follow.
People unlock their devices dozens of times daily using facial recognition or fingerprints without conscious thought. That’s established baseline behavior now. Nobody thinks “I’m using biometric authentication” when they glance at their phone to unlock it. It just works.
Biometrics, passkeys, and FIDO2 standards aren’t experimental anymore. Design teams build interfaces, assuming passwordless authentication as standard practice rather than alternative options. The challenge now is how to make the transition smooth for users still clinging to passwords out of habit.
The binding element
People can tell when a product is built to genuinely help them and when it’s built to satisfy internal requirements or check off a list of features.
These UX design shifts respond to that reality by prioritizing products that respect users’ time, intelligence, and privacy. In 2026, success will belong to teams that design with empathy and collaboration, treating users as partners rather than endpoints.
Good design means designing with users at every step. Everything else is just noise.
Learn more about how SAP approaches human-centered design at www.sap.com/design.
Arin Bhowmick (@arinbhowmick) is Chief Design Officer at SAP, based in San Francisco, California. The above article is personal and does not necessarily represent SAP’s positions, strategies or opinions.
10 UX design shifts you can’t ignore in 2026 was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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