DESIGN GLOSSARY
A-Z of Enterprise UX Design and Front-End Engineering
- A -
A/B Testing
The comparison of two designs against each other to determine which performs better.
Accessibility
Designing experiences for people with disabilities.
Affinity Diagramming
An exercise used to organise a large number of data and ideas, sorting them into groups based on their natural relationships and into more meaningful categories.
Affordance
Affordances are clues that tell us how an element should behave.
Alert
Use alerts to deliver a persistent, in-app message that informs users of a particular change state.
Accessible design
Accessibility or accessible design helps users of all abilities to interact with a product.
Accordion
In UI design, an accordion is a type of menu that vertically stacks items that lets the user expand and collapse the content.
Alignment
Alignment is the design principle that is used to create structure and readability. It builds order and helps lead people through your design.
Animation
In UI terms, animation is the act of adding motion to any UI element to improve a product's interactivity.
Adobe Xd
It is one of the most popular UX design tools and is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, it's a vector-based design tool used for creating wireframes, prototypes and animations.
Adaptive
An adaptive interface is a collection of layouts designed specifically for different devices. it detects the device type being used and displays the layout designed for it.
Analytics
Analytics measure human behaviour on a site. They help us better understand and interpret patterns of behaviour on the products we use.
API
This is actually used mostly by developers but designers use this term as part of everyday work as well.
Agile software development
A software development process in which requirements (and solutions) evolve through the collaborative effort between product development teams and their customers.
Augmented reality
A technology that adds a computer-generated, visual layer on top of the real world.
Avatar
Avatars represent users online who have not uploaded an image for themselves. It is commonly seen in comment threads or in games.
Audit
A UX audit reviews an existing product (or an aspect of the product) to identify issues in the overall user experience.
Agile
Agile is an incremental approach to software development. Instead of building the entire product at once, Agile breaks it down into smaller bits of user functionality and assigns them to two week cycles we call “iterations.”
Analytics
Analytics measure human behavior on a site. They help to better understand and interpret patterns of behavior on the products we use.
Android
Android is Google's open source mobile operating system. Visually, it is characterized by Material Design, a design language developed by Google in 2014.
- B -
Benchmarking
Evaluating a user interface, against a standard or external comparator.
Branding
The process of communicating a unique selling proposition sets a product or service apart from the competition.
Breadcrumb
Type of navigation that helps users understand their location in a website or app.
Banner
A banner displays an important, succinct message, and provides actions for users to address. It requires a user action to be dismissed.
Button
A graphical or web element that executes an action when clicked.
Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs allow users to see their current location within the system.
Baseline
The baseline is the invisible line where text sits on a page. In UI design, the baseline is an important measuring tool between text and any other elements.
Bento menu
Named after the Japanese lunch box that packs meals into neat sections, a bento menu is a menu with gridded items. It provides an overview of multiple items at once.
Beta testing
Beta testing is when one launches an unfinished product to a select group of users in order to see how it performs in the real world.
Brand Identity
Brand identity captures and conveys the essence of what a company is all about. It's built on company values and how they want people to feel when they interact with the products or service.
Back-end development
In software, the backend concerns the portion that the user doesn't see, acting as the backbone logic and code that gives an application functionality.
Backlog
The backlog is a list of tasks to be completed. The list is prioritized and ideally the tasks will be completed in the order listed.
Beacon
Beacons are small Bluetooth radio transmitters. They communicate with the user's smartphone and are used to share information.
Bug
Bugs are mistakes in software that can cause a product to glitch, behave in unintended ways, or even crash.
- C -
Call-To-Action
A message that encourages a reader, or a consumer to take an action on the website.
Card Sorting
The process of generating ideas and solutions in a short amount of time.
Case Study
A UX case study presents the process of how a particular design problem was solved.
Customer Experience
CX refers to the overall experience of a user when they interact with a brand through its multiple platforms and products.
Coachmark
Coachmarks are used to draw a person's attention to a part of the UI, and increase engagement with that element in the product.
Command Line Interface
The command line interface is no longer common as a form of basic user interface in everyday consumer products, but it is still in use under certain circumstances.
Checkboxes
Alternative way for selecting none, one, or multiple options.
Charts
Charts are a common way of expressing complex data sets because they depict different data varieties and data comparisons.
Card
Cards group related content side-by-side so that users don't have to scroll through a list to find the information they are looking for.
Confirmation dialogues
Confirmation dialogues are responsible for collecting user consent for a particular action. For example, collecting user consent for a delete action.
Containers
A container is a UI element designed to contain page elements to a certain width based on the size of a user's screen.
Combo boxes
Combo boxes allow users to either type a custom value directly or select a value from the list. It is a combination of a drop-down list or list box and a single-line input field.
Contrast
The degree of difference between two juxtaposed elements.
Chatbots
Chatbots lets the user ask questions to the system via a chat interface. They are a popular customer service tool and resemble the experience of texting a friend.
Clickstream
When the user lands on a site, they click their way through it to complete a task. This is what a clickstream represents: the path of clicks the user took on it to accomplish a goal.
Commits
Throughout the development process, developers create commits whenever they have reached a good point in their work. Commits are similar to drafts.
Conversion rate
The Conversion Rate of a product or site is the percentage of users who complete a desired action.
Colour theory
The study of how colours make people feel and respond.
Closed card sort
In closed card sorts, researchers provide pre-determined categories for participants to sort cards into.
Cognitive biases
Cognitive biases are errors in reasoning, memory or other cognitive processes that result from holding onto existing beliefs regardless of contrary information.
Content strategists
Content strategists help maximise the usability and profitability of content, throughout the full content lifecycle: analysing, planning, writing, editing, distributing, managing and monitoring content.
Content strategy
The strategy, organisation and management of content that aligns between user and business goals.
Cache
A cache memory lets you store and save data temporarily for later use. You'll often find usernames, recent searches and websites in your cache memory.
CRM
Customer Relationship Management software systems help manage business processes, like sales, data, and customer interactions.
CSS
CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, is a style sheet programming language used to define how a website should be styled. It contains information on fonts, color, spacing, layouts, and graphics among others and how each should be applied to the website. Think of the top coat of paint!
Customer Experience (CX)
It refers to all the different interactions a user has with a brand through its different channels and products, and how a user feels about them. It has a profound impact on brand trust. A similar term for it would be service design.
- D -
Dark Patterns
Deceptive design elements created to mislead website visitors into making unintended and possibly harmful choices.
Design System
A documented catalog of components and styles used within a product, including how and why each should be implemented.
Design Thinking
A set of cognitive, strategic and practical processes by which design concepts are developed.
Date picker
It is defined as an input field that allows a user to choose a date via text input or app interaction with a calendar interface.
Dialogue
A pop-up window that appears before/after an action.
Dropdown buttons
The dropdown button is the clickable button used in a dropdown list to reveal, yes, a list of items.
Design systems
A collection of design assets, guidelines, constraints and best practices to adhere to when embarking on a new design project.
Decision matrix
A decision matrix is referred to as a prioritisation matrix. It's a framework used to evaluate and prioritise ideas based on a set of predetermined criteria.
Design deliverables
Design deliverables are the tangible “things” or artefacts a UX designer produces throughout the design process. UX deliverables include things like personas, user journey maps, wireframes and prototypes.
Design exercise
Often a take-home "quiz" of sorts to determine a design process.
Dark pattern
Tricks used in websites and apps that cause unintended user action, like buying or signing up for things that you didn't mean to.
Design facilitation
The skill of facilitating design process and efforts, such as presenting to stakeholders or conducting design workshops.
Design sprint
The design sprint is an increasingly popular practice which condenses and accelerates the product design process.
Diary study
A diary study is a UX research method used to gain insight into how users behave in real-world situations and everyday contexts.
Design Debt
UX debt or design debt is the additional time and effort costs that result from launching faster or easier technical solutions, instead of releasing the best approach. Design debt is the residual work you collect by taking shortcuts during or after the design phase.
- E -
Empathy Map
Empathy maps are collaborative tools that help us in visualizing user behavior, and feelings.
End-User
A person who is intended to ultimately use a product.
Ergonomics
The application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems.
Experience Design
The process of creating evidence-based, interaction designs between human users and products or websites.
Easing
Easing is the slow and gradual movement of an animated UI element.
Empathy
Empathy is the ability to metaphorically put yourself in someone else's shoes and it's the very foundation of good UX design.
Ethical design
It is the process of ‘designing for good' keeping in mind the user's wellbeing.
Eye tracking
It is the method to track the user's eye movement as they look into a website.
Edge case
In software design, edge cases often threaten to break a system and the user experience. Edge cases deal with the extreme maximums and minimums of parameters.
Ethnographic study
A qualitative research method of observing users in their natural habitat to understand their behaviour.
Extended reality
Extended reality (or XR) is an umbrella term for computer-generated environments that merge the physical and virtual worlds or create an entirely virtual experience for users.
Emphasis
A principle of design that refers to the focal point or center of interest in a design.
Embossing
A technique used in graphic design and printing to create a raised or 3D effect on a surface by pressing a design into it.
Environmental Design
The process of designing physical environments, such as buildings, parks, or streetscapes, to create a specific atmosphere or experience.
Error Message
A message displayed on a screen or interface that informs the user of an error or problem and suggests a solution or action to resolve it.
Expandable Menu
A type of menu that allows users to access additional options or submenus by clicking or hovering over a main menu item.
Edge-to-edge design
A design technique that uses full-bleed imagery and removes visual borders and margins to create a seamless and immersive visual experience.
Exploration
The process of searching for and experimenting with new ideas and solutions, often through trial and error.
- F -
Fitt's Law
A model that helps designers place and position the size and location of user interface elements for their optimal utility.
Flat Design
A user interface design style that uses simple, two-dimensional elements and bright colors.
Flowchart
A flow chart is a visual representation of a series of steps in a process that explains how the process works.
Focus groups
A focus group is a research technique used to collect data through group interaction.
Fluid UI
Fluid UI is a prototyping and wireframing software tool used to design mobile touch interfaces.
Field
An area in the WUI (Web User Interface) or GUI (Graphical User Interface) where you need to enter information.
Form
Forms are a regular feature in our lives but thanks to autofilling features, the labour of forms has been made a lot easier.
Floating Action Button
A user interface (UI) element that sits on top of a screen design, often in the bottom-right-hand corner, and doesn't move when the user scrolls.
Fidelity
Fidelity is used to describe the quality of wireframes and prototypes. In other words, how closely the wireframe or prototype resembles what the live product will look like.
Figma
Figma is a popular UX design tool used for wireframing, building out design systems, collaborating, running workshops and more.
Full-stack designer
A full-stack designer is a designer who has the skills and know-how to take on all the “stacks” or layers of the product design and development process.
Function
The purpose or intended use of an object or design.
Feedback
The information or response received in response to a design or product, which can be used to improve its performance or user experience.
Foreground
The part of a design or image that appears closest to the viewer and is typically the focal point or subject of the composition.
Framing
The process of selecting and positioning visual elements within a design to create a particular perspective or point of view.
Feedback Loop
A process or system in which user feedback is collected, analyzed, and incorporated into design improvements on an ongoing basis.
Full-bleed
A design technique in which an image or background color extends to the edge of a printed or digital page without any margins or borders.
Form Follows Function
A design principle that suggests the form of an object or system should be determined by its intended function or purpose, rather than purely aesthetic or stylistic considerations
- G -
Gamification
The use of game metaphors, and elements in non-game environments to create similar experiences to those experienced when playing games.
Gestalt Principles
Gestalt Principles talk about human perception and how humans group similar elements, and simplify complex images while perceiving them.
Graphic Design
Graphic design is the creation of visual compositions to solve problems and communicate ideas through typography, imagery, color and form.
Grid System
A grid system works as a framework that helps product teams to arrange UI elements to maintain good visual balance across pages.
Graphical User Interface (GUI)
The graphical user interface, or GUI, is the type of interface with which the majority of people are the most familiar.
Grids
In UI design, a grid is a layout constraint that determines where UI elements will sit on a screen or page.
Gutters
Gutters are the vertical strips between columns in grids that are used to prevent elements from bumping into each other.
Graphic designer
Graphic designers are visual communicators who produce work across both digital and print mediums such as posters, brochures, invitations, and business cards.
GitHub
GitHub is a collaborative development platform used by developers.
Gradient
It is the gradual change in colour from one tone into another.
Golden Ratio
A mathematical ratio of 1:1.618 that is often used in design to create visually pleasing proportions and balance.
Gestural Interface
A type of user interface that allows users to interact with a device or system using physical gestures, such as swiping or tapping.
Generative Design
A design process that uses algorithms and computer software to generate and explore a wide range of design possibilities based on specific parameters or constraints.
Gradient Mesh
A technique used in digital illustration and design to create complex, multi-dimensional shading and color effects by mapping gradients onto a mesh of intersecting lines and shapes.
Ghost Button
A type of button or call-to-action that appears as a transparent outline until the user hovers over it or interacts with it, at which point it becomes filled with color or content.
- H -
Heuristic Evaluation
A usability inspection method for computer software that helps to identify usability problems in the user interface design.
Hick's Law
Hick's Law states “the time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices”.
High Fidelity Prototype
A prototype that is polished and similar to a final design.
Helper element
Elements such as icons, breadcrumbs, sliders and notifications fall into this category.
Hierarchy
Hierarchy is a UI design principle used to present information with different levels of emphasis according to its importance.
Human factors
The study of human behaviour and capabilities to find the best ways to design products for maximum effectiveness, safety, and delight.
Hybrid card
Hybrid card sorts allow for participants to both sort cards into predetermined, and also the option to create their own categories.
How Might We
How Might We questions are a great way to progress from problem to solution while keeping the user at the forefront.
Hybrid App
Hybrid mobile apps combine both native and web technologies. They'll often use a combination of technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and will live inside a native container that lets it access device capabilities.
HTML
Hypertext Markup Language, or HTML, is the standard programming language used to create websites.
Hierarchy
The arrangement of elements in a design in order of importance or significance.
Human-centered design
A design approach that prioritizes the needs and experiences of users, based on observation, research, and empathy.
Hyperrealism
An art style that emphasizes extreme realism or detail, often blurring the line between reality and fantasy.
Hue
A color property that refers to the dominant wavelength of light that a color contains, which determines its position on the color spectrum.
Hyperlink
A clickable link in a digital document or website that redirects the user to another location or page within the same site or on another site.
Halftone
A printing technique that uses dots of varying sizes to simulate shades of gray or color in an image, allowing for a wider range of tones and detail than can be achieved with solid colors alone.
Haptic Feedback
tactile feedback or vibrations that provide sensory input to the user in response to a digital or physical interaction, such as a touch or click.
Histogram
A graphical representation of the distribution of values in a dataset, often used in data visualization and image editing to adjust brightness and contrast levels.
- I -
Ideation
Ideation refers to a process or method for forming ideas or concepts.
Inclusive Design
Inclusive design is a design process in which a product or service is designed to be usable for as many people as possible.
Infographic
Infographics are visual representations of information designed to communicate complex data easily.
Interaction Design
The practice of designing interactive digital products and considering the way in which users will interact with them.
Input elements
Input elements are responsible for handling different user inputs.
Icons
It's a simplified symbol that is used to help users to navigate the system, presenting the information and indicating statutes.
Information architecture (IA)
Information architecture is the practice organising and arranging information to make it understandable.
Interaction designer
Interaction designers are focused on creating key interactions for the product, they're often expected to be able to create highly interactive and complex prototypes.
Intuitive design
It's design that the user can instantly understand and use without needing any kind of tutorial or instruction.
Iterative design
Iterative design is the practice of continuously improving, refining and updating the product.
InVision Studio
InVision Studio is another powerful tool that all designers work with. It includes features and functions for drawing, wireframing, prototyping and animating. It's used for both UI and UX designing.
Illustration
The use of visual art, such as drawings or paintings, to enhance or communicate a message or concept in a design.
Image Compression
The process of reducing the file size of an image without significantly compromising its quality, typically using specialized software or algorithms.
Inverted Pyramid
A writing and design technique that places the most important information or message at the beginning of a document, article, or webpage, with supporting details following in descending order of importance..
Information Hierarchy
The organization and prioritization of information within a design or layout to communicate the relative importance of different elements and guide the viewer's attention.
Iconography
The use of symbols, icons, and visual metaphors to represent concepts or ideas in a design, often used to create a recognizable and memorable visual identity.
- J -
Jobs-To-Be-Done
Developing products based on understanding both the customer's specific goal and the thought processes that would lead that customer to use that product.
Job Stories
Job stories help define user tasks in product design.
Journey maps
Journey maps are often presented as timelines to demonstrate interaction points covering the beginning, middle and end of an experience.
Java script
It is the language that helps the designer make or create elements on a page more interactive to the users.
Justification
A typographical technique that aligns text along a straight edge, creating a clean and consistent look in a design. Text can be justified to the left, right, or center of a page or column. .
Juxtaposition
The placement of two or more design elements or objects in close proximity to each other, often for contrast or comparison.
JPEG
A commonly used file format for digital images that uses compression to reduce file size while preserving image quality, named for the Joint Photographic Experts Group that developed the standard.
Joinery
The method of joining two or more pieces of material, such as wood or metal, together to create a single object or structure. Joinery techniques can impact the strength, durability, and aesthetic appeal of a design.
- K -
Kerning
Kerning is the spacing between individual letters or characters. It focuses on a type looks.
Key Performance Indicators
KPIs are measurable values that help in understanding and tracking the performance of a product.
Keyframe
A frame in an animation or video that marks a significant change or transition in movement or appearance.
Keyline
A thin line used in design to define the outer boundaries or edges of an object or layout, often used as a guide for printing or cutting.
KPI Dashboard
A visual display of key performance indicators (KPIs) used to track progress and inform decision-making in a business or organization, often presented in a digital format.
Knockout Text
A design technique where text is placed over an image or background and the image or background is visible within the letters or shapes of the text, creating a visually interesting effect.
Kinetic Typography
An animation technique that combines motion graphics with text to create dynamic and engaging typography that responds to audio or other visual elements in a design.
Kitsch
A design style characterized by its garish or overly sentimental aesthetic, often associated with popular culture, nostalgia, or lowbrow art. Kitsch can be used intentionally as a design element to create a playful or ironic effect..
- L -
Landing Page
A standalone web page that a person "lands" on after clicking through any digital location.
Lean UX
Lean UX, is a collaborative user-centric approach that prioritizes “learning loops” over design documentation.
Localisation
The degree to which design, language, terminology, features, and functionality are adapted for a specific market.
Low Fidelity Prototype
Low-fidelity prototypes are simple and low-tech concepts.
List of links
A list of links consists of links. Sidebar with a category list is a good example of this. Links can be both internal and external.
List boxes
List boxes, like checkboxes, allow users to select multiple items at a time,but are more compact and can support a longer list of options if needed.
Legibility
The measure of how easy it is to distinguish one letter from the next.
Layout
The arrangement of design elements such as text, images, and white space on a page or screen, intended to create an organized and visually appealing design.
Line Height
The vertical space between lines of text in a design, measured from the baseline of one line of text to the baseline of the next. Line height can impact the readability and legibility of text.
Logo
A visual symbol or mark used to identify a brand or organization, often designed with a combination of typography, colors, and graphic elements that convey the brand's identity and values.
Long Shadow
A design effect where an object or text appears to cast a shadow that extends beyond the boundaries of the object, often used to create depth and dimension in a flat design.
Letterpress
A printing technique where text or images are impressed onto paper or other materials using a press, creating a debossed effect that can add texture and depth to a design.
- M -
Market research
Market research is an organized effort to gather information about target markets and customers.
Material Design
Material Design is an Android-oriented design language developed by Google in 2014
Microinteractions
Microinteractions are small moments where the user and design interact.
Mockup
Mockups are representations of the final design product, which are static in nature.
Modal Windows
It's used to show content on top of an overlay and it blocks any interaction with the page until the overlay is clicked, or a close action is triggered.
Message boxes
It's a small window that provides information to users but typically doesn't prevent users from continuing tasks.
Menu-driven Interface
The menu-driven user interface provides you with a range of commands or options in the form of a list or menu displayed in full-screen, pop-up, pull-down, or drop-down.
Mental model
The way of explaining how something works is known as the Mental model. It is often influenced by their environment.
Miller's law
The average person can only keep seven (plus or minus two) items in their working memory.
Minimal viable product
A product developed with only the most important features for the purpose of launching to an early set of users to provide feedback on the product.
Microcopy
Microcopy is the text which guides a user throughout a digital product.
Modal
A modal is a box that pops up outside of the main screen when the user clicks something on the current screen.
Multivariate testing
The goal of multivariate testing is to determine which combination of variations performs the best out of all possible combinations.
Mobile Web
The mobile web isn't a separate section of the web or a special place. The term mobile web refers to jumping online on a mobile device.
Metaverse
A virtual universe or collective virtual shared space that is created by the convergence of multiple virtual and physical realities.
Motion Graphics
An animation technique that combines graphic design and video production to create visually engaging and dynamic content, often used in advertising, film, and web design.
Moodboard
A collage of images, colors, textures, and other design elements used to convey a particular mood or aesthetic, often used in the early stages of a design project to explore visual concepts and inspire ideas.
Mind Map
A visual tool used to organize and connect ideas, often used in the ideation phase of a design project to map out different concepts and explore their relationships to one another.
Megamenu
A type of dropdown menu that displays multiple levels of navigation in a single panel, often used in complex websites with a large number of pages or categories.
Motion Design
A broad term that refers to the use of animation, video, and other motion graphics techniques to create engaging and dynamic visual content, often used in advertising, branding, and web design.
- N -
Needfinding
The research process of identifying a user's need for a solution.
Net Promoter Score
A score index ranging from -100 to 100, the Net Promoter Score is used to measure brand loyalty.
Navigation
An element of user interface (UI) design that manages how users move between sections and features in an app or website.
Navigation menu
UI element with several values that the user can select. They are taken to another area of the website/app from there.
Notifications
It is an update indicator that announces something new for the user to check. Typically shows completion of a task, new items to check etc.
Negative Space
The empty space around and between design elements in a composition, which can be just as important as the elements themselves.
Noise
Any unnecessary or extraneous visual elements or details that can distract from the primary message or purpose of a design.
Nuance
The subtle variations in design elements that can convey different emotions or meanings.
Nutshell
A concise summary or explanation of a design concept or idea.
Nudge
A subtle design element or feature that encourages a user to take a specific action or make a certain decision.
- O -
Occam's Razor
Occam's Razor states “Among competing hypotheses that predict equally well, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected.”
Open Card Sort
With no pre-determined categories users sort cards into categories that make the most sense to them.
Open Questions
Questions whose answers include what, how, why, when, and where components.
Output element
Output elements are responsible for showing results against various user inputs.
Onboarding
Onboarding is the process of getting new users familiar with your product.
Open source
Open source enables a designer to modify and build elements with it without running into trouble.
Opacity
The degree of transparency an element has. The lower the opacity, the more transparent an element is.
Object-Oriented Design
A design approach that structures software or systems around objects, rather than functions or tasks.
Offset Printing
A printing process that transfers ink from a plate to a rubber blanket, then onto paper or another material.
Opacity Mask
A design technique that uses a transparent or semi-transparent layer to selectively reveal or hide portions of an underlying image or graphic.
Optimization
The process of making design elements more efficient, effective, or streamlined.
Organic Design
A design style that incorporates flowing, natural shapes and forms, often inspired by nature.
- P -
Pairing Designing
The practice of putting two designers together to solve design problems.
Paper prototyping
The process of creating paper representations of digital products to help in realizing concepts and test designs.
Persona
A representation of the target user.
Product Design
The process of creating solutions to real-world problems, by creating usable products.
Peer transitions
Occurs between screens at the same level of hierarchy.
Picker
A picker is a UI element that allows the user to choose, for example, a date, time, or color. Pickers tend to be used where there is a very high number of options, or the input is highly conceptual.
Progress bars
A progress bar indicates the progress of a process. Typically, progress bars are not clickable.
Pane
An independent area in the Web User interface and Graphical User Interface that you can scroll and resize.
Panel
A toolbar or a control panel.
Pixel Density
The number of pixels that fit into an inch is referred to as pixel density.
Paginations
This feature divides the content between pages and allows users to navigate between them.
Product management
Product management is the planning, forecasting, marketing and/or production of a product or service.
Product managers
Professionals who navigate and manage the product cycle, from researching users and managing a roadmap to overseeing the development of the product.
Pain-points
Pain-points are any issues, problems, frustrations or hiccups a user encounters during a given experience or interaction.
Portfolio
A UX portfolio is a collection of best design work. It demonstrates skills and abilities of a UX designer.
Paradox of specificity
The paradox of specificity states that when a designer designs with a very specific user group in mind, he/she actually creates products that appeal to a mass audience beyond that target group.
Prototype
A tool to show preliminary design, pending user feedback and consultation for refinement.
Product roadmap
A product roadmap maps out the vision and strategy for a particular product and sets goals and priorities for the development of the product.
Parallax Scrolling
A design technique where background images move at a slower rate than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth or 3D.
Perspective
The way objects are represented in a design to create the illusion of depth or distance.
Pixelation
The appearance of blocky, jagged edges on images or graphics due to a low resolution or enlargement.
Primary Colors
The three basic colors (red, yellow, and blue) that cannot be created by mixing other colors.
Proximity
The principle that design elements that are close together are perceived as related or grouped.
- Q -
Quality Assurance
Quality assurance is a way of preventing mistakes in products and avoiding problems when delivering services to users.
Questionnaires
A research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents.
Qualitative user research
User research is a crucial part of the UX process and it can be either qualitative or quantitative. Qualitative user research provides insight into the users' thoughts, motivations and behaviours.
Quantitative user research
UX designers and researchers conduct quantitative research to gather objective, measurable data about their users.
Quick-and-Dirty Prototype
A rough or unfinished prototype that is created quickly to test basic design concepts or ideas.
Quotation Marks
Punctuation marks used to indicate direct speech or to highlight a specific word or phrase.
Quality Control
The process of ensuring that a product or design meets a certain standard or level of quality.
Quick Sketch
A rough or unfinished drawing or sketch that is created quickly to capture an initial design idea or concept.
Quick Start Guide
A simplified, step-by-step guide that helps users get started with a new product or service quickly.
- R -
Rapid Prototyping
A design workflow that consists of ideation, creating a workable prototype, and testing to discover and validate their ideas quickly.
Requirements Gathering
The process by which the scope and detail of a requirement is elicited from customers, users and stakeholders.
Responsive Design
A design approach that responds to the user's behavior and environment based on screen size, platform, and orientation.
Readability
The degree to which users can easily and accurately read information on a web page.
Radio buttons
Radio buttons allow users to select only one of a predefined set of mutually exclusive options. It is generally used for filling forms.
Redlining
Redline refers to the literal guides, which are often red lines, within a document that communicate exact spacing, margin, etc.
Responsive web design
The practice of making web pages render well on a variety of devices and screen sizes.
Return on investment
The general idea of ROI helps product teams evaluate whether certain efforts are worth pursuing.
Resolution
The amount of detail an image has.
Refactoring
Refactoring is the process of cleaning up and tidying code without affecting functionality, essentially increasing its quality.
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Scannability
The ease with which a body of text can be digested by the user.
Service Design
Service design is the process by which services are designed and developed from a user-centered, both from the employee's and user's perspective.
Storyboard
A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture.
Styleguide
A document containing the styling options that are repeated throughout a design, for the purpose of maintaining visual consistency throughout an experience.
Search fields
A search bar allows users to enter a keyword and submit it to the system expecting the most relevant results.
Sidebars
Sidebars also contain other groups of elements and components. But that can be switched between collapse and visible state.
Saturation
The degree of intensity and vividness of a colour.
Sitemap
The list of pages of a website.
Scale
The change in the size of an object while keeping its shape and proportions intact.
Sketch
Sketch is an industry-standard, all-in-one digital design tool. It includes tools for collaborative design, prototyping and developer handoff.
Spec
Spec refers to specification, which are technical requirements that to be implemented during the product development process.
Stakeholder interviews
Stakeholders are the people within a company or organisation who are invested in the success of the product a designer designs, and who can offer insights and input to inform the design process.
Surveys
Surveys are another popular user research method. One can gather both qualitative and quantitative data through user surveys, depending on how the questions are framed.
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Task Analysis
The process of listing tasks or the steps a user takes to complete any given goal from the user's perspective.
Taxonomy
The practice of classifying things and concepts.
Tree Testing
A UX research method designed to understand and evaluate the findability, labels, and structure of a website's navigation menu.
True Intent Study
A research method designed to collect data to understand user's objectives as they visit a website.
Tab
A graphical or web element that groups a set of actions.
Toggle
A UI element that allows the user to turn a setting on or off.
Tooltip
A tooltip shows users hints when they hover over an element indicating the name or purpose of the item.
Toast
It refers to a UI feature where an event triggers a small text box to appear on the screen.
Terms
They are synonyms of descriptions.
Text fields
Text fields allow users to enter text.
Tags
Tags allow users to find content in the same category. Some tagging systems also allow users to apply their own tags to content by entering them into the system.
Typography
Typography refers to how text is arranged and styled.
T-shaped designer
T-shaped designers are strong generalists who know how to do all aspects of design sufficiently, but excels especially in one discipline.
Taskflow
A series of steps that users complete for a specific task.
Technical Debt
Technical debt is similar to design debt but instead of taking a toll on the design system, it takes it on the code.
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UI Kit
A user interface kit is a collection of assets that contains a set of design elements such as UI components and styles.
Usability
The capacity of a system to provide a condition for its users to perform the tasks safely, effectively, and efficiently while enjoying the experience.
User Interface
The medium through which users interact with an experience, product or device.
UX debt
UX debt is the result of taking shortcuts in the design process in order to quickly reach a solution or produce a deliverable.
UX documentation
UX documentation captures all the steps you follow throughout a given design project.
Usability testing
Usability testing is the act of evaluating products or services by testing them with users.
User-centred design
User-centred design (UCD) places the end user front and centre throughout the product design and development process.
User Flow
User flows are paths that users follow through an experience.
User journey map
A user journey map is a visualisation which depicts all the touchpoints between a user and a product across a given time period.
User Interview
A user interview is a common UX research method, it asks the user questions in order to gain insight into their thoughts, expectations, goals and pain-points in relation to a particular problem, product or experience.
User stories
A user story is a brief, simple statement which defines the purpose (or one of the purposes) of creating a product.
User onboarding
User onboarding is the process of orienting users to a new experience, product or feature.
UX writing
It's the process of planning and writing all the text found on a digital product interface, with the goal of guiding the user through the experience.
User testing
User testing is when designers test their product, new feature or prototype on real users in order to gain feedback and inform future iterations of the product.
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Virtual Reality
A simulation of 3d environments that users can interact with, often using special electronics like VR helmets, goggles, gloves, and sensors.
Visual Hierarchy
Visual hierarchy is a way to visually rank your design elements. It's based on the order of visual importance, rather than aesthetics or design styles.
Visual Design
A discipline that combines design and information development in order to develop and communicate a media message to a target audience.
Voice user interface
Interfaces that enable users to use voice input to control computers and devices.
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Wayfinding
An information system that guides people through a physical environment and enhances their understanding and experience of the space.
Website
A website is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server.
Whiteboard Exercise
Whiteboards are used for collaborative design and brainstorming.
Wireframe
A wireframe is a simple visual guide that represents the skeletal framework of a website or digital product.
WYSIWYG
An acronym for "What you see is what you get." It describes the way in which the layout on the graphical screen is a representation of the printed version of the document.
Widgets
It's an element of interaction, like a chat window, components of a dashboard, or embeds of other services.
Wizard
A dialogue that walks a user through the sequence of steps to perform a particular task.
White space
White space is the empty space around and between different elements in the design.
Waterfall
Waterfall is a software development method with a relatively linear, sequential process.
Webapp
Webapps are short for web application, which is a computer program that users run in their web browser, also referred to as "client-side."
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