💡 All definitions have been provided by Wikipedia unless otherwise credited.
Glossary
A/B Testing: A/B testing is a user experience research methodology. A/B tests consist of a randomized experiment with two variants, A and B. It includes application of statistical hypothesis testing or "two-sample hypothesis testing" as used in the field of statistics.
Accessiblity: Accessibility in the sense considered here refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i.e. unassisted) and "indirect access" meaning compatibility with a person's assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers).
Affordances: Affordances are properties of objects which show users the actions they can take. Users should be able to perceive affordances without having to consider how to use the items. For instance, a button can be designed to look as if it needs to be turned or pushed. See why affordances are key to users' desired actions.
Adaptive Web Design: Adaptive web design (AWD) promotes the creation of multiple versions of a web page to better fit the user's device, as opposed to a single static page which loads (and looks) the same on all devices or a responsive design where a single page reorders and resizes content responsively based on the device/screen size/browser of the user.
Agile: Agile is an iterative approach to project management and software development that helps teams deliver value to their customers faster and with fewer headaches. Instead of betting everything on a "big bang" launch, an agile team delivers work in small, but consumable, increments. Requirements, plans, and results are evaluated continuously so teams have a natural mechanism for responding to change quickly.
Analytics: Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of web data to understand and optimize web usage. Web analytics is not just a process for measuring web traffic but can be used as a tool for business and market research and assess and improve the website's effectiveness.
Android: Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.
Artboard: In Adobe XD, artboards represent each of the screens that you design for your mobile app, pages for your website, or other project. When creating a new document, you typically choose an artboard size to start. This creates a single artboard at that size when the new document is created. (Definition by Adobe)
Avatar: An avatar is an icon or image used to represent a user on the screen. Use this component for every instance of a user avatar.
Breadcrumb navigation: A breadcrumb or breadcrumb trail is a graphical control element frequently used as a navigational aid in user interfaces and on web pages. It allows users to keep track and maintain awareness of their locations within programs, documents, or websites.
B2B: Business-to-business is a situation where one business makes a commercial transaction with another. This typically occurs when: A business is sourcing materials for their production process for output. Example: Providing raw material to the other company that will produce output
B2C: Bussines-to-Consumer or Direct-to-consumer refers to selling products directly to customers, bypassing any third-party retailers, wholesalers, or any other middlemen. DTC brands are usually sold online only and specialize in a specific product category: Casper, Warby Parker, Everlane, Harry’s, Outdoor Voices, AWAY, and Dollar Shave Club.
Card Sorting: Card sorting is a UX research technique in which users organize topics into groups. Use it to create an Information Architecture that suits your users' expectations. (Definition by NNGroup)
Conversion Rate: Your conversion rate is the percentage of visitors to your website that complete a desired goal (a conversion) out of the total number of visitors. A high conversion rate is indicative of successful marketing and web design: It means people want what you're offering, and they're easily able to get it! (Definition by
Customer Experience (CX): Customer experience is a totality of cognitive, affective, sensory, and behavioral consumer responses during all stages of the consumption process including pre-purchase, consumption, and post-purchase stages.
Design Thinking: Design thinking refers to the cognitive, strategic and practical processes by which design concepts are developed.
End User: In product development, an end user is a person who ultimately uses or is intended to ultimately use a product.
Empathy: Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another's position
Empathy Maps: An empathy map is a collaborative visualization used to articulate what we know about a particular type of user. It externalizes knowledge about users in order to 1) create a shared understanding of user needs, and 2) aid in decision making. This article is a guide to empathy mapping and its uses. (Definition by NNGroup)
Flowchart: A flowchart is a type of diagram that represents a workflow or process. A flowchart can also be defined as a diagrammatic representation of an algorithm, a step-by-step approach to solving a task. The flowchart shows the steps as boxes of various kinds, and their order by connecting the boxes with arrows.
Frame (used in Figma): In Figma, you can add layers directly to the Canvas. If you're designing for a specific device or screen size, you may want to create a container for your designs. This is where frames come in. If you've used design tools before, you'll be familiar with artboards. Like artboards, frames allow you to choose an area of the canvas to create your designs in. Unlike traditional artboards, you can also nest frames within other frames. This allows users to create more complex design that work together. Frames also give you access to extra functionality, like Layout Grids, Auto Layout, Constraints, and prototyping. (Definition from Figma)
Gamification: Gamification is the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts. It can also be defined as a set of activities and processes to solve problems by using or applying the characteristics of game elements
Grids/Grid System: In graphic design, a grid is a structure (usually two-dimensional) made up of a series of intersecting straight (vertical, horizontal, and angular) or curved lines (grid lines) used to structure content. The grid serves as an armature or framework on which a designer can organize graphic elements (images, glyphs, paragraphs, etc.) in a rational, easy-to-absorb manner. A grid can be used to organize graphic elements in relation to a page, in relation to other graphic elements on the page, or relation to other parts of the same graphic element or shape.
Heat Map: A heat map is a data visualization technique that shows magnitude of a phenomenon as color in two dimensions. The variation in color may be by hue or intensity, giving obvious visual cues to the reader about how the phenomenon is clustered or varies over space.
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI): Human–computer interaction studies the design and use of computer technology, focused on the interfaces between people and computers. Researchers in the field of HCI observe the ways in which humans interact with computers and design technologies that let humans interact with computers in novel ways.
Information Architecture: Information architecture (IA) is the structural design of shared information environments; the art and science of organizing and labelling websites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability and findability; and an emerging community of practice focused on bringing principles of design, architecture and information science to the digital landscape. Typically, it involves a model or concept of information that is used and applied to activities which require explicit details of complex information systems. These activities include library systems and database development.
Interaction Design: Interaction design, often abbreviated as IxD, is "the practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services." Beyond the digital aspect, interaction design is also useful when creating physical products, exploring how a user might interact with it.
Iteration: Iteration is the repetition of a process in order to generate an outcome. The sequence will approach some end point or end value. Each repetition of the process is a single iteration, and the outcome of each iteration is then the starting point of the next iteration.
Journey Maps: A journey map is a visualization of the process that a person goes through in order to accomplish a goal. In its most basic form, journey mapping starts by compiling a series of user actions into a timeline. Next, the timeline is fleshed out with user thoughts and emotions in order to create a narrative. (Definition by NNGroup)
KPI (Key Performance Indicator): A performance indicator or key performance indicator is a type of performance measurement. KPIs evaluate the success of an organization or of a particular activity in which it engages.
Landing Page: In online marketing, a landing page, sometimes known as a "lead capture page","single property page", "static page", or a "destination page", is a single web page that appears in response to clicking on a search engine optimized search result, marketing promotion, marketing email, or an online advertisement.
Layer: They represent a part of a picture, either as pixels or as modification instructions. ... In graphics software, layers are the different levels at which one can place an object or image file. In the program, layers can be stacked, merged, or defined when creating a digital image. (Both Adobe XD and Figma have layer panels on the left hand side to manager each of your layers.)
Lean UX: Lean User Experience (Lean UX) design is a mindset, culture, and a process that embraces Lean-Agile methods. It implements functionality in minimum viable increments and determines success by measuring results against a benefit hypothesis. (
Material Design: Material Design is a design language that Google developed in 2014. Expanding on the "card" motifs that debuted in Google Now, Material Design uses more grid-based layouts, responsive animations and transitions, padding, and depth effects such as lighting and shadows.
Mental Model: A mental model is an explanation of someone's thought process about how something works in the real world. It is a representation of the surrounding world, the relationships between its various parts and a person's intuitive perception about his or her own acts and their consequences.
Methods or UX Research Methods: UX (user experience) research is the systematic study of target users and their requirements, to add realistic contexts and insights to design processes. UX researchers adopt various methods to uncover problems and design opportunities. Doing so, they reveal valuable information which can be fed into the design process. (
Microcopy: UX microcopy, also known simply as microcopy, is the catch-all term for the pint-sized bits of content on a website or application, on your sales pages and product pages, you name it. Some common microcopy includes: Error messages, Buttons, Captions, The small print at the bottom of a sales page, Processing screens / 404 pages, Thank you pages, Tooltips, That annoying GDPR message you get about sites storing cookies, and any other (often overlooked) copy that affects your experience when using a site. (
Mobile Frame: A term used in the UX TD to describe a mobile device mockup. This is a graphic design element of a mobile phone (iPhone, Samsung, Pixel, etc.) that will display your design to replicate the visual and feeling of viewing a completed app or website design on mobile.
Mockup: In manufacturing and design, a mockup, or mock-up, is a scale or full-size model of a design or device, used for teaching, demonstration, design evaluation, promotion, and other purposes. A mockup is a prototype if it provides at least part of the functionality of a system and enables testing of a design.
OKR (Objectives and Key Results): Objectives and key results is a goal-setting framework for defining and tracking objectives and their outcomes.
Persona: Personas are fictional characters, which you create based upon your research in order to represent the different user types that might use your service, product, site, or brand in a similar way. Creating personas will help you to understand your users' needs, experiences, behaviours and goals. (
Prototype: A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and software programming. A prototype is generally used to evaluate a new design to enhance precision by system analysts and users.
Prototyping: Prototyping is an experimental process where design teams implement ideas into tangible forms from paper to digital. Teams build prototypes of varying degrees of fidelity to capture design concepts and test on users. With prototypes, you can refine and validate your designs so your brand can release the right products. (
Responsive Web Design: Responsive web design is an approach to web design that makes web pages render well on a variety of devices and window or screen sizes. Recent work also considers the viewer proximity as part of the viewing context as an extension for RWD.
SaaS (Software as a Service): SaaS or Software as a service is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as "on-demand software", and was formerly referred to as "software plus services" by Microsoft. SaaS applications are also known as Web-based software, on-demand software and hosted software.
Scrum: Scrum is another project management methodology and alternative to agile where a product is built in a series of fixed-length iterations called sprints, giving agile teams a framework for shipping software on a regular cadence.
Site Map: A site map (or sitemap) is a list of pages of a web site within a domain. There are three primary kinds of site map: Site maps used during the planning of a Web site by its designers. Human-visible listings, typically hierarchical, of the pages on a site.
Sketching: Sketching is a distinctive form of drawing which we designers use to propose, explore, refine and communicate our ideas. As a UX designer, you too can use sketching as your first line of attack to crack a design problem. (
Sprint (aka Design Sprint): A design sprint is a time-constrained, five-phase process that uses design thinking with the aim of reducing the risk when bringing a new product, service or a feature to the market.
Storyboard: A storyboard communicates a story through images displayed in a sequence of panels that chronologically maps the story’s main events. In the world of UX, we use storyboards to provide additional context to our teams and stakeholders. Using images makes the story quick to understand at first glance and easy to remember. (
UI Design: User interface design or user interface engineering is the design of user interfaces for machines and software, such as computers, home appliances, mobile devices, and other electronic devices, with the focus on maximizing usability and the user experience.
UI Element: User interface (UI) elements are the parts we use to build apps or websites. They add interactivity to a user interface, providing touchpoints for the user as they navigate their way around; think buttons, scrollbars, menu items and checkboxes. (
UI Pattern: User interface (UI) design patterns are reusable/recurring components which designers use to solve common problems in user interface design. For example, the breadcrumbs design pattern lets users retrace their steps. Designers can apply them to a broad range of cases, but must adapt each to the specific context of use. (
User Flow: User Flows are a type of diagram used in UX Design. It represents the workflow or process from the user’s perspective. In the basic form, User Flows represents the task in the form of a picture with blocks connected by arrows. The diagram does not have to be linear, just like the tasks in the application. It may have alternative paths, loops, etc. There are several types of User Flows such as: Task flows, Wireflows, and UI Flows. (
User Roles: A user role frames what an individual is trying to accomplish within a particular context. For example, maybe the user role is a nurse whose task is to quickly log a patient’s vitals before they can see the doctor. The role defines what capabilities the person is allowed, via permissions, to do within the application. (
User Scenario: User scenarios are stories which designers create to show how users might act to achieve a goal in a system or environment. Designers make scenarios to understand users' motivations, needs, barriers and more in the context of how they would use a design, and to help ideate, iterate and usability-test optimal solutions. (
User Stories: A user story is short, specific and goal-oriented. It is a one-sentence statement that tends to have the following structure: “As a , I want so that ”. Example: As a [UX Designer] I want to [embrace Agile] so that [I can make my projects user-centered]. (
UX Design: User experience is a person's emotions and attitudes about using a particular product, system or service. It includes the practical, experiential, affective, meaningful, and valuable aspects of human–computer interaction and product ownership.
Wireframe: Not dissimilar to an architectural blueprint, a wireframe is a two-dimensional skeletal outline of a webpage or app. Wireframes provide a clear overview of the page structure, layout, information architecture, user flow, functionality, and intended behaviors. As a wireframe usually represents the initial product concept, styling, color, and graphics are kept to a minimum. Wireframes can be drawn by hand or created digitally, depending on how much detail is required. (
Wireframing: Wireframing is a practice most commonly used by UX designers. This process allows all stakeholders to agree on where the information will be placed before the developers build the interface out with code. (
Glossary