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Glossary
Acronyms, Terms, & Jargon
Term
Acronym
Definition
1
Accessibility
A11y
Accessibility (the practice of designing products that can be used by everyone regardless of ability)
2
Affordance
Design attribute that indicates the purpose / functionality of an element (making it intuitive for users)
3
Call To Action
CTA
Often a button, text link, sales pitch, etc...
4
Cognitive Load
The mental effort required to perform a task (complexity)
5
Dogfood
Try your product or feature before giving it to users. Comes from the phrase “to eat your own dogfood.”
6
Doherty Threshold
Point at which a user starts to become unhappy and withdraw from a system due to perceived delays in response (eg: load times)
7
Estimated Time of Arrival
ETA
e.g.: launch date, arrival to a meeting, etc...
8
Fitt’s Law
Model that describes the time required to move to a target based on its size and distance (important elements = larger = clearer)
9
Gamification
Incorporating game-like mechanics (eg: rewards, challenges) into non-game contexts like learning a new language on Duolingo
10
Halo Effect
Cognitive bias where users’ perception of a product is influenced by one specific aspect (eg: visual appeal, brand recognition)
11
Jakob’s Law
Principle that says users spend most of their time on other sites/apps so our work should not reinvent standardized conventions
12
Law of Common Region
Objects in close proximity are associated / grouped (eg: a form label is closer to its input field than nearby items)
13
Law of Conservation of Complexity
A system’s complexity cannot be entirely eliminated, just transferred from users to designers/developers.
14
Law of Gestalt
Users interpret ambiguous visual inputs in the most structured manner possible.
15
Law of Proximity
Objects put near each other are seen as linked.
16
Law of Robustness
Principle that says systems need to be forgiving in what they recieve, but strict in what they share.
17
Law of Similarity
Objects are viewed as being related if they share similar visual characteristics (like shape, size, or color)
18
Law of Uniform Connectedness
Users view objects as part of a single group when they are visually related to each other.
19
Miller’s Law
Principle stating the avg person can hold around 7 (+-2) piece of information in short-term memory at one time
20
Occam’s Razor
The simplest explanation is usually the best one.
21
Pareto Principle
Refered to as the 80/20 rule, it posits that 80% of the outcome is a result of 20% of the time/causes.
22
Parkinson’s Law
Theory that states work grows to fill the allotted time given.
23
Peak-End Rule
Cognitive Bias that states people remember events based on their high-point and the conclusion.
24
Serial Position Effect
Users have better recall for items at the start or end of a list
25
Von Restorff Effect
Theory that claims something different is more likely to be remembered.
26
Zeigarnik Effect
Concept that suggests individuals remember incomplete projects better than completed ones.
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