A phenomenon where vivid mental images can interfere with actual perception, causing individuals to mistake imagined experiences for real ones. Important for ensuring that marketing and product design set realistic user expectations to avoid disappointment and maintain brand integrity.
The enhancement or diminishment of perception, cognition, or related performance as a result of exposure to a stimulus of greater or lesser value in the same dimension. Useful for designing interfaces that leverage contrasting elements to guide user attention and behavior.
A research technique that explores the context in which users interact with a product, service, or environment to understand their needs and behaviors. Crucial for gaining deep insights into user contexts and designing more relevant solutions.
The study of narrative and narrative structure and the ways that these affect our perception. Useful for understanding and applying narrative techniques in design and communication.
A Gestalt principle suggesting that elements are perceived as a single unit or group if they share an organizing visual cue like bullet points, or connecting lines. Essential for creating designs that organize and define related elements through grouping.
A design principle that suggests interfaces should minimize the need for users to recall information from memory, instead providing cues to aid recognition. Essential for creating user-friendly interfaces that reduce cognitive load and improve usability.
The ratio of interactive elements (links, buttons) to the number of goals on a landing page. Important for optimizing landing page design to improve conversion rates.
Information provided by users about their experience with a product, used to inform improvements and adjustments. Crucial for continuous improvement and user-centered design.
A cognitive bias where someone mistakenly assumes that others have the same background knowledge they do. Essential for designers to ensure communications and products are clear and accessible to all users, regardless of their background knowledge.
Design strategies aimed at preventing user errors before they occur. Crucial for enhancing usability and ensuring a smooth user experience.
Ensuring that color choices in design are inclusive and usable by people with color vision deficiencies. Crucial for creating accessible and inclusive designs.
The study of the interplay between individuals and their surroundings, including built environments and natural settings. Essential for designing spaces that enhance well-being and productivity.
A strategic framework that designs user experiences to guide behavior and decisions towards desired outcomes. Crucial for creating effective and ethical influence in digital interfaces.
The drive to perform an activity for its inherent satisfaction rather than for some separable consequence. Crucial for designing experiences that engage users through inherent enjoyment and interest.
The idea that self-control or willpower draws upon a limited pool of mental resources that can be used up. Useful for designing user experiences that consider the limitations of willpower and self-control.
The practice of keeping multiple web pages open in browser tabs for future reference or action. Important for understanding user behavior and designing for multi-tab usage.
The phenomenon where having too many options leads to decision-making paralysis and decreased satisfaction. Crucial for understanding and designing user interfaces that avoid overwhelming users with choices.
Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) is a framework that focuses on understanding the tasks users are trying to accomplish with a product, emphasizing their goals and motivations over product features. Crucial for designing products that meet real user needs and motivations.
The study of computers as persuasive technologies, focusing on how they can change attitudes or behaviors. Important for designing systems that effectively influence user behavior ethically.
The phenomenon where a humanoid object that appears almost, but not exactly, like a real human causes discomfort in observers. Important for understanding user reactions to lifelike robots and avatars.
Capability, Opportunity, Motivation (COM...) is a framework for understanding Behavior (Ã B). Important for designing interventions that effectively change user behavior.
The use of visual elements to draw attention to important information or guide user actions. Important for enhancing user experience and ensuring key information is noticed.
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is the study of designing interfaces and interactions between humans and computers. It ensures that digital products are user-friendly, efficient, and satisfying.
The arrangement of information in a way that prioritizes the most important content, guiding users through the information in a logical order. Crucial for creating clear and navigable interfaces that enhance user experience.
A technique that visualizes the process users go through to achieve a goal with a product or service. Essential for identifying pain points and optimizing user interactions to improve overall experience.
A theory of emotion suggesting that physical and emotional responses to stimuli occur simultaneously and independently. Important for understanding user emotions and designing empathetic user experiences.
A reading pattern where users skip over certain sections of content, often due to a lack of perceived relevance. Crucial for designing content that is engaging and relevant to prevent users from bypassing important information.
The study of how colors affect perceptions and behaviors. Important for designing experiences that evoke desired emotional responses from users.
A specific form of banner blindness where users ignore content placed in the right-hand rail of a web page. Important for optimizing web page layouts and placing critical information where it will be seen.
A series of numbers where each number is the sum of the two preceding ones, creating a pattern found in nature and various fields. Useful for understanding natural growth patterns, efficient estimation techniques, and its relationship to the aesthetically pleasing Golden Ratio.
A dark pattern where users are shown a preview of content that is then gated behind a paywall or sign-up. It's crucial to avoid this misleading practice and be transparent about access requirements.
A phenomenon where users consciously or subconsciously ignore banner-like information or advertisements on websites. Important for designing effective web content that captures user attention.
The study of how people acquire knowledge, skills, and behaviors through experience, practice, and instruction. Useful for creating educational content and interactive tutorials that enhance user learning.
The study of the practices and possibilities of music, covering elements like rhythm, melody, harmony, and form. Essential for understanding musical structure, composition, and performance.
A psychological perspective that emphasizes the study of the whole person and the uniqueness of each individual, focusing on concepts such as self-actualization and personal growth. Crucial for understanding and designing experiences that cater to individual user needs and potential.
The tendency for people to pay more attention to items placed in the center of a visual field. Crucial for designing layouts that maximize visibility and impact of key elements.
Obstacles to effective communication that arise from differences in understanding the meanings of words and symbols used by the communicators. Crucial for designing clear and effective communication systems and avoiding misunderstandings.
A theory that explains how the amount of mental effort required to process information can impact user experience and task performance. Important for designing user interfaces that minimize unnecessary cognitive effort, enhancing usability and user satisfaction.
The study of how digital media and technologies influence the way we communicate and persuade. Important for designing effective digital communication strategies.
A problem-solving method that explores all possible solutions by examining the structure and relationships of different variables. Useful for generating innovative design solutions and exploring a wide range of possibilities in digital product development.
Tell, Don't Ask (TDA) is a design principle in software engineering that promotes encapsulation by having objects handle their own data and actions. Essential for maintaining object-oriented integrity and reducing dependencies in the code.
The excessive addition of features in a product, often leading to complexity and reduced usability. Crucial for maintaining simplicity and usability in product design.
A strategy where less immediate or tangible rewards are substituted with more immediate or tangible ones to encourage desired behaviors. Important for designing systems that leverage immediate incentives to promote long-term goals.
A cognitive bias where bizarre or unusual information is better remembered than common information. Useful for designers to create memorable and engaging user experiences by incorporating unique elements.
The ability to understand and deal with various business situations, making sound decisions to ensure successful outcomes. Important for designers to align their work with business goals and make informed decisions.
Specific roles assigned to HTML elements to define their purpose and behavior in an accessible manner. Crucial for improving the accessibility and usability of web applications.
The practice of planning and organizing people, infrastructure, communication, and material components of a service to improve its quality and the interaction between service providers and customers. Essential for creating effective and user-centered service experiences.
An experimental design where subjects are paired based on certain characteristics, and then one is assigned to the treatment and the other to the control group. Important for reducing variability and improving the accuracy of experimental results.
A design approach that predicts user needs and actions to deliver proactive and personalized experiences. Crucial for creating seamless and intuitive user experiences.
Designing systems and processes to effectively respond to and manage crises, ensuring resilience and quick recovery. Crucial for preparing for unexpected events and minimizing their impact.
A fictional representation of a user segment, created based on user research to guide design decisions and ensure the product meets the needs of its target audience. Crucial for keeping design efforts focused on user needs and preferences.
The process of understanding user behaviors, needs, and motivations through various qualitative and quantitative methods. Essential for designing user-centered products and ensuring they meet actual user needs.
A cognitive bias where repeated statements are more likely to be perceived as true, regardless of their actual accuracy. Crucial for understanding how repetition influences beliefs and designing communication strategies for users.
A collaborative tool used to visualize what a user thinks, feels, says, and does to better understand their experiences and needs. Essential for gaining deep insights into user behavior and guiding design decisions.
A cognitive bias where people overestimate the probability of success for difficult tasks and underestimate it for easy tasks. Useful for designers to understand user confidence and design
Elements in a design that draw the viewer's attention and create a visual hierarchy. Essential for guiding user attention and improving the effectiveness of visual communication.
Joint Application Development (JAD) is a collaborative approach to gathering requirements and designing solutions in software development projects. It facilitates rapid decision-making and consensus-building by bringing together key stakeholders, including users, developers, and project managers, in structured workshop sessions.
A dark pattern where users are pressured to make quick decisions by creating a false sense of urgency. Designers must avoid creating artificial urgency and allow users to make decisions at their own pace.
Qualitative data that provides insights into the context and human aspects behind quantitative data. Crucial for gaining deep insights into user behaviors and motivations.
A key aspect of Gestalt psychology in which simple geometrical objects are recognized independent of rotation, translation, and scale. Crucial for understanding how users perceive and recognize patterns in design.