A psychological theory proposed by Abraham Maslow that outlines a five-tier model of human needs, ranging from basic physiological needs to self-actualization. Crucial for designing products and services that address various levels of user needs.
A cognitive bias where individuals interpret others' behaviors as having hostile intent, even when the behavior is ambiguous or benign. Important for understanding user interactions and designing experiences that mitigate negative interpretations.
The effort required for users to complete a task or interaction within a system. Essential for optimizing usability and minimizing user effort.
In-product assistance provided within the context of a specific task or screen, tailored to the user's current needs. Important for enhancing user experience by providing timely and relevant assistance.
A theory that a person's behavior is influenced by and influences personal factors and the environment, creating a continuous loop of interaction between these elements. Important for understanding how behavior, personal factors, and environmental contexts dynamically interact to shape user experiences and outcomes.
The concept that humans have a finite capacity for attention, influencing how they perceive and interact with information. Crucial for designing user experiences that are not overwhelming and facilitate focus.
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 tendency for individuals to recall information that is consistent with their current mood. Important for understanding how mood affects memory and designing experiences that account for emotional states.
The ability to understand and share the feelings of customers, crucial for creating user-centered designs and experiences. Crucial for designing products that truly meet user needs and expectations.
A phenomenon where people are more likely to remember information when they are in the same state of consciousness as when they learned it. Important for understanding how context affects memory recall and designing experiences that facilitate better retention.
The principle that elements in a digital interface maintain consistent appearance, position, and behavior across different pages and states to help users maintain orientation and familiarity. Important for creating a stable and predictable user experience, reducing disorientation and enhancing usability.
The principle that ensures user interface elements maintain their size and proportion across different screen densities. Essential for creating a consistent user experience across various devices.
A recommendation system technique that makes predictions about user interests based on preferences from many users. Essential for personalizing user experiences and improving recommendation accuracy.
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 setting defaults in decision environments to influence outcomes, often used in behavioral economics and design. Crucial for creating user experiences that encourage beneficial behaviors through preselected options.
The ability of users to influence the behavior and outcomes of a system or product, allowing them to interact with it according to their preferences. Essential for creating user-friendly interfaces that allow for flexibility and customization.
Pre-set options in a system that are designed to benefit users by simplifying decisions and guiding them towards the best choices. Essential for improving user experience and ensuring that users make optimal decisions with minimal effort.
The ability to perform actions or behaviors automatically due to learning, repetition, and practice. Important for understanding user habits and designing intuitive user interfaces.
A cognitive bias where the pain of losing is psychologically more powerful than the pleasure of gaining. Important for designing user experiences that account for and mitigate loss aversion.
A cognitive bias where individuals better remember the most recent information they have encountered, influencing decision-making and memory recall. Important for designing user experiences that leverage or mitigate the impact of recent information.
The observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes. Useful for designing experiences that maintain user engagement and satisfaction over time.
A system that allows customers to access information and perform tasks on their own without the need for assistance from customer service representatives. Important for improving customer experience and reducing support costs.
A pop-up dialog that appears when a user attempts to leave a page or application, which can be used to prevent loss of progress or data, or to confirm user intent. While it can be used ethically to prevent data loss or confirm actions, designers must avoid using it to deceive, delay, block, or interfere with the user's intent, thus ensuring it does not become a dark pattern.
A research method that focuses on understanding phenomena through in-depth exploration of human behavior, opinions, and experiences, often using interviews or observations. Essential for gaining deep insights into user needs and behaviors to inform design and development.
The mental and physical effort required to complete a task, influencing user experience and performance. Crucial for designing systems that minimize cognitive and physical load, enhancing usability and efficiency.
Specific attributes used to enhance the accessibility of web content and applications by providing additional information to assistive technologies. Crucial for making dynamic web content more accessible to users with disabilities.
Voice User Interface (VUI) is a system that allows users to interact with a device or software using voice commands. Essential for creating hands-free, intuitive user experiences.
Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) is a type of AI model that uses deep learning to generate human-like text based on given input. This technology is essential for automating content creation and enhancing interactive experiences.
The process of combining different systems or components in a way that ensures they work together smoothly and efficiently without disruptions. Essential for providing a cohesive user experience and ensuring the reliability of complex systems.
A structured evaluation process where a product's design, functionality, and user experience are assessed, often by peers or experts. Essential for identifying areas for improvement and fostering a culture of continuous enhancement.
A collection of reusable UI components that can be used to build applications. Helps in maintaining consistency and efficiency in the design and development process.
The practice of deeply understanding and sharing the feelings of users to create products and services that truly meet their needs. Crucial for creating user-centered designs that resonate with users' emotions and experiences.
The ease with which users can quickly find and understand information on a webpage or document, often enhanced by design elements like headings, bullet points, and short paragraphs. Crucial for improving user experience and ensuring that content is accessible and easy to navigate.
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.
Research focused on understanding and improving information architecture (IA), ensuring that information is logically and intuitively organized for users. Crucial for optimizing the organization and accessibility of information.
The excessive addition of features in a product, often leading to complexity and reduced usability. Crucial for maintaining simplicity and usability in product design.
The capability of a system to continue operating properly in the event of the failure of some of its components, ensuring that user experience is not significantly affected by errors or issues, similar to Postel's Law. Essential for designing reliable and resilient systems, such as a form that normalizes user input for compatibility rather than returning an error (e.g., unconstrained phone number format).
The ease with which users can find new features or content within a product. Essential for enhancing user engagement and product usability.
A design concept where digital interfaces incorporate elements that resemble their real-world counterparts to make them more intuitive and familiar to users. Important for creating intuitive and user-friendly interfaces by leveraging familiar real-world cues.
A search system that allows users to narrow down search results by applying multiple filters based on different attributes or categories. Essential for improving user search experience and efficiency.
The process of breaking down decisions into smaller, manageable stages to simplify the decision-making process. Useful for guiding users through complex decisions in a structured manner.
The default scaling factor applied by a device to render content at its optimal size and resolution. Crucial for ensuring visual clarity and consistency on various devices.
A model by Don Norman outlining the cognitive steps users take when interacting with a system: goal formation, planning, specifying, performing, perceiving, interpreting, and comparing. Important for designing user-friendly and effective products by understanding and supporting user behavior at each stage.
A user research technique where participants organize information into categories to inform information architecture and design. Essential for creating intuitive information architectures and improving user experience.
The use of data from digital devices to measure and understand individual behavior and health patterns. Crucial for developing personalized user experiences and health interventions.
A theory that explains how information is processed through different sensory modalities, such as visual, auditory, and tactile. Important for designing user experiences that engage multiple senses for better interaction and understanding.
The principle stating that there is a limit to the amount of complexity that users can handle, and if designers don't manage complexity, users will. Crucial for designing user-friendly systems that manage complexity effectively.
The process of designing intuitive navigation systems within a digital product that help users easily understand their current location, navigate to desired destinations, and efficiently complete tasks. Crucial for enhancing user experience, reducing cognitive load, and ensuring users can achieve their goals seamlessly.
A mathematical ratio, approximately 1.618:1, often used in design and art to create aesthetically pleasing compositions. Important for designing visually balanced and appealing layouts, leveraging natural aesthetics to enhance user experience.
The psychological discomfort experienced when parting with money, influenced by the payment method and context. Crucial for understanding spending behavior and designing payment systems that mitigate discomfort.
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.
Also known as Magical Number 7 +/- 2, a theory in cognitive psychology that states the average number of objects an individual can hold in working memory is about seven. Crucial for designing user interfaces that align with human cognitive limitations.
Designing products that leverage behavioral science to influence user behavior in positive ways. Crucial for creating products that are effective in shaping user behavior and improving engagement.
User-Centered Design (UCD) is an iterative design approach that focuses on understanding users' needs, preferences, and limitations throughout the design process. Crucial for creating products that are intuitive, efficient, and satisfying for the intended users.
The deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual after a long session of decision making, due to mental exhaustion. Important for designing interfaces that minimize cognitive load and simplify decision processes.
A social norm of responding to a positive action with another positive action, fostering mutual benefit and cooperation. Important for designing user experiences and systems that encourage positive reciprocal interactions.
A navigation design pattern where users follow a specific order of steps or stages to complete a task, often used in forms, surveys, and instructional guides. Essential for guiding users through processes in a clear and structured manner, improving usability.
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 series of actions or operations involved in the acquisition, interpretation, storage, and retrieval of information. Crucial for understanding how users handle information and designing systems that align with cognitive processes.
The phenomenon where people remember information better when it is presented through multiple sensory modalities rather than a single modality. Crucial for enhancing memory retention and understanding through multimodal presentations.