A theoretical framework in economics that assumes individuals act rationally and seek to maximize utility, used to predict economic behavior and outcomes. Important for understanding traditional economic theories and designing systems that account for rational decision-making.
Also known as "Maslow's Hammer," a cognitive bias where people rely too heavily on a familiar tool or method, often summarized as "if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.". Important for designers to recognize and avoid over-reliance on familiar methods in problem-solving and design.
The tendency for individuals to favor information that aligns with their existing beliefs and to avoid information that contradicts them. Crucial for understanding how users engage with content and designing systems that present balanced perspectives.
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 specific group of people identified as the intended recipient of an advertisement or message. Essential for tailoring marketing efforts and achieving effective communication.
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 structured framework for organizing information, defining the relationships between concepts within a specific domain to enable better understanding, sharing, and reuse of knowledge. Important for creating clear and consistent data models, improving communication, and enhancing the efficiency of information retrieval and management.
The parts of a service or product that are visible to and interact with the user, as opposed to the backstage operations. Important for designing user experiences that are engaging and effective.
A usability technique used to evaluate the findability and labeling of topics in a website's structure by having participants find specific items in a simplified text version of the site. Crucial for improving information architecture and ensuring users can navigate a website effectively.
A principle stating that 80% of effects come from 20% of causes, often used to prioritize tasks and identify key areas of focus. Essential for prioritizing tasks and focusing efforts on the most impactful areas.
A theory that emphasizes the role of emotions in risk perception and decision-making, where feelings about risk often diverge from cognitive assessments. Important for designing systems that account for emotional responses to risk and improve decision-making.
A statistical measure that quantifies the amount of variation or dispersion of a set of data values. Essential for understanding data spread and variability, which helps in making informed decisions in product design and analysis.
The process of tailoring a product or experience to meet the individual needs and preferences of users. Essential for enhancing user engagement and satisfaction by delivering relevant experiences.
A bias that occurs when the sample chosen for a study or survey is not representative of the population being studied, affecting the validity of the results. Important for ensuring the accuracy and reliability of research findings and avoiding skewed data.
Total Addressable Market (TAM) represents the total revenue opportunity available if a product or service achieves 100% market share. Essential for understanding the full potential of a market.
The Principle of Objects is an information architecture guideline that treats content as living, distinct entities with behaviors and attributes. Crucial for creating modular, reusable, and flexible content structures.
A potential customer who has shown interest in a product or service and is more likely to become a customer. Crucial for prioritizing sales efforts and increasing conversion rates.
A cognitive bias where individuals evaluate outcomes relative to a reference point rather than on an absolute scale. Essential for understanding decision-making and consumer behavior.
A graphical representation of a user or their character in digital environments. Crucial for personalizing user interactions and enhancing engagement.
A Gestalt principle that states that objects that are similar in appearance are perceived as being more related than objects that are dissimilar. Essential for creating visually cohesive and intuitive designs.
The practice of being open and honest about operations, decisions, and business practices, fostering trust and accountability. Essential for building trust with users and stakeholders and ensuring ethical business practices.
A Lean methodology concept identifying seven types of waste in processes to improve efficiency. Valuable for product managers and engineers to optimize processes and eliminate inefficiencies.
The tendency to cling to one's beliefs even in the face of contradictory evidence. Important for understanding resistance to change and designing interventions that address this bias.
A graphical representation of the distribution of numerical data, typically showing the frequency of data points in successive intervals. Important for analyzing and interpreting data distributions, aiding in decision-making and optimization in product design.
A qualitative research method involving direct conversations with users to gather insights into their needs, behaviors, and experiences. Essential for gaining deep insights into user perspectives and informing design decisions.
The abilities and knowledge required to effectively plan, execute, and close projects, including leadership, communication, time management, and risk management. Essential for ensuring successful project outcomes and achieving business objectives.
Location, Alphabet, Time, Category, and Hierarchy (LATCH) is a framework for categorizing information. Useful for creating clear and intuitive information structures in digital products.
The practice of guiding and inspiring teams to create effective, user-centered design solutions that align with business goals. Crucial for fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and excellence in design practices within organizations.
A stimulus that gains reinforcing properties through association with a primary reinforcer, such as money or tokens, which are associated with basic needs. Essential for understanding complex behavior reinforcement strategies and designing effective reward systems.
A decision-making rule where individuals choose the option with the highest perceived value based on the first good reason that comes to mind, ignoring other information. Crucial for understanding and designing for quick decision-making processes.
The Principle of Growth is an information architecture guideline that plans for the future expansion and evolution of a system. Crucial for ensuring that information structures can scale and adapt over time.
The tendency to overestimate the duration or intensity of the emotional impact of future events. Important for understanding user expectations and satisfaction.
A cognitive process where ideas are brought together to find a single, best solution to a problem. Important for problem-solving and decision-making in design processes.
An activity during a design audit where printed screens representing customer journeys are reviewed collaboratively with stakeholders to assess design quality and identify areas for improvement. Essential for ensuring design consistency, gathering feedback, and making informed decisions on design enhancements.
A strategy where a team plays the role of an adversary to identify vulnerabilities and improve the security and robustness of a system. Crucial for testing the resilience of digital products and identifying areas for improvement.
A framework suggesting there are two systems of thinking: System 1 (fast, automatic) and System 2 (slow, deliberate), influencing decision-making and behavior. Crucial for understanding how users process information and make decisions.
A visual or auditory cue that indicates how to interact with an element in the user interface. Crucial for enhancing usability by clearly communicating the purpose and function of UI elements.
A seamless and integrated customer experience across multiple channels, such as online, mobile, and in-store. Crucial for providing a consistent and cohesive user experience, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty in digital products.
A dark pattern where the product asks for the user's social media or email credentials and then spams all the user's contacts. Recognizing the harm of this practice is important to protect user trust and avoid spamming their contacts.
A framework used in graphic and web design to organize content in a structured and consistent manner. Essential for creating balanced and readable layouts.
The process of planning, executing, tracking, and analyzing marketing campaigns. Essential for ensuring the success and efficiency of marketing campaigns.
A principle in lean management aimed at reducing non-value-added activities to improve efficiency. Important for optimizing processes and resource use.
The tendency to judge the strength of arguments based on the believability of their conclusions rather than the logical strength of the arguments. Important for understanding cognitive biases that affect decision-making and user perceptions.
The tendency to perceive and interpret information based on prior experiences and expectations, influencing how different users perceive design differently. Important for designing interfaces that meet user expectations, improving usability and intuitive navigation.
The process where design services and outputs become standardized and interchangeable, often leading to competition based primarily on price rather than quality or creativity. Important for understanding market trends and pressures that reduce the perceived value and uniqueness of design work, impacting pricing and differentiation strategies.
The underlying goal or motivation behind a user's search query, crucial for understanding and optimizing content to meet user needs and improve SEO. Essential for creating content that aligns with user needs and improving search engine rankings.
A phenomenon where learning is improved when study sessions are spaced out over time rather than crammed together. Crucial for designing educational and training programs that enhance long-term retention.
A decision-making paradox that shows people's preferences can violate the expected utility theory, highlighting irrational behavior. Important for understanding inconsistencies in user decision-making and designing better user 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.
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.
The perception of a brand in the minds of consumers, shaped by interactions and experiences with the brand. Crucial for understanding consumer perceptions and guiding brand strategy.
The Principle of Front Doors is an information architecture guideline that acknowledges multiple entry points into a website or system. Crucial for ensuring that all entry points provide a coherent and navigable experience.
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 design approach that emphasizes simplicity, using only the necessary elements to create a clean and uncluttered look. Essential for creating intuitive and user-friendly interfaces.
A theoretical approach that focuses on observable behaviors and dismisses internal processes, emphasizing the role of environmental factors in shaping behavior. Foundational for understanding how external factors influence user behavior and for designing behavior-based interventions.
The path taken by a user to complete a task on a website or application, including all the steps and interactions along the way. Essential for designing intuitive and efficient user experiences.
A framework that explores the structure and function of stories and how they influence human cognition and behavior. Important for creating compelling and meaningful user experiences through storytelling.
A design principle that states that contrasting elements (such as color, shape, size) can be used to draw attention and create visual interest. Important for creating visually engaging and accessible designs that guide user attention effectively.
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 system that suggests products, services, or content to users based on their preferences and behavior. Essential for personalizing user experiences and increasing engagement and conversion rates.