A theoretical concept in economics that portrays humans as rational and self-interested agents who aim to maximize their utility. Important for understanding economic decision-making and designing systems that align with rational behavior.
A visual representation of information or data designed to make complex information easily understandable at a glance. Important for communicating insights and data effectively to stakeholders and users in digital product design.
A cognitive bias where people prefer familiar things over unfamiliar ones, even if the unfamiliar options are objectively better. Useful for designing interfaces and products that leverage familiar elements to enhance user comfort.
A logical fallacy that occurs when one assumes that what is true for a part is also true for the whole. Important for avoiding incorrect assumptions in design and decision-making.
A psychological phenomenon where repeated exposure to a stimulus leads to an increased preference for it. Useful for designing marketing and user engagement strategies that increase familiarity and preference.
A design approach that focuses on building a robust core experience first, then adding more advanced features and capabilities for users with more capable browsers or devices. Essential for ensuring a consistent and accessible user experience across different devices and browsers.
A cognitive bias where people underestimate the complexity and challenges involved in scaling systems, processes, or businesses. Important for understanding the difficulties of scaling and designing systems that address these challenges.
A cognitive bias where people focus on the most noticeable or prominent information while ignoring less conspicuous details. Important for understanding user decision-making and ensuring balanced presentation of information.
A broader, more informal community of interest that spans across the entire organization, focusing on shared topics such as agile practices or UX design. Valuable for cross-functional learning, knowledge sharing, and promoting a unified approach to common challenges.
The process of creating visual representations of data or information to enhance understanding and decision-making. Essential for organizing information and making complex data accessible.
A psychological theory that predicts an individual's behavior based on their intention, which is influenced by their attitudes and subjective norms. Important for understanding and predicting user behavior and designing interventions to influence actions.
An approach to information architecture that starts with the details and builds up to a comprehensive structure. Useful for designing flexible and detailed systems that can adapt to user needs.
The tendency for negative information to have a greater impact on one's psychological state and processes than neutral or positive information. Important for understanding and mitigating the impact of negative information.
Methods and techniques used to overcome mental blocks that hinder creative thinking and problem-solving. Crucial for maintaining productivity and fostering innovation in design.
A learning phenomenon where information is better retained when study sessions are spaced out over time rather than crammed in a short period. Crucial for designing educational tools and content that optimize long-term retention.
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 theory that suggests people learn behaviors, skills, and attitudes through observing and imitating others, as well as through direct experiences. Crucial for understanding how users acquire new behaviors and designing educational or training programs.
A distinct text-only typographic treatment of a brand name used as a logo. Important for establishing a recognizable brand identity and ensuring consistent brand representation.
Representational State Transfer (REST) is an architectural style for designing networked applications based on stateless, client-server communication. Essential for building scalable and efficient web services.
A phenomenon where the success or failure of a design or business outcome is influenced by external factors beyond the control of the decision-makers, akin to serendipity. Important for recognizing and accounting for external influences in performance evaluations to ensure fair assessments and informed decisions.
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.
The phenomenon where taking a test on material improves long-term retention of that material more than additional study sessions. Crucial for designing educational tools and methods that enhance learning and retention.
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 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 cognitive shortcut that relies on the recognition of one option over another to make a decision, often used when individuals have limited information. Crucial for designing interfaces and experiences that facilitate quick and effective decision-making.
An abbreviation formed from the initial letters of a brand's name, used as a logo or branding element. Important for creating a simplified and recognizable brand identity.
Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) is a set of attributes that enhance the accessibility of web content for people with disabilities. Essential for making web applications more usable and inclusive.
A technique for creating interactive web applications by exchanging data with the server in the background without reloading the entire page. Essential for enhancing user experience by making web applications more dynamic and responsive.
The set of shared values, practices, and goals that characterize a startup company. Important for fostering innovation, agility, and a collaborative environment within product design teams.
A creative thinking technique where the typical process is reversed to generate new ideas by considering the opposite of conventional assumptions. Useful for fostering innovation and challenging existing assumptions in problem-solving.
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.
Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA) is an acronym for describing the challenging conditions of the modern world. Important for understanding and navigating dynamic and unpredictable environments.
A practice by Google where the mobile version of a website becomes the starting point for what Google includes in its index and the baseline for determining rankings. Crucial for ensuring websites are optimized for mobile users and perform well in search rankings.
The process of fundamentally changing how a service is delivered to improve efficiency, user satisfaction, and overall effectiveness. Essential for enhancing service delivery and aligning it with modern user needs and expectations.
The series of stages a product goes through from initial concept to market release, including planning, design, development, testing, and launch. Essential for understanding the full lifecycle of product creation and bringing products to market efficiently.
A strategic planning technique that uses visual maps to align activities with business goals and user needs. Essential for ensuring that development efforts are aligned with strategic objectives.
Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal, and Ethical (STEEPLE) is an analysis tool that examines the factors influencing an organization. Crucial for comprehensive strategic planning and risk management in product design.
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 search method that seeks to improve search accuracy by understanding the contextual meaning of terms in a query rather than just matching keywords. Important for understanding modern search algorithms and optimizing content accordingly.
Also known as the 68-95-99.7 Rule, it states that for a normal distribution, nearly all data will fall within three standard deviations of the mean. Important for understanding the distribution of data and making predictions about data behavior in digital product design.
A strategy used to determine the proportion of various SMEs needed to support a pipeline of work. Important for optimizing resource allocation, enhancing efficiency, and ensuring teams have the appropriate support based on design demand and complexity.
Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM) is an agile project delivery framework focused on delivering business value early and continuously. Essential for ensuring that projects align with business goals and user needs through iterative processes.
The study of how information is transmitted and received, including the processes and methods that facilitate communication. Important for designing effective communication strategies and user interfaces.
A methodology for building software-as-a-service apps that emphasizes best practices for development, deployment, and scalability. Important for creating scalable, maintainable, and efficient digital products.
Rich Internet Application (RIA) is a web application that offers interactive and engaging user experiences similar to desktop applications. Essential for providing enhanced functionality and better user interfaces on the web.
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 phenomenon where information is better remembered if it is generated from one's own mind rather than simply read. Useful for designing educational and interactive content that enhances memory retention.
A usability test to see what impression users get within the first 10 seconds of interacting with a product or page. Important for designers to quickly gauge initial user impressions and improve immediate engagement.
A phenomenon where the winner of an auction tends to overpay due to emotional competition, leading to a less favorable outcome than anticipated. Important for understanding decision-making biases and designing systems that mitigate overbidding risks.
A system where outputs are fed back into the process as inputs, allowing for continuous improvement based on user responses. Crucial for iterative development and continuous improvement in design and product management.
The economic theory that suggests limited availability of a resource increases its value, influencing decision-making and behavior. Important for creating urgency and increasing perceived value in marketing.
A structured routine for continuous improvement based on a scientific approach to problem-solving and process optimization. Crucial for fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation within product design teams.
A problem-solving process that includes logical reasoning, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithmic thinking. Important for developing efficient and effective solutions in digital product design and development.
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.
A type of artificial intelligence capable of generating new content, such as text, images, and music, by learning from existing data. Important for automating creative processes and generating novel outputs.
A usability testing method that measures the first click users make on a webpage to determine if they can successfully navigate to their goal. Essential for evaluating and improving the navigational structure of a website.
A principle often used in behavioral economics that suggests people evaluate options based on relative comparisons rather than absolute values. Important for understanding decision-making and designing choices that highlight beneficial comparisons.
The perseverance and passion for long-term goals, often seen as a key trait for success. Important for understanding and fostering resilience and persistence in design and product development.
Knowledge Organization System (KOS) refers to a structured framework for organizing, managing, and retrieving information within a specific domain or across multiple domains. Essential for improving information findability, enhancing semantic interoperability, and supporting effective knowledge management in digital environments.
An economic theory that explains why some necessities, such as water, are less expensive than non-essentials, like diamonds, despite their greater utility. Useful for understanding consumer behavior and designing pricing strategies.