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 cognitive bias where people overemphasize information that is placed prominently or in a way that catches their attention first. Crucial for designing interfaces and information displays that manage user attention effectively.
Readability is a design principle that emphasizes making text easy to read and understand. Crucial for enhancing user comprehension and engagement in digital and print media.
The Principle of Exemplars is an information architecture guideline that uses representative examples to illustrate content categories. Crucial for enhancing user understanding and facilitating content discovery.
A rule-of-thumb or shortcut that simplifies decision-making and problem-solving processes. Essential for designing user-friendly interfaces that facilitate quick and efficient decision-making.
A type of long-term memory involving information that can be consciously recalled, such as facts and events. Important for understanding how users retain and recall information in design.
A design strategy that prioritizes the mobile user experience by designing for mobile devices first before scaling up to larger screens. Crucial for creating accessible and responsive designs that work well on all devices.
The process of making tools, methods, and knowledge accessible to a broader range of people within an organization or community, allowing non-specialists to participate and contribute meaningfully. Important for fostering inclusivity, enhancing collaboration, and leveraging diverse perspectives to improve outcomes across various disciplines.
The practice of protecting systems, networks, and programs from digital attacks, unauthorized access, and data breaches. Essential for safeguarding sensitive information, maintaining user trust, and ensuring the integrity and functionality of digital products and services.
A software application that combines elements of both native and web applications, running inside a native container. Important for leveraging the advantages of both web and native technologies, providing a balance of performance and flexibility.
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 theory in environmental psychology that suggests people prefer environments where they can see (prospect) without being seen (refuge). Useful for understanding environmental design and creating spaces that feel safe and inviting.
A medium through which a product or service is delivered to a customer, including physical and digital channels. Crucial for understanding how products and services reach end users.
A usability testing approach where designers assume that users are easily confused and distracted, focusing on simplicity and clarity in design. Crucial for ensuring that interfaces are intuitive and easy to use under various conditions.
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 principle stating that users spend most of their time on other websites and prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know. Crucial for designing user-friendly and familiar interfaces.
Conversational User Interface (CUI) is a user interface designed to communicate with users in a conversational manner, often using natural language processing and AI. Essential for creating intuitive and engaging user experiences in digital products.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a set of guidelines developed by WAI to make web content more accessible. Essential for ensuring that websites are usable by individuals with disabilities, thereby promoting inclusivity and compliance with accessibility standards.
Design strategies aimed at preventing user errors before they occur. Crucial for enhancing usability and ensuring a smooth user experience.
A reading pattern where users scan a page in horizontal stripes, focusing on headings and subheadings. Important for structuring content in a way that facilitates quick scanning and information retrieval.
A collaborative process specific to the design phase that involves stakeholders, including users, in the refinement of user-centered design solutions. Essential for creating designs that truly meet user needs and expectations.
The use of HTML tags to convey the meaning of content on web pages, improving accessibility and search engine optimization. Essential for creating accessible and SEO-friendly web content.
The theory that users search for information in a manner similar to animals foraging for food, aiming to maximize value while minimizing effort. Important for designing efficient and user-centered information retrieval systems.
A reading pattern where users focus on individual elements or "spots" of interest on a page, rather than following a linear path. Crucial for designing engaging and attention-grabbing content layouts.
Software agents that can perform tasks or services for an individual based on verbal commands. Crucial for enhancing user experience through hands-free interaction and automation.
The practice of linking one page of a website to another page on the same website, improving navigation, user experience, and SEO. Essential for enhancing website structure, user engagement, and search engine optimization.
A brief overview of the main points or sections of a document or web page. Crucial for helping users quickly understand the key takeaways and decide whether to read further.
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 method of categorizing information in more than one way to enhance findability and user experience. Crucial for improving navigation, search, and overall usability of complex information systems.
The condition in which two or more versions of a product or system offer the same features and functionalities, ensuring consistency and uniformity across different platforms or updates. Important for providing a consistent user experience, reducing confusion, and ensuring all users have access to the same capabilities regardless of the platform they use.
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 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.
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.
The perceived affordance of an element to be clickable, indicating that it can be interacted with. Essential for improving user interface design and guiding user actions.
The use of icons or graphical symbols to represent objects, actions, or concepts, enhancing usability and visual communication. Crucial for creating intuitive and accessible user interfaces.
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.
A common pattern of eye movement where users scan web content in an "F" shape, focusing on the top and left side of the page. Crucial for designing web content that aligns with natural reading patterns to improve engagement.
A reading pattern where users quickly scan for specific markers or keywords within the content. Important for optimizing content for quick search and retrieval.
A design principle that involves using relative size to indicate the importance of elements, creating visual hierarchy and focus. Crucial for guiding user attention and creating effective visual communication.
Numeronym for the word "Multilingualization" (M + 17 letters + N), enabling a product or system to support multiple languages, allowing users to switch between languages as needed. Crucial for ensuring smooth adaptation to various languages.
Measurements that track the effectiveness of each stage of the funnel, such as conversion rates and drop-off points. Crucial for identifying areas of improvement in the customer journey.
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.
Design patterns that adapt to different screen sizes and devices, ensuring a consistent user experience. Crucial for creating designs that work well across a variety of devices.
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 process of creating an interface that displays key performance indicators and metrics in a visually accessible way. Essential for monitoring performance and making data-driven decisions.
The degree to which a product's elements are consistent with each other. Crucial for creating a cohesive and intuitive user experience.
A web-based interface that allows customers to find information and perform tasks without needing assistance from a customer service representative. Essential for improving customer experience and reducing support costs.
An intermediary that gathers and provides information to users, typically in an online context. Important for helping users make informed decisions based on aggregated data.
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.
The strategic promotion, placement, and persuasive presentation of digital products or services within an online platform to maximize sales, engagement, and user satisfaction. Important for optimizing the visibility, appeal, and persuasive impact of digital offerings, enhancing user experience, and driving conversions in online environments.
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 cognitive bias where decision-making is affected by the lack of information or uncertainty. Important for understanding and mitigating user decision-making biases due to uncertainty or lack of information.
Numeronym for the word "Documentation" (D + 11 letters + N), creating detailed records and instructions to support the development, use, and maintenance of systems or products. Crucial for ensuring users and developers understand and properly use the system or product.
The study of structures of consciousness as experienced from the first-person point of view. Important for designing user experiences that are intuitive and empathetic.
A writing style where the most important information is presented at the beginning, followed by supporting details in order of decreasing importance. Crucial for creating clear and effective information hierarchies in content design.
The structural design of information environments, organizing and labeling content to support usability and findability. Essential for creating intuitive and navigable digital products.
Fundamental guidelines that inform and shape the design process, ensuring consistency, usability, and effectiveness in product creation. Essential for creating coherent, user-centered designs that align with organizational goals and user needs.
The perceived and actual properties of an object that determine how it could be used. Essential for designers to create intuitive and usable interfaces.
The process by which search engines organize and store web content to facilitate fast and accurate information retrieval. Crucial for understanding how search engines work and ensuring that web content is accessible and searchable.
A memory aid that helps individuals recall information through associations, patterns, or acronyms. Important for designing educational content and interfaces that enhance memory retention.