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.
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.
The Principle of Disclosure is an information architecture guideline that promotes revealing information progressively as users need it. Crucial for managing complexity and preventing information overload.
The hypothesis that safety measures may lead to behavioral changes that offset the benefits of the measures, potentially leading to risk compensation. Crucial for understanding risk behavior and designing systems that account for compensatory behaviors.
A collection of pre-written code and tools that provide a foundation for building the front end of websites and applications, such as Bootstrap or React. Crucial for streamlining the development process and ensuring consistency.
The study of the nature, structure, and variation of language, including phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Essential for understanding how language influences communication and user interactions in digital products.
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.
3-Tiered Architecture is a software design pattern that separates an application into three layers: presentation, logic, and data. Crucial for improving scalability, maintainability, and flexibility in software development.
ARIA attributes that define additional characteristics of elements, such as roles and relationships. Important for enhancing the accessibility and usability of web applications.
A set of principles describing how the human mind organizes visual information into meaningful wholes. Crucial for designing intuitive digital interfaces and cohesive user experiences that align with natural human perception patterns.
A cognitive bias that causes people to attribute their own actions to situational factors while attributing others' actions to their character. Essential for helping designers recognize their own situational influences on interpreting user behavior and feedback.
The phenomenon where people follow the direction of another person's gaze, influencing their attention and behavior. Important for understanding visual attention and designing more effective visual cues in interfaces.
A mode of thinking, derived from Dual Process Theory, that is fast, automatic, and intuitive, often relying on heuristics and immediate impressions. Important for understanding how users make quick decisions and respond to design elements instinctively, aiding in the creation of intuitive and user-friendly interfaces.
Common reading patterns users follow when scanning web content, such as the F-pattern, where users read across the top and then scan down the left side. Important for designing layouts that align with natural reading behaviors, improving content engagement and usability.
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 tendency to recall past behavior in a way that aligns with current beliefs and attitudes. Crucial for understanding how memories and self-perception can be influenced by current perspectives.
A psychological phenomenon where people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks. Crucial for designing engaging experiences that leverage task incompletion to maintain user interest.
The perception of a relationship between two variables when no such relationship exists. Crucial for understanding and avoiding biases in data interpretation and decision-making.
The mistaken belief that a person who has experienced success in a random event has a higher probability of further success in additional attempts. Crucial for understanding and designing around user decision-making biases.
A cognitive bias where individuals overestimate the accuracy of their judgments, especially when they have a lot of information. Important for understanding and mitigating overconfidence in user decision-making.
A logical fallacy where people assume that specific conditions are more probable than a single general one. Important for understanding and addressing cognitive biases in user behavior.
An economic approach that treats human attention as a scarce commodity, focusing on capturing and retaining user attention. Crucial for understanding user engagement and designing products that effectively capture and retain attention.
The tendency to attribute intentional actions to others' behaviors, often overestimating their intent. Important for understanding and mitigating biases in user interactions and feedback.
A cognitive bias where people place too much importance on one aspect of an event, causing errors in judgment. Important for understanding decision-making and designing interfaces that provide balanced information.
A phenomenon where individuals' preferences between options change when the options are presented in different ways or contexts. Important for understanding and designing around inconsistencies in user choices.
A mode of thinking, derived from Dual Process Theory, that is slow, deliberate, and analytical, requiring more cognitive effort and conscious reasoning. Crucial for designing complex tasks and interfaces that require thoughtful decision-making and problem-solving, ensuring they are clear and logical for users.
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.
A cognitive architecture model that explains how humans can learn and adapt to new tasks. Useful for understanding user learning and behavior adaptation, informing better user experience 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.
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 phenomenon where people better understand and remember information when it is presented visually. Crucial for designing effective and engaging visual content.
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.
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the systematic process of increasing the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form. Crucial for improving user engagement and achieving business goals.
A method for organizing information based on five categories: category, time, location, alphabet, and continuum. Useful for creating clear and effective information architectures.
A usability testing method where users interact with a system they believe to be autonomous, but which is actually operated by a human. Essential for testing concepts and interactions before full development.
The tendency for individuals to continue a behavior or endeavor as a result of previously invested resources (time, money, or effort) rather than future potential benefits. Important for understanding decision-making biases and designing systems that help users avoid irrational persistence.
The tendency to perceive a greater quantity as a better value, regardless of the actual utility. Important for understanding consumer behavior and designing effective marketing strategies.
A cognitive bias where individuals tend to avoid risks when they perceive potential losses more acutely than potential gains. Important for understanding decision-making behavior in users and designing systems that mitigate risk aversion.
An AI-driven assistant or tool that helps users accomplish tasks more efficiently, often by providing suggestions and automating routine actions. Important for enhancing productivity and user experience through AI assistance.
The visual images, symbols, or modes of representation collectively associated with a subject, often used in design to communicate ideas quickly and effectively. Important for creating cohesive and meaningful visual systems.
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.
A principle that suggests the simplest explanation is often the correct one, favoring solutions that make the fewest assumptions. Crucial for problem-solving and designing straightforward, efficient solutions.
Numeronym for the word "Internationalization" (I + 18 letters + N), enabling localization for different languages, regions, and cultures without requiring extensive rework. Important for expanding product reach to global markets.
The study of how people make choices about what and how much to do at various points in time, often involving trade-offs between costs and benefits occurring at different times. Crucial for designing systems that account for delayed gratification and long-term planning.
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 theory that suggests the depth of processing (shallow to deep) affects how well information is remembered. Important for designing educational content and user interfaces that enhance memory retention.
A heuristic where individuals evenly distribute resources across all options, regardless of their specific needs or potential. Useful for understanding and designing around simplistic decision-making strategies.
A cognitive bias where the total probability assigned to a set of events is less than the sum of the probabilities assigned to each event individually. Important for understanding how users estimate probabilities and make decisions under uncertainty.
Moment of Truth (MoT) refers to any instance where a customer interacts with a brand, product, or service in a way that leaves a significant impression. Crucial for identifying key touchpoints in the customer journey and optimizing them to enhance overall user experience and brand perception.
A brainstorming technique where participants sketch eight ideas in eight minutes to generate a wide range of concepts quickly. Essential for fostering creativity and generating diverse ideas rapidly.
The study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation. Important for designing effective visual communication and iconography.
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 concept that humans make decisions within the limits of their knowledge, cognitive capacity, and available time, leading to satisficing rather than optimal solutions. Crucial for designing systems and processes that account for human cognitive limitations and decision-making processes.
A cognitive bias where individuals underestimate their own abilities and performance relative to others, believing they are worse than average. Important for understanding self-perception biases among designers and designing systems that support accurate self-assessment.
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.
Information Visualization (InfoVis) is the study and practice of visual representations of abstract data to reinforce human cognition. Crucial for transforming complex data into intuitive visual formats, enabling faster insights and better decision-making.
Anchoring (also known as Focalism) is a cognitive bias where individuals rely heavily on the first piece of information (the "anchor") when making decisions. Crucial for understanding and mitigating initial information's impact on user decision-making processes.
A cognitive bias where individuals favor others who are perceived to be similar to themselves, affecting judgments and decision-making. Crucial for understanding biases in team dynamics and decision-making processes among designers.
Redundant, outdated, or unnecessary code or design elements that accumulate over time in a system. Important for identifying and removing to maintain clean, efficient, and maintainable systems and interfaces.
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is a program developed by W3C to improve web accessibility. Essential for creating guidelines and resources to help make the web accessible to people with disabilities.