Important Glossaries in UX Design World

A

Agile

Agile is a project management methodology often used in software development. The Agile development process enables teams to adaptively plan, test, develop, and continuously improve products. Because teams work in incremental, iterative work cadences, known as sprints, Agile encourages rapid and flexible response to change.

Agile UX

Agile UX adds UX design and research methods to the agile methodology. The most important driver for Agile UX is the close cooperation between developers, UX designers, and UX researchers during the entire process of product development. Ideally, every sprint entails a design and/or research goal. By planning, testing, optimizing, and re-testing elements throughout the project, the UX team can roll out a final product that has already been validated by their target users.

Automated UX Research

Automated business processes save time and budgets. Just like software for Marketing Automation, UX testing tools allow to digitalize user research efforts and accelerate every part of a project. Online UX software not only allows users to systematically plan continuous studies and manage the recruitment process but to automatically gather and filter usability data, create individual research reports based on UX metrics and easily export and share results within an organization.

Accessibility

Accessibility or accessible design is a design process that enables people with disabilities to interact with a product. This means designing for people who are color blind, blind, deaf, and people with cognitive disabilities, among others.

Adaptive

An adaptive interface is a collection of layouts designed specifically for different devices. it detects the device type being used and displays the layout designed for it. This does not mean it is a different websiteit means youll see a specific version of the website which has been optimized for mobile, desktop, or tablet.

Affordance

Affordances are clues that tell us what an element can do to us. Think of a door. The handle is an affordance designed to tell us it can be pulled or pushed.

On user interfaces, affordances help communicate to users what can and cannot be done on a screen. Buttons on interfaces, for example, afford being pressed to trigger an action.

Analytics

Analytics measure human behavior on a site. They help us better understand and interpret patterns of behavior on the products we use.

A/B testing

A/B testing is when you test two different versions of online content with users to see which one they prefer.

Android

Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google. It comes installed on a range of mobile phones and tablets.

Automation Testing

Automation Testing is when a QA uses an automation tool to do tests on a software application.

Avatar

An avatar is the embodiment of a person or idea. In the computer world, an avatar refers to a character that represents an online user. Avatars are used in gaming and online communities.

Above/below the fold

content that is above the fold is content that is visible when a page or screen first loads. Content that is below the fold is content that is hidden until the user scrolls. This term gets its name from newspaper designonly content in the top half of a broadsheets front page can be seen on the shelf.

Affinity map

a way of interpreting and grouping insights from a user research exercise. For example, in an exercise asking people their favorite dish, those dishes could then be sorted into affinity based on national cuisine (e.g. Italian, Mexican, French)

Application Programming Interface (API)

an API allows two different pieces of software to interact. For example, Facebooks API allows other apps to access data it holds and use that data to support their functionality.

B

Benchmark Study

To determine the user experience of a website, it is essential to compare it with its competitors. Within a UX benchmark study, participants perform the same tasks / test the same key processes on a companys and its competitors websites. Results help establish best practices, form baseline performance metrics, identify problem areas and build a vision and direction for product strategies for the next product release cycle.

Backlog

The backlog is a list of tasks to be completed. The list is prioritized and ideally, the tasks will be completed in the order listed.

Bug

Bugs are mistakes in software that can cause a product to glitch, behave in unintended ways, or even crash.

Breadcrumb

a breadcrumb is that little string of links that you sometimes see when youre browsing through a complex content structure. For example, on eBay, you might see: eBay > Clothes, Shoes & Accessories > Mens Clothing > Mens Shirts at the top-left of the page.

Button

an interface element that, when tapped or clicked, triggers a specific action (like submitting a form).

Back End (Development)

The back end is the engine room of a website, software, or IT system. Back-end developers deal with what powers the site and its core functionality. The front end is what you see and interact with. The back-end powers the front-end but we dont necessarily see it. Think databases and servers.

Beacon

Beacon technology allows mobile apps to understand their position on a micro-local scale. It can send relevant contextual content to users based on their location. It uses Bluetooth Technology.

This is a really great post. I like how there's a singular place that has all the UX terms compiled for easy access. I learnt many new terms that I didn't even know existed such as "Beacon" technology and "Clickstreams", and also got a better understanding of certain terms that I knew about.

- by UI/UX Designer

Beacons are small Bluetooth radio transmitters. They communicate with the users smartphone and are used to share information.

Branch (development branch)

A development branch allows for parts of the software to be developed in parallel. This is so that code they are writing and the code that is completed can be kept separate.

Burger Menu

The hamburger button, so named for its unintentional resemblance to a hamburger, is a button typically placed in a top corner of a graphical user interface. It is like the main navigation menu on apps

Beta version

a version of a piece of software that is made available for testing, typically by a limited number of users outside the company that is developing it, before its general release.

Brand Guidelines

Brand guidelines are a suite of documents that they set out how to use the design elements of a company's brand. The brand guidelines should be developed to complement the company's house style which sets out the language to describe the company and what it does

Brand book

An official corporate document that explains the brands identity and presents brand standards. Besides the design aspect, brand books may include a company overview and communication guidelines as well.

C

Card Sorting

an exercise where participants are asked to sort a batch of cards into different categories based on their interpretation. Its a way of understanding how people intuitively associate different items with one another. This can then be used as a basis for navigation structure or other decisions around information architecture. (See also: information architecture, navigation)

Customer Experience (CX)

CX includes the experiences customers and potential buyers have with a brand whenever the get in touch with a company throughout their customer journey. Every customer touchpoint (physical, digital, human) influences the Customer Experience and thus the brand strength and popularity. User experience is an essential part of CX.

Clickstream

When you land on a site, you click your way through it to complete a task. This is what a clickstream represents: the path of clicks you took on it to accomplish a goal.

Commits

Throughout the development process, developers create commits whenever they have reached a good point in their work. Commits are similar to drafts.

Cache

A cache is a place to store something temporarily in a computing environment. For example, a username could be stored in your computer's cache and is remembered the next time you log in.

CSS

CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, is a style sheet programming language used to define how a website should be styled. It contains information on fonts, color, spacing, layouts, and graphics among others, and how each should be applied to the website. Think of the top paint coat!

Call-To-Action (CTA)

any visual or interface element that invites a specific action from the user. In apps and websites, CTAs often take the form of a short snippet of text, followed by a button.

Chatbot

An automated or semi-automated feature, typically found on a website or in messaging apps, allow a user to receive automated answers to their queries using a conversational pattern.

Checkbox

a UI element that allows the user to make a binary (yes/no) choice for a specific option.

CMS

CMS stands for Content Management System. Its a computer application that creates and manages digital content. The admin can manage the content themselves.

Conversion Rate

the rate at which visitors to a specific site, page, or screen, complete an intended flow of action. For example, a landing page that had 4000 visitors and 2000 sign-ups has a 50% conversion rate.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

the practice of making changes to a design to increase the rate at which visitors to a specific site, page, or screen complete an intended flow of action.

Customer Journey Map

this concept is also borrowed from service design. It is a document that shows how a customer moves through an entire service, and the different touchpoints they encounter. For example, if someone uses an airline, their customer journey is about more than just the flight: it also includes searching, booking, checking in, waiting in the departure lounge, complaining, and so on. (See also user journey.)

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Customer Relationship Management software systems help manage business processes, like sales, data, and customer interactions.

Context of Use Analysis

Observing users behavior often helps create a website that supports their day-to-day activities. Context of use analysis studies personas, user flows, wireframes, the content map, the site map, and the content strategy.

D

Design Validation

By validating designs UX design teams make sure their design or redesign meets the expectations and intentions of use of their defined target users.

Data Science

Numbers can tell us an awful lot about our users and their needs and can help us define how to best meet them. Data Science focuses on making sense of these numbers or data and uncovering valuable insights that help us make better product decisions.

Design Debt

When we initially launch a product, we design a well-thought-out and cohesive design system for it. As the product grows, we often add new features and elements and scrap old ones.

Pressed with deadlines and the desire to move fast, it is easy to skip over the valuable design concepts we started with. As a result, the new elements or features we add dont quite fit and a choppy user experience emerges.

A design system that has accrued design debt is made up of elements and features that will need to be cleaned up later on. The efforts made to quickly set them in place eventually generate more work down the line.

Design Thinking

Design thinking is a 5-stage method for creative problem-solving. The 5 stages are:

1. Empathize: Understand the challenge
2. Define: Define the problem
3. Ideate: Brainstorm potential solutions
4. Prototype: Build your solutions
5. Test: Test your solutions

Diary Study

Think of diary studies as, welldiaries. This qualitative research method is used to collect information about users over time. Participants are asked to write about their everyday lives in a journal over a defined period.

Design Sprint

a collaborative methodology for rapidly identifying and solving a design problem. The five stages of a sprint are: define the challenge, diverge (ideate possible solutions), converge (choose the strongest concepts to develop), prototype, and test.

Design System

a library of user interface elements, components, and guidelines that are used as the basis for any new and updated features in a product. The purposes of a design system include: maintaining consistency across a product when new features are added; making it easier to update components across an entire product; and reducing the amount of development time involved in any project. Atomic Design by Brad Frost has been a very influential framework for thinking about design systems in recent years.

Design Validation

the process of testing to ensure that the design of a product or service meets the needs intended. A design that meets the needs it set out to is described as validated.

Dev Ops

Dev Ops focuses on fast technology delivery through the use of agile development. Dev Ops focuses on people and culture. It seeks to improve collaboration between operations and development teams.

Dots Per Inch - DPI

A way to measure the density of a print or video image. The number of differently colored dots that can fit into a one-inch space provides information about the resolution of an image. If an image is not of adequately high quality, it may not be able to be resized or printed without a loss of resolution.

Data-Driven

This means using all the available data: analytics, A/B tests, customer service logs, and social media sentiment to develop a better understanding of UX. There are common misconceptions that user experience is pure art, but there is a lot more involved. Understanding how to collect and process data is one of the key tasks you have to face as a UX designer.

E

Effectiveness Ratios

Effectiveness Ratios show if users or test participants complete a predetermined task on a website, mobile website, or app. Also, see quantitative user data.

Efficiency Ratios

Efficiency Ratios show how long users or test participants need to complete a predetermined task. Also, see quantitative user data.

Emoticons

This is a typographic display of a facial representation used to convey emotion :-)

Empathy Map

Empathy maps are collaborative tools that help us visualize user behavior, attitudes, and feelings. They are split into 4 equal quadrants containing information about what the user is saying, thinking, doing, and feeling. At the center, we place our user persona. We fill each quadrant with information weve collected through user research.

End-User

Who are we designing the product for? This person is our end user.

Eye Tracking

To fine-tune and measure our UX efforts, well want to understand what users are doing on our products. Eye-tracking lets us measure user eye activity with specialized tools, showing us where users look and in what order.

Eighty / twenty rule

20% of the functionality and features in any environment will be responsible for 80% of the actions taken within that environment. This is the Pareto principle as applied to any website, web app, or software environment.

Ethnographic study

Ethnographic studies involve talking with people and observing them perform their tasks in their natural context. Its aim is not just to gather information on how people behave and interact, but also how their location, environment, and other contexts affect their day-to-day lives. UX designers take this ethnographic research and use it to solve a problem through a product or technology.

Expert review

In an expert review, a UX professional examines your product to identify usability, design, and accessibility problems. Unlike other more traditional usability inspection methods, such as heuristic review, an expert review doesnt follow a strict process. Instead, it relies on the reviewers expert knowledge of usability and design best practices. This usability test should be seen as an early activity that occurs before using a research method that involves actual users.

F

Flowchart

Flowcharts illustrate the steps a user can take to complete a task on a product.

Fidelity

a concept in both wireframing and prototyping. Low-fidelity wireframes and prototypes aim to cover basic layout and links between screens, while high-fidelity prototypes and wireframes aim to be very close to final visuals and functionality.

Flat Design

a design trend that followed skeuomorphism. It moved away from both the imitation of realistic surfaces and the creation of digital interface elements that realistically reference physical interfaces. Instead, it favored simple blocks of flat color, making labeling and iconography more prominent, and increasing the visual simplicity and clarity of interface designs.

Floating Action Button (FAB):

a user interface (UI) element that sits on top of a screen design, often in the bottom-right-hand corner, and doesnt move when the user scrolls. An example of a FAB is the floating plus button in Gmails interface. Learn how to prototype a FAB in Figma!

Form

a UI element that gathers information from the user. Forms range from extremely short to extremely long. An example of a very short form is an email signup, which may have only an email address field and a submit button. An online loan application, however, might have a series of long forms in the flow. Check out our form design tips.

The frame (in design software)

in design packages including Figma, a frame is another name for an artboard. Learn more in Figma 101.

Frame (in HTML)

a region of a webpage that loads another HTML file inside it. Frames used to be much more widely used on the web, but are now almost obsolete, partly because they tend not to work well in responsive web design.

Front-End Development

a development role focused on engineering the visual appearance and interaction behaviors of a site or app. Front-end development skills typically include HTML, CSS, and Javascript.

Full Stack

typically heard in the context of full-stack developer. The term refers to a person or role and means that the person has both front-end and back-end development skills. Its becoming increasingly common to hear the term full-stack designerthis typically means that the person has a mix of UX, visual/UI, and graphic design/illustration skills.

Five Second Test

A technique that involves showing users a single content page for a quick 5 seconds to gather their initial impressions. Users make important judgments in the first moments when they visit a page. It gives the team insight into essential information about the page.

F shaped pattern

Users often read Web pages in an F-shaped pattern: two horizontal stripes, followed by a vertical stripe. In a few seconds, their eyes will move at amazing speed across your websites words in a one-of-a-kind pattern.

Fish board diagram

A diagram designed to identify cause-and-eff