Signifier
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 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 recommendation system technique that makes predictions about user interests based on preferences from many users. Essential for personalizing user experiences and improving recommendation accuracy.
The process of systematically collecting, analyzing, and acting on feedback from users to improve products and services. Essential for ensuring that user insights are effectively integrated into the development process.
The cues and hints that users follow to find information online, based on perceived relevance and usefulness. Important for designing intuitive navigation and content structures that align with user expectations.
A cognitive bias where people remember scenes as being more expansive than they actually were. Important for understanding how users perceive and recall visual information, aiding in better visual design decisions.
The phenomenon where having too many options leads to anxiety and difficulty making a decision, reducing overall satisfaction. Important for designing user experiences that balance choice and simplicity to enhance satisfaction.
A principle stating that a system should be liberal in what it accepts and conservative in what it sends, meaning it should handle user input flexibly while providing clear, consistent output, similar to the principle of fault tolerance. Essential for designing robust and user-friendly interfaces that accommodate a wide range of user inputs and behaviors while maintaining reliability and clarity in responses.
A method of creating and testing user interfaces using hand-drawn sketches and mockups on paper. Essential for early-stage design validation and gathering user feedback.
A cognitive bias where people ignore general statistical information in favor of specific information. Critical for designers to use general statistical information to improve decision-making accuracy and avoid bias.
UI/UX design tactics that intentionally manipulate users into taking actions they might not otherwise take. Important for recognizing and avoiding unethical design practices.
A mental shortcut where current emotions influence decisions, often bypassing logic and reasoning. Important for understanding how emotions impact user decisions, aiding in more effective design and marketing.
The risk that the product being developed will not deliver sufficient value to the users, meaning it won't meet their needs or solve their problems. Critical for ensuring the product will be desirable and valuable to the users, which is essential for its success.
A principle stating that productivity increases when the computer and its user interact at a pace that ensures neither has to wait on the other. Important for designing responsive systems that enhance user productivity.
The process of triggering particular aspects of a person's identity to influence their behavior or decisions. Important for designing personalized and effective user experiences.
A design flaw where users mistakenly believe they have reached the end of the content due to a misleading visual cue. Crucial for ensuring content is properly signposted to avoid user confusion and ensure thorough exploration.
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.
Providing clear, concise, and relevant navigation options to help users find what they need quickly. Crucial for improving user experience and efficiency in digital products.
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.
Call to Action (CTA) is a prompt that encourages users to take a specific action, such as signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase. Crucial for guiding user behavior and increasing engagement or conversions on digital platforms.
A phenomenon where vivid mental images can interfere with actual perception, causing individuals to mistake imagined experiences for real ones. Important for ensuring that marketing and product design set realistic user expectations to avoid disappointment and maintain brand integrity.
A cognitive bias where people attribute greater value to outcomes that required significant effort to achieve. Useful for designing experiences that recognize and reward user effort and persistence.
The use of visual elements to draw attention to important information or guide user actions. Important for enhancing user experience and ensuring key information is noticed.
A cognitive bias where individuals better remember the most recent information they have encountered, influencing decision-making and memory recall. Important for designing user experiences that leverage or mitigate the impact of recent information.
Interfaces that use multiple forms of interaction, such as visual, auditory, and tactile, to enhance user experience and accessibility. Essential for creating accessible and engaging user experiences across different sensory modalities.
The design of interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services. Crucial for creating engaging and user-friendly digital experiences.
The minimum difference in stimulus intensity that a person can detect, also known as the just noticeable difference (JND). Crucial for designing user interfaces that are sensitive to changes in user input and feedback.
The Principle of Choices is an information architecture guideline that emphasizes providing users with meaningful options to navigate and interact with a system. Crucial for enhancing user experience by ensuring users can easily find what they need without being overwhelmed.
A recommendation system technique that suggests items similar to those a user has shown interest in, based on item features. Important for providing personalized recommendations and improving user satisfaction.
The study of how individuals make choices among alternatives and the principles that guide these choices. Important for designing decision-making processes and interfaces that help users make informed choices.
Also known as Magical Number 7 +/- 2, a theory in cognitive psychology that states the average number of objects an individual can hold in working memory is about seven. Crucial for designing user interfaces that align with human cognitive limitations.
The organization of content in a way that prioritizes and structures information according to its importance. Crucial for ensuring that users can easily find and understand information.
The ease with which visual information can be processed and understood by the viewer. Important for creating intuitive and accessible interfaces.
The use of touch sensations to communicate information to users, often through vibrations or other tactile responses in devices. Essential for enhancing user interaction and providing sensory feedback.
Numeronym for the word "Personalization" (P + 13 letters + N), tailoring a product, service, or experience to meet the individual preferences, needs, or behaviors of each user. Important for enhancing user satisfaction and engagement.
The process of collecting, analyzing, and reporting aggregate data about which pages a website visitor visits and in what order. Essential for understanding user behavior and improving website navigation and content.
The practice of setting defaults in decision environments to influence outcomes, often used in behavioral economics and design. Crucial for creating user experiences that encourage beneficial behaviors through preselected options.
A theory that explains how individuals determine the causes of behavior and events, including the distinction between internal and external attributions. Crucial for understanding user behavior and designing experiences that address both internal and external factors.
A marketing strategy that uses user behavior data to deliver personalized advertisements and content. Important for improving user engagement and conversion rates by providing relevant and timely information to users.
A cognitive bias where consumers change their preference between two options when presented with a third, less attractive option. Useful for designers to create choice architectures that effectively influence user decisions.
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.
The psychological phenomenon where people prefer options that are not too extreme, but just right. Crucial for designing products and experiences that cater to the majority preference.
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.
The change in opinions or behavior that occurs when individuals conform to the information provided by others. Important for understanding social dynamics and designing systems that leverage social proof and peer influence.
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.
The principle that elements in a digital interface maintain consistent appearance, position, and behavior across different pages and states to help users maintain orientation and familiarity. Important for creating a stable and predictable user experience, reducing disorientation and enhancing usability.
A user experience that feels consistent and unified across different elements and touchpoints. Crucial for ensuring a seamless and engaging user journey.
The observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes. Useful for designing experiences that maintain user engagement and satisfaction over time.
The tendency for people to prefer things that are easy to think about and understand. Important for designing user interfaces that are intuitive and easy to use.
A testing method where the internal structure of the system is not known to the tester, focusing solely on input and output. Essential for validating the functionality of digital products from an end-user perspective.
The time it takes for a webpage to load and become interactive, impacting user experience and search engine rankings. Essential for improving user satisfaction and SEO performance.
The drive to perform an activity for its inherent satisfaction rather than for some separable consequence. Crucial for designing experiences that engage users through inherent enjoyment and interest.
The study of how humans interact with systems and products, focusing on improving usability and performance. Crucial for designing user-friendly systems and products.
AI systems designed to communicate with users through natural language, enabling human-like interactions. Crucial for developing advanced customer service and user engagement solutions.
A framework for understanding what drives individuals to act, involving theories such as Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Important for designing products and experiences that align with users' intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.
A dark pattern where advertisements are disguised as other types of content or navigation to trick users into clicking on them. Awareness of this tactic is crucial to maintain transparency and prevent misleading users with disguised content.
The ease with which users can quickly find and understand information on a webpage or document, often enhanced by design elements like headings, bullet points, and short paragraphs. Crucial for improving user experience and ensuring that content is accessible and easy to navigate.
A role focused on driving user acquisition, engagement, and retention through data-driven strategies and experiments. Essential for scaling products and optimizing user growth.
A framework for designing habit-forming products that includes four phases: Trigger, Action, Variable Reward, and Investment. Crucial for creating engaging and sticky user experiences.
A decision-making strategy that involves choosing an option that meets the minimum requirements rather than seeking the optimal solution, balancing effort and outcome. Important for designing user experiences that accommodate decision-making under constraints.
The tendency for the first items presented in a sequence to be remembered better than those in the middle. Crucial for designing information presentation and improving memory retention.