User-Centered Design (UCD) is an iterative design approach that focuses on understanding users' needs, preferences, and limitations throughout the design process. Crucial for creating products that are intuitive, efficient, and satisfying for the intended users.
The process of understanding user behaviors, needs, and motivations through various qualitative and quantitative methods. Essential for designing user-centered products and ensuring they meet actual user needs.
A research process used to identify and understand the underlying needs of users to inform the design of products and services. Essential for creating user-centered designs that address real user needs.
Human-Centered Design (HCD) is an approach to problem-solving that involves the human perspective in all steps of the process. It ensures designs are user-friendly and meet actual user needs.
A fictional representation of a user segment, created based on user research to guide design decisions and ensure the product meets the needs of its target audience. Crucial for keeping design efforts focused on user needs and preferences.
The practice of deeply understanding and sharing the feelings of users to create products and services that truly meet their needs. Crucial for creating user-centered designs that resonate with users' emotions and experiences.
A fictional character created to represent a user type that might use a site, brand, or product in a similar way, guiding design decisions. Essential for user-centered design, ensuring that products meet the needs of target users.
The ability to understand and share the feelings of customers, crucial for creating user-centered designs and experiences. Crucial for designing products that truly meet user needs and expectations.
A user-centered design process that involves understanding users' needs and workflows through field research and applying these insights to design. Essential for creating designs that are deeply informed by user contexts and behaviors.
A design approach that prioritizes the practical purpose and usability of digital products over purely aesthetic considerations. Important for creating efficient, user-centered designs that effectively fulfill their intended functions.
An approach to design that actively involves all stakeholders (e.g., employees, partners, customers) in the design process. Crucial for creating designs that truly meet user needs and expectations.
An approach to design where content is prioritized and designed before other elements like layout and visual design. Crucial for ensuring that the design supports and enhances the content.
A qualitative research method that studies people in their natural environments to understand their behaviors, cultures, and experiences. Crucial for gaining deep insights into user behaviors and contexts.
A cognitive bias where someone mistakenly assumes that others have the same background knowledge they do. Essential for designers to ensure communications and products are clear and accessible to all users, regardless of their background knowledge.
A collaborative tool used to visualize what a user thinks, feels, says, and does to better understand their experiences and needs. Essential for gaining deep insights into user behavior and guiding design decisions.
The degree to which a product or system can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use. Essential for creating products that are easy to use and meet user needs effectively.
A field research method where researchers observe and interview users in their natural environment to understand their tasks and challenges. Crucial for gaining authentic insights into user behavior and needs.
Pre-set options in a system that are designed to benefit users by simplifying decisions and guiding them towards the best choices. Essential for improving user experience and ensuring that users make optimal decisions with minimal effort.
A qualitative research method where a small group of people discuss a product, service, or concept to gather diverse insights and opinions. Important for gaining in-depth understanding of user perceptions and needs.
A research method that focuses on understanding phenomena through in-depth exploration of human behavior, opinions, and experiences, often using interviews or observations. Essential for gaining deep insights into user needs and behaviors to inform design and development.
The study of how humans interact with systems and products, focusing on improving usability and performance. Crucial for designing user-friendly systems and products.
A simple description of a feature from the perspective of the user, typically used in Agile development to capture requirements and guide development. Crucial for ensuring that development efforts are aligned with user needs and priorities.
Narrative descriptions of how users might interact with a product or system to achieve specific goals, used to inform design and development. Important for understanding user needs and ensuring the design supports their tasks and goals.
A user-centered approach to problem-solving that involves empathy, ideation, prototyping, and testing. Crucial for developing innovative and effective solutions that meet user needs.
The process of enabling users to take control of their interactions with a product or system, enhancing their confidence and satisfaction. Crucial for designing systems that provide users with the tools and information they need to make informed decisions.
A framework inspired by Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, applied to user experience design, prioritizing basic functionality and reliability before enhancing usability and delight. Essential for creating well-rounded and satisfying user experiences.
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.
A set of fundamental principles and guidelines that inform and shape user research practices. Crucial for maintaining consistency and ensuring high-quality user insights.
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.
An approach where designers and non-designers work together throughout the design process to create user-centric solutions. Crucial for creating more inclusive and effective design outcomes.
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 practice of planning and organizing people, infrastructure, communication, and material components of a service to improve its quality and the interaction between service providers and customers. Essential for creating effective and user-centered service experiences.
A design principle that states the design of a product or interface should primarily serve its intended purpose or functionality. Important for creating digital designs that are both practical and user-friendly.
A psychological perspective that emphasizes the study of the whole person and the uniqueness of each individual, focusing on concepts such as self-actualization and personal growth. Crucial for understanding and designing experiences that cater to individual user needs and potential.
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 principles and guidelines that govern the moral and ethical aspects of design, ensuring that designs are socially responsible and beneficial. Crucial for creating designs that are ethical, inclusive, and socially responsible.
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.
An overarching idea or theme that guides the design process, providing direction and coherence to the final product. Essential for ensuring that all design elements align with a central vision and purpose.
Minimum Viable Experience (MVE) is the simplest version of a product that delivers a complete and satisfying user experience while meeting core user needs. Essential for rapidly validating product concepts and user experience designs while ensuring that even early versions of a product provide value and a positive impression to users.
A dark pattern where users are pressured to make quick decisions by creating a false sense of urgency. Designers must avoid creating artificial urgency and allow users to make decisions at their own pace.
A technique that visualizes the process users go through to achieve a goal with a product or service. Essential for identifying pain points and optimizing user interactions to improve overall experience.
A model by Don Norman outlining the cognitive steps users take when interacting with a system: goal formation, planning, specifying, performing, perceiving, interpreting, and comparing. Important for designing user-friendly and effective products by understanding and supporting user behavior at each stage.
The application of behavioral science principles to design products that influence user behavior in a desired way. Crucial for creating products that effectively guide user behavior and improve outcomes.
UI patterns that excessively demand user attention, often interrupting the user experience. Important for identifying and avoiding practices that can frustrate or annoy users.
The evaluation of products based on their ability to influence and shape user behavior. Useful for assessing how well a product guides and influences user actions and decisions.
A research method where participants take photographs of their activities, environments, or interactions to provide insights into their behaviors and experiences. Important for gaining in-depth, visual insights into user contexts and behaviors.
A dark pattern where a process is made more difficult than it needs to be to discourage certain behavior. Recognizing the harm of this practice is important to design straightforward user processes.
Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) is a framework that focuses on understanding the tasks users are trying to accomplish with a product, emphasizing their goals and motivations over product features. Crucial for designing products that meet real user needs and motivations.
A research method where participants record their activities, experiences, and thoughts over a period of time, providing insights into their behaviors and needs. Important for gaining in-depth, longitudinal insights into user experiences.
An ongoing process of learning about user needs and validating assumptions through continuous research and experimentation. Crucial for staying responsive to user needs and improving products iteratively.
Principle of Least Astonishment (POLA) is a design guideline stating that interfaces should behave in a way that users expect to avoid confusion. Crucial for enhancing user experience and reducing the learning curve in digital products.
The risk that users will find the product difficult or confusing to use, preventing them from effectively utilizing its features. Crucial for making sure the product is user-friendly and intuitive, enhancing the user experience and adoption.
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.
Qualitative data that provides insights into the context and human aspects behind quantitative data. Crucial for gaining deep insights into user behaviors and motivations.
A visual exercise that helps product teams understand and prioritize features by organizing user stories into a cohesive narrative that aligns with user journeys and goals. Essential for planning and prioritizing product features and ensuring alignment with user needs.
A psychological theory proposed by Abraham Maslow that outlines a five-tier model of human needs, ranging from basic physiological needs to self-actualization. Crucial for designing products and services that address various levels of user needs.
A dark pattern where the user interface is manipulated in a way that prioritizes certain actions over others to benefit the company. It's crucial to avoid this tactic and design fair interfaces without manipulating user actions.
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.
A theory of motivation that explains behavior as driven by a desire for rewards or incentives. Crucial for designing systems that effectively motivate and engage users.
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.