Method of testing in which two different designs are compared against each other to determine which is preferred or performs the best

The concept of whether a service or product can be used by the broadest range of individuals, irrespective of ability

An interface that’s designed and built to automatically adapt to various screen sizes, orientations, or devices

A flexible, collaborative approach to project management that allows for the incremental, iterative approach to software development

Short text description of an image on a website inserted as an HTML attribute

A simulation of movement by inanimate objects

Explanation or comment used to communicate behavior or functionality on a wireframe or prototype

An interactive experience where digital information is integrated with a user’s environment in real time

Builds and maintains the behind-the-scenes technology that occurs when performing an action on a website that the user does not visibly see, like the storage of login IDs and passwords or the capturing of information submitted though a contact form

A prioritized list of tasks (or features) to be implemented as part of a software product or project.

Secondary navigational aid that shows website users where they are in the website hierarchy (and the path of how they got there)

An interactive UI element on a website or app that prompts a user to take a specific action; for instance, “Sign Up” or “Buy Now”

A popular research method in which information is organized, categorized, and labeled based on the feedback received from a selected audience [See closed card sort, hybrid card sort, and open card sort]

A software application used to conduct an online chat conversation via text or speech-to-text that can reply to questions, take instructions, and solve customer support problems without the need for a live human representative

A research method in which information is organized, categorized, and labeled based on the feedback received from a selected audience and where participants are asked to place items into predefined categories [See card sort, hybrid card sort, and open card sort]

The amount of mental effort a user has to invest when interacting with a product

Identifying and evaluating the relative strengths and weaknesses of a competitor’s products or services

Plans, writes, edits, and manages content that is informed by research and an understanding of the holistic user journey, to help in the design of websites, apps, and other digital products

Takes a high-level, strategic approach to planning, creating, publishing, and managing content to achieve a specific business or user goal

A company-wide document that outlines a particular brand’s rules for creating content; can include decisions about vocabulary, spelling, syntax, grammar, and various other deliberate language choices

Research method in which users are observed in their natural environment in order to understand their tasks and challenges

The percentage of visitors that complete a targeted transaction online

A document that summarizes all copy featured on a website, app, or other digital product

The written material of a design

Software that is designed to work on multiple platforms or operating systems

A map that visualizes the linear path a customer takes to engage with a particular product or service being offered by a business

Tricks used in websites and apps that cause a user to unintentionally perform an undesired action, such as unknowingly subscribe to a newsletter

The accumulation of design-related inconsistencies in a product over time

A collection of UI elements or components that are combined to present recommended solutions to design problems in the form of layouts or templates that typically make up the page of a website or the screen of an app

Popularized by Google Ventures (GV), an intense five-day process where user-centered teams use a slightly modified version of the design thinking process to build and test a prototype in just five days

An ever-evolving, reusable collection of the components, patterns, and guidelines that serves as the single source of truth for a company’s end-to-end design language

An iterative, nonlinear, user-centric approach to the practical resolution of customer problems

Research method that involves providing participants with the materials and structure to record and describe daily events, tasks, and perceptions around a given subject in order to gain insight into their behaviors, activities, and experiences over time

An atypical, unusual, or rare circumstance that falls outside the “normal” range or boundaries of a product or service; e.g., a user (or bot) that attempts to log in 10 times in a row in a short period of time

The ability to put aside one’s own biases and relate to and understand the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of others

The set of users that a product or service is intended to serve

Design that takes into account the needs of people from diverse backgrounds who have traditionally been underrepresented, along the lines race, gender, class, religion, sexual identity, sexual orientation, and nationality

The alert or message presented to a user when something goes wrong

Error frequency over a certain period of time

The ability for a user to course-correct and continue to complete a task or goal after some type of error is encountered

A qualitative research method of observing users in their natural environment over a period of time to understand their activities and behaviors

Software that uses invisible near-infrared light and high-definition cameras to project light onto the eye to record and measure where a person looks, what they look at, and for how long

A person who moderates a discussion or activity to collect feedback and information

When a product is overloaded with features and functions and no longer serves core user needs

The level of detail presented in a prototype, mockup, or wireframe—can be low (displays a very rough approximation of the design), medium (displays a little more detail than low fidelity), or high (close in nature to the final design) [See high-fidelity prototype and low-fidelity prototype]

A measure of how quickly and easily information can be navigated through or found

A testing method to see where a user clicks first on a website or app when trying to complete a specific task or goal

A design technique that automatically scales the layout to fit a browser window or monitor resolution

A research method where researchers bring together a small group of people to take part in an interactive discussion about a specific topic (or set of topics) in a moderated environment

A term that goes back to the days before digital design when newspapers were sold from sidewalk kiosks and the most important, headline-grabbing stories were placed at the top of the page (above the fold) in an attempt to get the immediate attention of passersby; the term is now used in website design to describe the content that is visible to a user when a web page first loads (without the need to scroll)

The color of the text

How easy it is for a reader to interpret, understand, and digest content that appears in the form of words, sentences, or paragraphs in a specific type style

A particular typeface’s weight, width, or style, etc., for example, Arial bold

Input controls like text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, submit buttons, and text area

Anything that makes a task harder and slows down or prevents a user from accomplishing a desired action or task on a website or app

Uses HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build the front-end portion of a website that a user sees and interacts with

A process of comparing the current state with the desired state of an organization

The persistent, unchanging menu that appears on every page of a website that allows a user to easily switch between the top-level pages (or subcategories) presented

A system of columns and rows used to design and organize the layout of a website, app, or print project with superb precision

The space between columns on a grid system

A system’s most efficient and effective way to accomplish a task

A data visualization that shows how website users click, scroll, or move their mouse on a web page

An evaluation method used to test the usability of a website or app based on a set of principles which become the “heuristics” of the test; the most widely-known and popularly-used in UX are the “10 usability heuristics” proposed by Jakob Nielsen

Where elements are organized and presented according to priority or importance

An interactive prototype that looks very much like the finished product, displaying most of the intended functionality and including the actual content, typography, colors, and other branding elements to be incorporated into the final design [See low-fidelity prototype]

Research method where participants are asked to sort cards into predefined categories (similar to a closed card sort) but are also free to create their own categories outside of what’s been provided [See card sort, closed card sort, and open card sort]

Designing services or products to be accessible to, and usable by, as many individuals and groups as possible, irrespective of background, situation, or ability

Professional who increases the usability of a product by structuring, organizing, and labeling content in a clear and logical manner so that information is easy to find, discover, navigate, scan, or read

The structural design of information with the goal of making it easy to find, discover, navigate, scan, or read

A discipline that specifically focuses on creating engaging interfaces that aid in user interaction with a product or app

A simulation of the final product, website, or app that includes basic interactions, transitions, and events that can be used to demonstrate functionality to stakeholders, tease feedback from team members, and help validate concepts with target users

The means (software or hardware) by which an interaction or communication is achieved with a device

The practice of designing and developing a product so it can be adapted for users of different cultures, languages, or religions (i18n stands for the number of letters that appear between “i” and “n” in the word internationalization)

A qualitative research method that involves asking open-ended questions to better understand and explore research subjects’ opinions, behavior, and experiences

Unfamiliar, specialized words or expressions used within a particular profession or group

A programming language used to make web pages interactive

The space between the characters in a font

A quantifiable measure of performance over time for a specific business or project goal or objective

Words and phrases that people typically type into search engines to find what they’re looking for

The names used for buttons and site navigation, etc.

Technically any web page a user lands on in a site, but in the marketing realm, the term is used to describe a stand-alone page that has specifically been created for a marketing or ad campaign

The vertical space that appears between lines of text. Increasing or decreasing this value can improve or reduce readability.

How easy or difficult it is to learn to effectively use a system, interface, or device

How well an individual character can be distinguished from another within a particular typeface

A widely used approach to scaling responses in survey research; for instance, a five-point Likert scale that measures the level of confidence in selections can have values that range from “Not confident at all” to “Very confident”

A design technique that automatically scales a page to fit a browser window or monitor resolution

Personalizing a national or international product for a local market. Applies to more than just translation—can include changes to idioms, dates and times, currencies, and other aspects of the user experience (l10n stands for the number of letters that appear between “l” and “n” in the word localization)

A simple sketch or diagram made for gauging feedback on initial concepts that contains lines and boxes to indicate where elements, content, or features will go—with little or no attention paid to the visual design [See high-fidelity prototype]

Ways in which one understands the world

The pieces of information used to describe various aspects of a digital asset so that asset can be identified and found

The clear, concise, sometimes conversational interface copy that helps a user understand, use, and navigate a product

A product launched with only the most important features to an early set of users to provide valuable feedback before developers fully commit more time and resources to features that users may not care about, want, need, or use

A realistic visual model of what a final web page or app will look like

A dialog box that appears on top of the main content when an item is clicked or tapped and requires some type of user action to dismiss

Usability testing with a person to help facilitate or moderate the test

Paintings, drawings, design, or photographs displayed in black and white, in a single color or hue, or in varying tones of a single color

A visual presentation or collage of images, typography, textures, color palettes, and descriptions arranged around a particular subject or theme

The testing of three or more options to determine which combination of variations performs the best out of all possible combinations; can be especially useful when you want to test the impact of radical (or many) changes to a web page as opposed to testing the impact of one specific element [See A/B testing]

The means by which a user moves between the pages or screens of a website or app

Unused space (also known as white space) [See white space]

The system of naming or classifying things

Watching how users interact with a product or service in a controlled or natural environment

The experience a user has completing a single activity while moving across various channels (e.g., phone, website, and a physical location)

The series of steps (or guidance) a new user takes before using a product or service to increase the likelihood of the successful adoption of that product or service

A research method where participants group cards into categories they name and label themselves [See card sort, closed card sort, and hybrid card sort]

The process of dividing information into separate distinct pages which are numbered and linked

Any UX issue that frustrates a user, slow them down or blocks them from completing a desired task, action, or goal

A “throwaway” paper representation of a digital product that allows teams to quickly visualize, get feedback, and test initial concepts and ideas

Best-practice solutions for how a user achieves a goal. Features collections of UI elements or components that are combined to present recommended solutions to design problems in the form of layouts or templates that typically make up the page of a website or screen of an app.

A fictional character (composed from the results of qualitative and quantitative user research) that is used to classify and summarize the main characteristics of the most important users a product will serve

Tailoring content and functionality to the needs and preferences of an individual user based on specific information about them and their current context

The hardware or operating system on which a user experiences a product

A software module that adds a specific feature, function, or service to a larger system

A window that is automatically invoked when a user loads a web page or performs a specific action

Defines the specific challenge or pain point to be addressed by a company or organization

In agile project management, this refers to a prioritized list of features, functions, updates, bug fixes, infrastructure changes, or other activities to be delivered over time

The process of creating useful, usable products and experiences by identifying a market opportunity, clearly defining a problem, developing a solution, and validating that solution with users

Crafts simple, intuitive, engaging experiences that enable users to easily accomplish their tasks and goals [See user experience design]

Responsible for the strategy, planning, forecasting, and development of a feature, product, or service

A method wherein the functionality presented in a user interface progresses naturally from simple to complex in a step-by-step way so as not to frustrate or overwhelm a user with too much information unless they actively choose to seek it out

A preliminary design of a product used to test and gather feedback [See high-fidelity prototype and low-fidelity prototype]

A message, notification, or call to action that is sent directly to a mobile device

The study of human behavior that emphasizes nonnumerical insights, focusing on thoughts, feelings, emotions, opinions, and experiences—answering the “what,” “how,” and “why” of a user’s behavior rather than “how many” or “how much” [See quantitative research]

The systematic process of determining whether a product or service meets specified requirements and functions free of any defects or bugs; QA specialists intentionally aim to find breaking points in software and products so that users don’t have to

The study of human behavior that focuses on behaviors that can be measured and expressed in numbers or figures [See qualitative research]

Qualitative or quantitative research method (depending on the format of questions) used to collect data from individuals about certain topics or experiences

The process of iteratively generating mockups for validating with users or stakeholders

How easy it is for a user to interpret, understand, and digest content that appears in the form of words, sentences, or paragraphs

A practice of crafting websites to provide an optimal viewing experience regardless of platform, screen size, or device

An approximate measure of an investment’s profitability; can be used to help product teams determine whether certain efforts are worth pursuing or assess whether a past effort was worth it

A category of typefaces that do not have small lines attached to the ends of the characters (“sans” means without) [See serif]

The ease with which a body of text can be read and understood

The interface or software program that allows a blind or visually impaired individual to read text displayed on a computer that has a speech synthesizer or braille display

Questions used to narrowly target an audience by qualifying or disqualifying respondents (from taking a survey) depending on how they answer

Techniques to improve a website’s ranking in search engine results

A category of typefaces that have small lines attached to the ends of the characters [See sans serif]

A visual tool for planning and organizing the navigational structure, content, and labeling for the major categories and subcategories of a website or app

A software distribution model in which an app is licensed on a free or subscription basis and hosted remotely over the internet (in the cloud) instead of locally on a machine

A cartoon-like illustration that explains a user problem—depicting the situation that sets it in motion, the thoughts and feelings a user experiences along the way, and the series of actions taken to get the issue resolved

The rules, standards, and instructions for how a brand’s identity should look, act, and sound across mediums such as digital, print, and broadcast

Qualitative or quantitative research method (depending on the format of questions) used to collect data from individuals about certain topics or experiences

The intended audience for a product, service, website, or app

A method used to identify and understand the sequence of steps a user must take to accomplish a task or a goal

A diagram that depicts the sequence of steps a user must take to achieve a goal

The way in which information or concepts are grouped, organized, and classified

A professional who transforms complex, technical information into clear, concise, easy-to-understand documentation

The process by which a test subject narrates their testing experience as they go, discussing not only what they’re doing but why they’re doing it

An informative feedback message on a website or app that provides information regarding the success or failure of an action before automatically disappearing

A small box of information that appears or pops up when a user taps or mouses over a designated graphical element or text

A particular digital or physical interaction that takes place between a user and an organization

A collection of related fonts, for example, Arial or Helvetica

The art of arranging type to make written material legible, readable, and appealing when displayed

Techniques used for measuring usability [See usability]

The extent to which a product is easy, intuitive, efficient, and enjoyable for a customer to use in achieving a task or goal

Everything that happens to a user while using a product or service—including the emotions, attitudes, feelings, reactions, and behaviors that take place during the experience

The practice of crafting simple, intuitive, engaging experiences that enable users to easily accomplish their tasks and goals [See product designer]

A visual representation of the path a user can take through a system to achieve a specific goal

The medium through which a user interacts with a product, experience, or device

The design of the look, feel, and behavior of an application’s interface

Qualitative research method that involves conducting one-on-one discussions with a participant on a particular topic [See qualitative research and quantitative research]

The path(s) a user can take to complete a task or achieve a goal

A method in the agile software development process that is used for capturing user requirements (not system requirements) in a short, simple, nontechnical way

An approach to designing a product or service in which focus is placed on users and their needs at every stage of the design process

A showcase of a designer’s best work that demonstrate their design process, problem-solving abilities, and a range of other UX skills

Uses qualitative and quantitative methods to provide insights into user wants, goals, needs, motivations, attitudes, expectations, and pain points so an organization can move from opinion-driven design to a more informed, empathetic, customer-focused, and data-driven design [See qualitative research and quantitative research]

They create the clear, concise, sometimes conversational interface copy (microcopy) that helps a user understand, use, and navigate a product

An immersive, simulated 3D environment that users interact with using special electronics like VR helmets, goggles, gloves, and sensors

The use of fonts, colors, images, and other elements to enhance a design or interaction

Where elements are organized according to importance or priority

Interface that enables users to interact with systems and devices using voice or speech commands. Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa are all examples of VUIs.

How a user orients themself through a website, app, or other digital product

Measures, collects, analyzes, and reports user behavior on a website

WCAG are focused on providing international technical standards for web content. There are 12 guidelines that are organized under four principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. The guidelines each have testable success criteria, which are at three levels: A, AA, and AAA.

The blank space that appears between graphics, columns, images, text, or other objects; when used effectively, white space increases legibility and readability [See negative space]

A small application, or a component of an interface, that displays information or enables a user to perform a function or access a service

A skeletal layout created for testing and feedback purposes that is stripped of visual design but acts as blueprint for a website or application—can range in fidelity from low to high [See high-fidelity prototype and low-fidelity prototype]