Design Glossary

Designing products and interfaces usable by people with varying abilities (e.g., vision, motor, cognitive).

A structure that assistive tech (like screen readers) uses to interpret and convey interface elements to users.

The mental effort required for a user to understand and interact with a system.

Unexpected, pleasant touches in a design that exceed user expectations and create positive emotions.

Focusing on crafting interfaces or products that elicit positive emotions and brand loyalty.

Predicts the time to move to a target area (like a button) based on the target’s distance and size.

Anything in the user journey that causes difficulty, confusion, or slows progression toward a goal.

Experts reviewing a product against established usability principles (like Nielsen’s heuristics).

Structuring and organizing content so users can easily find and understand information.

Clues (like link labels or icons) indicating what users will find when following a link or exploring a section.

The total mental and physical effort required for a user to complete a task.

A visual representation of the steps and emotions a user experiences when interacting with a product or service.

A set of 10 general usability principles (e.g., error prevention, visibility of system status) that guide UI design evaluation.

Specific problems or frustrations users face when trying to achieve their goals.

Any moment (digital or physical) where a user interacts with a brand or product.

How effectively, efficiently, and satisfactorily users can achieve their goals in a given environment.

High-level guidelines (e.g., Nielsen’s Heuristics) to evaluate and improve interface usability.

The path or sequence of steps users take to complete a task within a product.

An end-to-end narrative of a user’s interactions with a product or service, capturing goals and pain points.