User Experience (UX) Design Glossary

User experience design, also simply called UX design, is the process of enhancing user satisfaction by improving the usability and accessibility of a product or service. This term is most commonly used in the context of Web design, as good UX design promotes a positive customer experience online. As the field of UX design grows, so does its terminology, and understanding these terms can give you a broader understanding of what goes into this area of expertise.

A/B Testing: A/B testing, or split testing, compares two versions of a design or product feature to find out which one performs better. In UX design, A/B testing is common, used to optimize elements like call-to-action buttons, page layouts, and color schemes.

Accessibility: Accessibility in UX means designing for all users, including those with disabilities. An accessible design works for those with vision, hearing, movement, or cognitive issues. This is important not only from a legal perspective but also to ensure inclusivity.

Affordance: Affordance refers to the design features of an object that naturally suggest how it functions or should be used. In UX design, affordances help users understand how to interact with elements on a website or app. For example, a button that looks raised or shaded implies that it can be clicked. Affordances guide users by making interaction intuitive.

Card Sorting: Card sorting is a research method used to understand how users categorize information. Participants receive a set of cards, each representing a different element or concept, and they must group the cards in a way that makes sense to them. This method helps UX designers create intuitive navigation systems and information architectures.

Content Strategy: Content strategy involves planning, creating, and managing content that meets user needs and business goals. Clear, concise, and useful content enhances the user experience.

Customer Journey Map: A customer journey map visualizes a customer's entire experience while interacting with a product or service. It outlines the user's emotions, pain points, and goals at each journey stage. UX designers use journey maps to find ways to improve the user experience at key touchpoints.

Design Thinking: Design thinking is a problem-solving approach that focuses on understanding users' needs and designing solutions around those needs. The process involves five stages: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test.

Heuristic Evaluation: Heuristic evaluation is a usability test in which experts use established usability principles, or heuristics, to evaluate a product. This approach quickly finds usability issues without requiring actual users to be involved.

Information Architecture (IA): Information architecture is how information is structured and organized on a website or app. Good IA helps users find information quickly and easily. It relies on tasks like categorizing information, creating menus, and labeling content in ways that make sense to users.

Interaction Design (IxD): Interaction design focuses on how users interact with a product. It includes the behavior of user interfaces and responses to user inputs.

Microinteractions: Microinteractions are small, subtle design elements that enhance the user experience. They can include vibration when toggling a setting or a color change in a button when it's hovered over. Microinteractions help make a product feel more responsive and engaging.

Personas: Personas are fictional representations of your target users. They help UX designers understand different user types' goals, needs, and behaviors. Creating personas allows teams to design with specific user experiences in mind, leading to more personalized and practical solutions.

Prototyping: Prototyping is making an early model of a design to test it. Prototypes can be as simple as paper sketches or as detailed as interactive digital models. They let UX designers try out solutions and find issues before full development.

Responsive Design: Responsive design is the practice of creating a website or app design that adjusts its layout and content to fit different screen sizes and devices. As users access digital products from various devices, responsive design is crucial, ensuring a seamless experience on smartphones, tablets, and desktops.

Usability: Usability is how easily and efficiently users can accomplish their goals when interacting with a product. Good usability lets users navigate a website or app easily so that they can complete tasks with little to no frustration.

User-Centered Design (UCD): User-centered design is an iterative process that prioritizes users' needs, goals, and feedback throughout development. By focusing on the user from the beginning, UCD helps create intuitive, enjoyable, and valuable products.

User Flow: A user flow is a visual representation of a user's steps to achieve a specific goal on a website or app. Mapping user flows helps UX designers by showing how users navigate a product and the obstacles that hinder their progress.

User Interface (UI): The user interface encompasses the visual elements that users interact with when they use a website or app. UI designers focus on the look and feel of a product, including buttons, icons, and typography. UI design works with UX design to create a seamless customer experience.

Wireframe: A wireframe is a visual guide that represents the structure of a website or app. It outlines where to place key elements like menus, buttons, and content and is used early in the design process to communicate layout ideas and functionality.

User Research: User research is the process of gathering insights about users' needs, behaviors, and motivations. UX designers use interviews, surveys, and tests to better understand users, and this informs their design decisions and ensures that the product meets user expectations.

Additional Resources

• What Does a UX Designer Do?
• Understanding UI vs. UX Design
• Nine Critical UX Skills and How to Develop Them
• User Experience Guide
• Glossary of Web Design and Development
• Web Performance Glossary
• How to Train and Develop the 12 Competencies of UX Design
• Seven Fundamental UX Design Principles
• Mobile Learning UX Considerations
• Key Terms in Digital Project Management
• Measure and Improve Your Net Promoter Score
• What Are Affordances?
• Ten UX Design Trends to Know
• Customer Experience Guide
• Online Usability Glossary