Also known as visual hierarchy, hierarchy is the ordering of priorities in a design. This may include different visual elements, such as contrast, colour, font size and placement on a page. The graphic designer's job is to create an understandable document using organisational systems that the reader easily understands.
The part of a letter, usually a vertical line, that rise above the x-height.
The attributes of a typeface. Type properties include weight, width, colour and x-height.
One of the most common types of navigation in UI design. It's usually a system of one or more horizontal buttons placed at the bottom of the screen, directing users to other parts of an app or website. Bottom navigation is often used as an alternative to scrolling or tabbing through links on a page.
Commonly used to describe a 2D graphic that is made up of an organized grid of pixels, in other words, a bitmap.
A philosophy that companies should take a user-centred approach to design, making sure they focus on the customer's needs and not on their company's needs. UX designers need to figure out what users want before building something and not after. They must also ask themselves if including "features" will provide any value to the product or service.
A style of architecture and design that was popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Brutalist buildings are typically characterised by durability, simplicity, and an emphasis on form following function. Brutalism is not a single style but an umbrella term for architecture with a stark and futuristic look.
Also known as caps, a type property that specifies that all letters in a body of text are capitalised.
The process of adjusting the spacing between individual letters to improve or avoid particular visual distortions.
The placement or otherwise of a thing in relation to other things. In design, proximity may be considered as the distance between two items in space or their relative location to each other.
A graphic element that has a definite length and direction. Examples of vectors would be straight lines, edges, or curves.