Abstract Mark

An abstract mark is a type of logo where instead of being a recognizable object from everyday life, it is an abstract geometric form representing a business or brand. Famous examples include the BP starburst logo, and the Pepsi divided circle.

More terms you might want to know

Tracking

The adjustment of all characters in a line by moving them closer together or farther apart.

Stock Photo

A photograph that is purchased and licensed for exclusive use by an individual or business.

Symmetry

The arrangement of different elements in relation to each other so that they appear to be mirrored. Symmetrical designs can be found throughout art and architecture, as well as in nature.

Eye-Tracking

A tool that allows user experience designers, or people who design products and websites with consumers in mind, to track where users look on the screen. Eye-tracking can measure users’ attention and the duration of time they spend on different areas of a website. With this information, websites can create user experience solutions such as buttons with varying colours designed to catch the eye.

Pagination

A technique used to sequentially present items in a list or other data set that are too long to display at one time.

Crop Marks

Also called trim marks, are markings on artwork that tells the printer where to cut the page.

Design Debt

A concept used in systems design to describe the negative consequences of making seemingly innocuous design changes. Shorthand for a product's delayed but inevitable need to be reworked due to earlier, seemingly trivial decisions not having been fully thought through in the original release.

Designers incur this "debt" by making quick and easy choices that save time in the present but cause more complex problems later on down the road when it becomes necessary to change or add something.

Pull Quote

A brief snippet taken from the text of an article.

User Interviews

The act of gathering qualitative data about a person's thoughts and feelings related to a product.

Type Size

The height of a font, measured in points or pixels.

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