Affinity Diagram

A data visualisation tool that can be used to explore and group people's thoughts or reactions to a set of concepts. Affinity diagrams are often used in user research and design thinking as an experimental technique for generating new ideas or solutions.

The emergent patterns in these visual representations can help identify which aspects your audience will respond well to, thus enabling decisions on the information architecture and next steps in the process.

It is important to note that affinity diagrams were initially developed for qualitative research but have since been adapted for quantitative research (though they are not typically used with statistical data).

More terms you might want to know

DPI

The print resolution of a printer. It's a measure of how many dots per inch can be printed on paper. Higher DPI means more detail and smoother transitions between colours.

Quick Keys or Shortcuts

A Shortcut is a computer function that performs a set of commands to save time. A Quick Key is a keyboard shortcut used to trigger an action.

Crop Marks

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

Widow

The last line of a paragraph following the rest, or a single line in a paragraph that is out of place with the rest.

PSD File

A digital file created in Adobe's illustration and photo manipulation software Photoshop. PSD files are used to edit images, create graphics, art, icons, images, among a plethora of other things.

Crop

A portion of an image where the remainder is discarded.

PDF File

An abbreviation for Portable Document Format. The PDF format was originally developed to share documents between different operating systems in the late 1980s. Any text document, image or page layout can be saved as a PDF file that includes all of the font information needed to display it without losing quality.

Analogous Colours

Colours that have a relation in their hue. A colour wheel can be used to help identify analogous colours. Analogous colours are typically found next to each other on the colour wheel.

Stroke

The path of any movement, mark, shape, or other feature of a design. It can be the border of an element or even the tight edge of a text box, etc.

Typesetting

The process of arranging type to make written material readable. The arrangement of type involves decisions about individual letters and words (e.g. line spacing, letter spacing, and word spacing) and more significant page layout decisions (e.g., margins, headline position on the page).

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