The process of arranging objects in a consistent and even spatial relationship. It can refer to how text is aligned with respect to its margins or how any two or more things are aligned in general.
A psychological principle which predicts that when multiple homogeneous stimuli are presented, the stimulus which differs from the rest is most likely to be remembered. In other words, people tend to remember items in isolation more than those of a similar nature or objects in clusters. This phenomenon has been applied in designing websites and software with various levels of success.
The process of a new user being brought in to a new product. The design for this process aims to have an effective, efficient, and engaging user experience.
Also known as text colour, is a visible attribute of text determined by the combination of text and background colour.
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.
A type of font that comes pre-installed in an operating system.
The process of developing a product or design system that can be altered to fit different device and interaction contexts.
Usually the first functional form of a new product, created to test a concept or prove out some aspects of design.
A non-functional first draft of a design.
Typically used on the internet or web pages to provide easily accessible navigation for users. Typically, the breadcrumb navigation appears along the top of a webpage or at other locations on a webpage so that users can know where they are on a site quickly and efficiently.
A well-known UI element in computer applications. It's an expandable menu of context-specific commands typically launched from the application's main menu.