A portion of an image where the remainder is discarded.
A design or decoration impressed into the surface of a material.
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 process of adjusting the spacing between individual letters to improve or avoid particular visual distortions.
When you need to break a line of text and start on a new line in a text box.
A prominent design feature of web applications. Links can be used to navigate websites, provide shortcuts to content, or change views within a web application. These links allow for ease of access and save time when users need to find information or use services from other domain names.
The art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable, and appealing when displayed.
The part of lowercase letters that goes above the baseline when used in running text. As such, ascenders are considered less condensed than those used for numerals and other capital letters. Some examples of ascenders include b, d, h, k, and l. The opposite of an ascender is a descender.
A key performance indicator is a variable that measures how well an entity is performing. It's a figure that designates an individual or item's performance level. A particular company may use metrics such as sales, revenue, production, and market share to gauge the success of their firm.
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 quick and rough sketch of what you are about to work on. Good for getting the ideas out of your head and onto the page while you're still in that creative phase.