Font Type

Most typefaces are classified into one of five basic classifications: serif, sans serif, script, monospaced, and display.

More terms you might want to know

Skeuomorphism

The use of design features that are shaped to resemble a familiar object or thing in order to facilitate user interaction.

Ligature

A form of typographic ornament used by a type designer for decorative purposes. Common ligatures are based on joining two or more letters together, often with figures embedded in the design

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.

Vector Graphics

Vector graphics are made up of two sets of points: control points (which determine shape) and anchor points (determining length). Anchor points attach geometry to form a shape like a ball or a heart.

Soft Return

Also called a line break, when you want to keep the text in one paragraph and not follow it with an airy space.

Body-storming

A UX design technique to explore and map out a service, product, or system through physical navigation, often completed at the start of a design process to provide designers with an understanding of how users will navigate the system. In addition, body-storming can be used in development to test functionality or measure ease of use.

Information Architecture

The art and science of arranging information so that it's intuitive to find, easy to navigate, presents a cohesive design, meets accessibility guidelines, looks attractive on any device or screen size and ultimately drives behaviour change.

Proximity

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.

Crop

A portion of an image where the remainder is discarded.

Trim Size

The width and height of a document, after having been cut down to size from a larger sheet.

Problem?

Got a suggestion or found an issue with the glossary?
Let me know!