Negative Space

The unused or empty space in a composition of images, either two-dimensional (as with paintings) or three-dimensional (as with sculptures).

More terms you might want to know

Crop

A portion of an image where the remainder is discarded.

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.

Bowl

In typography, a bowl is a curved shape used to control the area of white space.

Fishbone Diagram

Also known as an Ishikawa diagram, is a widely used technique in project management. The diagram provides a means of evaluating the cause-and-effect relationship between the various activities necessary for completing a project by visualising all activities in the project as bones that interconnect on an anterior and posterior spine, with causality flowing from one to another.

HEART Framework

A framework that helps a company evaluate any aspect of its user experience according to five metrics, which form the acronym HEART. These metrics are: 1. Happiness 2. Engagement 3. Adoption 4. Retention 5. Task success

Complementary Colours

Colours that directly across the colour wheel, like blue and orange. When you put these colours next to each other, they make a great contrast together. Complementary colours are often found in nature.

Tittle

The typographic term for the dot above the letters 'i' and 'j'.

Isolation Effect

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.

Glassmorphism

The use of light or dark objects positioned over colourful backgrounds. Blurred backdrops allow bright colours to come through and convey a sense of frosted glass.

Asymmetry

The degree of difference between the two sides of an object or system.

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