Pixel

A pixel, or a picture element, is the smallest addressable element in a display device.

More terms you might want to know

Slab Serif

A type of serif, characterized by large x-heights and thick, blocky strokes with little variation in width.

EPS File

An Encapsulated PostScript file (.eps) is a vector graphics format. EPS files are typically used to exchange artwork between different design programs, such as Adobe Illustrator and other vector graphics applications, including CorelDRAW, Inkscape, SIAE Draw and others. EPS files can also be used to provide a file format for print.

Material Design

A design language developed by Google. The goal of Material Design was to create fluid, natural movement for users on any platform they happen to be using.

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.

Crop

A portion of an image where the remainder is discarded.

Infinite Scroll

Generally used when a page has so much content that it would be impossibly long to load the entire page at once. Infinite scroll consists of an auto-generated list of items that constantly loads new items as they load off the bottom of the screen.

Brand Identity

The perception that people have of a business and its reliability, authenticity, and attractiveness. It's also the set of impressions an individual has when they think about a brand.

Eye-Tracking

A tool that allows user experience designers, or people who design products and websites with consumers in mind, to track where users look on the screen. Eye-tracking can measure users’ attention and the duration of time they spend on different areas of a website. With this information, websites can create user experience solutions such as buttons with varying colours designed to catch the eye.

Baseline

An imaginary line on which most letters "sit". As such, it equals the height of an em square. The expected result of a baseline is to reference the height with which text is aligned. The alignment ranges from ascenders, which are the upper strokes in b, d, and h, down to descenders like j or y.

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.

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