A graphic element that has a definite length and direction. Examples of vectors would be straight lines, edges, or curves.
Contrast in design can be accomplished by placing two opposite colours adjacent to one another, creating a focal point within the design that dominates the composition.
A unit of measurement that equals 1/6 of an inch, or 1/72 of a foot.
A collage consisting of images, colours and text that is assembled to convey an idea or theme.
A prediction model used in human-computer interaction. It states that the time required to move to a target area rapidly increases as the distance to the target increases. The law was proposed by Paul Fitts, an American psychologist, in 1954 as a mathematical model of movement with limited cognitive capacity.
Fitts hypothesized that one would quickly select its first apparent target when reaching for an object before considering alternatives — a phenomenon called "target fixation." This tendency would increase progressively with increased distance between the subject and object until it eventually became exponential (i.e., too far away).
A set of colors which can be used to create a particular visual effect. It is usually composed of multiple primary, secondary, and tertiary colours.
A phenomenon in psychology in which recalling items in a list imposes an order on the list, with the first and last items remembered best. That is, if given a list of words to remember like "dog apple tree", people will tend to recall "dog" as being at the beginning of the sentence and "tree" as being at the end of it.
Most typefaces are classified into one of five basic classifications: serif, sans serif, script, monospaced, and display.
Usually the first functional form of a new product, created to test a concept or prove out some aspects of design.
A measure of the ease of understanding text.
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.