Also called “affinity chart” or “affinity mapping” or “K-J method” or
“thematic analysis”. It is a visual mapping of ideas into their natural
relationships, often the output of a brainstorming session in a team.
Card Sorting
In UX researching, card sorting is a technique in which participants sort
labels for content into larger categories. Thsi provides insight into how
participants group a product’s content, how they associate different
pieces of content, helping to design the information architecture.
Emphaty Map
A visual map used in UX researching to categorize what has been learned
about each research participant. It is split into 4 sections: “says”,
“thinks”, “does”, “feels”. Everything that has been learned about a
single participant is moved into one of these categories, which helps
researchers to understand what users want and need, and to communicate
these easily to other internal teams.
Empty State
A moment in the user’s experience with a product where there is nothing
to display or no further action is required. For example, it may be a
screen showing an empty folder after its creation, the screen after
completing all the elements in a todo list, a new account on a social
media where there are no connections yet, a page showing no results after
a search and so on.
Error Prevention
In UX, the messages in an UI that help users to prevent committing a
mistake. Examples are many, but mostly undo buttons, red underlines under
a spelling mistake, messages alerting users that caps-lock is on, or that
a password should be longer. All types of confirmation messages before a
non-returning action (like booking an hotel room or making a purchase),
are part of error prevention messages.
Fidelity
In UX, how closely should a prototype match the final product.
Information Architecture (IA)
The practice of organizing, structuring, and labeling content in an
effective and sustainable way.
Interaction Design (IxD)
The practice of designing interactive digital products, environments,
systems, and services.
Microcopy
Small text snippets that guide users through apps and websites. These
includes buttons, pop-ups, alert messages, notifications, and all small
pieces of content that help users to navigate through a product. It is
the main UX writers’ responsibility.
Progressive Disclosure
An interaction design pattern that splits informations across multiple
screens to reduce users’ cognitive load. Usually this means deferring
advanced or rarely-used features to later or secondary screens. Examples
are buttons to access advanced settings, print dialogues, “learn more”
and “related topics” links, advanced filters in a search field, and
similar elements.
Task Analysis
An UX research method for mapping out how users complete a specific task
within your product.