Flashcards › Web Design Process Vocabulary

User Experience Products create either positive or negative experiences for people. Designers strive to create positive experiences with their design solutions. Information Architecture Concerned with organizing, grouping, ordering and presentation of content in an engaging format for the user. User Centered Design Practice of creating engaging, efficient user experiences. Take the user into consideration in every step of the product design and development. The 5 Planes of the Design Process to Craft a User Experience 1. Strategy, 2. Scope, 3. Structure, 4. Skeleton, 5. Surface Functional Specifications Detailed description of a feature set of the product. Such as a shopping cart has to hold a user's purchased items in the checkout process where the user must select options such as quantity or color as well as shipping methods and billing information. Content Requirements Description of various content elements required for the web site. Ex: video that displays the assembly of XYZ product. Information Design The display of information in a way that enables a viewer's understanding. Interaction Design Design of a system that behaves in a predictable way for the person using the system such as a web site. Navigation Design The set of screen elements, such as a navigation menu on a web site. Interface Design Arranging interface elements that enables users to interact easily with the functions of a system like a web site. ex: Rollovers of a menu item to show a link is operational. Sensory Experience The way a finished system or product looks and feels. Product Objectives Strategic business goals that influence the design of a product. They have to be stated positively, in language that is very specific and MEASURABLE. Users Needs Objectives or goals imposed from outside the company from the people who use the site. A design cannot be successful if these goals are not met. User Segmentation The division of the project audience or demographic into smaller groups of users with KEY characteristics in common. Demographic Criteria Usually based on gender, age, education level, marital status, income, technology level, etc. Psychographic Profiles Descriptions of user attitudes and perceptions about the world or subject matter of the site being designed. User Research Devoted to collecting information needed to develop user need understanding. Market Research Methods User surveys and focus groups that give general information about various user segments. Contextual Inquiry Set of methods that are a toolkit for understanding users in context to their everyday activities and lives. Task Analysis A contextual inquiry method that displays the user's interaction with a product such as a web site, in context with a task the user is performing on a system. User Testing A user research method employed to test the designed system such as a web site with real world users before the product's release. Card Sorting A research method used to explore how a user segment would categorize or group information on a system such as a web site. Helps in understanding how a group of people would look for information - this helps the designer to see common patterns up looking up information in groups. Personas or User Profiles A fictional character based on a User Segment to represent this segments needs when working with a system. Keeps the designer focused on the user in the process of designing for a system such as a web site. Stakeholders Senior decision makers in the business organization affected by the strategic direction of the final system design. Strategy Document Documents not only the list of product objectives and user needs but also shows the relationships between them and how they fit into the big picture of the organization. Content Management System (CMS) Systems that manage content elements of a site. Critical for efficient development workflow. Conceptual Models User's impressions of how the interactive components that are designed behave when a user is working with them. Convention Uses conceptual models people are familiar with that makes it easier for them to adapt to an unfamiliar site. Ex: a retail store model is suited to allow users to place product orders on the Web. Top-down Approach Information architecture driven by considerations from the Strategy plane. Such project goals. Bottom-up Approach Information architecture driven by considerations from the Scope plane. Such as content and features. Node Basic unit in an Architectural Diagram that corresponds to a piece of information whether small or large. Architectural Diagram A visual tool used to show the information structure of a web site and how all the categories are grouped into major and minor sub groupings. It also shows how the categories are linked together into a flow for users to move through the groupings. Hierarchical Structure An information structure that uses parent and child relationships with the various nodes. This is the most common structure used as an Architectural diagram. Matrix Structure An information structure that allows users to move from information node to node on 2 or more dimensions. Ex: users can browse products by color while another user browses the same content by size. Organic Structure An information structure that does not attempt to follow any consistent pattern. Information nodes are connected in a case-by-case basis. Does not provide a sense of where they are in the information. Best used for free-form exploring such as a game. Sequential Structure An information structure that flows in a linear format like a book turning a page after page. Books, articles, audio video all move in a sequential fashion. Organizing Principles The criteria in which information nodes are grouped together. Ex: geography, time, audience are examples. Critical in choosing the right one to fit user need and business goals. Nomenclature Deals with the language used in the site for descriptions, labels and terms. If the audience does not understand the vocabulary being used they will not frequent the site. Global Navigation Key set of access points users use to navigate the site. Linking to main sections of a site is an example. Local Navigation Key set of access points users use to access nearby links that might only exist on a single screen. Supplementary Navigation Provides shortcuts to content deeper into the sections of content. Contextual Navigation Inline navigation is embedded into the content of the page, such as a hyperlink within the text body. Courtesy Navigation Access points users don't need on a regular basis, but provided as a convienance. Ex: links to contact information Site Map One-page snapshot of the overall site architecture. Site Index Alphabetical list of topics with links to relevant pages. Wireframes A visual tool to capture the skeleton design decisions or schematic of all the page elements on a single web site page and how they fit together. Must be accompanied by annotated details on the functional and content requirements needed. Eyetracking Equipment used to determine where and what the test subjects are looking at and how their eyes move across the screen. Helps the designer to know where to place key information to attract the user's attention. Grid-based Layout Design technique to create uniformity and consistency through a master layout that is used for layout variations for diversity based on the specific screen's function. Design Comp A visual mockup of the finished web page based on the included components of the wireframe. It shows color, type treatment, images, etc. Style Guide A definitive document of the design decisions made in the design process, such as grids, color palette, typography standards or logo treatment guidelines. These standards are always followed when creating future content for the web site. Terms commonly used in the creative process of designing a web site.