Design 101
This term describes the empty space around elements
White Space (or Negative Space)
This intentionally raw web design movement, emerging in 2016, rejected user-friendly interfaces in favor of bare HTML aesthetics
Brutalist Web Design
This UI pattern combines a text input field with predefined options that appear as users type
Autocomplete (or Combobox)
Known as "the father of UX," this psychologist wrote "The Design of Everyday Things"
Don Norman
This quick, informal research method involves testing with participants recruited on the spot in public places
Guerrilla Testing
This typographic term describes the adjustment of space between specific pairs of letters
Kerning
This tech company faced internal protests in 1994 when employees wore black armbands opposing the removal of the rainbow from their logo
Apple
This open-source design system by IBM uses productive and expressive themes to distinguish between enterprise and marketing needs
Carbon
This German industrial designer created 10 principles of good design, including "Good design is as little design as possible"
Dieter Rams
This research method asks participants to maintain a record of their activities, thoughts, and feelings over a period of time
Diary Study
In typography, these small decorative features at the end of strokes are called
Serifs
This design pattern for mobile interfaces was introduced by Luke Wroblewski in 2011, changing how we approach navigation
Mobile-First Design
This modal pattern keeps the user's work visible while requiring immediate attention to a separate task
Side Panel (or Drawer)
This designer founded Smashing Magazine and transformed it from a CSS blog into a big influential web design resources
Vitaly Friedman
When analyzing qualitative data, this method involves grouping similar findings into themes and patterns
Affinity Mapping
This heuristic principle states that users should always know what's happening in the system through appropriate feedback within reasonable time
Visibility of System Status
This 2013 iOS release marked a dramatic shift from skeuomorphic to flat design, influencing the entire industry's direction
iOS 7
Originally used in gaming interfaces, this pattern uses placeholder elements to maintain visual structure during data fetching
Skeleton Loading
This contemporary designer is known for his "Things I have learned in my life so far" project and provocative AIGA posters
Stefan Sagmeister
This metric gauges user loyalty and willingness to recommend the product to others
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
This cognitive psychology principle, crucial in UX, states that increasing the number of choices will increase decision time logarithmically
Hick's Law
This 1970s design group revolutionized Italian design with their radical, experimental approach and anti-modernist philosophy
Memphis Group
When elements need to maintain their stacking order across different contexts, this property group manages their layering
Z-index
The author of this customer research bible explained why compliments can be dangerous in user interviews
Rob Fitzpatrick
This common UX bias describes how participants change their natural behavior when they know they're being observed during research
The Hawthorne Effect