Plain-English definitions for UX, product, user research, accessibility, service design, CRO, AI, and digital strategy terms used in day-to-day digital work.
Showing 162 of 388 terms
User Experience · Product
An MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is the simplest version of a product that delivers real value to users while allowing teams to test assumptions and learn quickly. It focuses on solving a core problem with minimal effort, helping teams validate what works before scaling development.
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A value proposition clearly explains why a product is valuable and why users should choose it over alternatives. It defines the core benefit and differentiator in a way users can quickly understand and act on.
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Product adoption refers to how users start using and integrating a product into their behaviour or workflows. It measures how successfully a product moves from awareness to regular use.
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Feature creep is the uncontrolled addition of new features to a product, often beyond its original scope or purpose. It can lead to increased complexity, delays, and reduced usability.
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A user story describes a piece of work from the user’s perspective, focusing on value rather than features.
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The process of understanding problems before building solutions.
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Testing whether a product or feature meets real needs.
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Product iteration is the process of continuously improving a product through small, incremental changes based on feedback, data, and learning. It allows teams to evolve products over time rather than relying on large, infrequent updates.
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User Experience (UX) refers to the overall experience a person has when interacting with a product, including usability, accessibility, and how it feels to use. It focuses on making products useful, usable, and enjoyable.
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User Interface (UI) refers to the visual and interactive elements of a product, such as buttons, layouts, and typography. It focuses on how a product looks and how users interact with it.
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An interface is the point of interaction between a user and a system, where inputs are made and outputs are received. It can be visual, physical, or conversational.
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Usability is how easy and efficient it is for users to complete tasks within a product. It focuses on clarity, simplicity, and reducing effort so users can achieve their goals without confusion or friction.
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Accessibility is the practice of designing products so they can be used by people with a wide range of abilities, including those with disabilities. It ensures that content and functionality are available to as many users as possible.
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Inclusive design is an approach that considers the full range of human diversity when creating products, ensuring they work for as many people as possible. It goes beyond accessibility by designing for different contexts, abilities, and experiences from the start.
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Friction refers to anything that slows users down or makes it harder for them to complete a task. It can be caused by poor design, unnecessary steps, unclear messaging, or technical issues.
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Cognitive load is the amount of mental effort required for a user to understand and interact with a product. High cognitive load makes tasks harder, slower, and more error-prone.
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A mental model is the way users understand how a system works based on their past experiences and expectations. It shapes how they predict interactions and outcomes.
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Affordance refers to how the design of an element suggests its possible actions. It helps users understand what they can do without needing instructions.
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Information scent refers to the cues users rely on to decide whether a piece of content or a link will lead them to what they’re looking for. It is created through labels, headings, and context that signal relevance.
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Discoverability is how easily users can find features, content, or functionality within a product, even when they are not actively searching for them. It focuses on making options visible and understandable.
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Feedback is the system response that informs users about the result of their actions. It helps users understand what has happened and what to do next.
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Consistency is the use of uniform patterns, behaviours, and visual elements across a product to create familiarity and predictability. It helps users learn once and apply that knowledge throughout the experience.
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Interaction refers to any action a user takes within a product and how the system responds. It includes clicks, taps, gestures, and inputs that drive the user experience.
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Interaction design is the practice of designing how users interact with a product, focusing on behaviour, flow, and responsiveness. It ensures interactions are intuitive, efficient, and meaningful.
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Visual hierarchy is the arrangement of elements in a way that guides users’ attention to the most important information first. It uses size, contrast, spacing, and layout to prioritise content.
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Layout is the arrangement of elements on a page or screen, determining how content is organised and presented. It influences readability, usability, and overall experience.
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A reusable solution to a common design problem.
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A standardised approach to solving recurring design challenges.
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A small interaction that provides feedback or enhances usability.
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How well a design adapts to different screen sizes.
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Designing for mobile devices before scaling up to larger screens.
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Designing layouts that adjust to specific device types.
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The full path a user takes to complete a task, including every step, decision, and interaction along the way.
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The steps users take within a system to complete a task.
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Any interaction a user has with a service or brand.
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A specific problem or frustration users experience when trying to complete a task.
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Moments that exceed user expectations.
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How simple and intuitive something feels to use.
View glossary termUser Experience · Information Architecture
The structure and organisation of content so users can find what they need.
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How users move around a website or product.
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Navigation structure is the overall organisation and hierarchy of navigation within a product, defining how content and features are grouped and accessed. It shapes how users move through the system and understand its layout.
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Categorisation is the process of grouping content or items based on shared characteristics or meaning. It helps users understand relationships and find relevant information more easily.
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Labelling is the practice of naming content, categories, and interface elements in a way that is clear and meaningful to users. It directly affects how users understand and navigate a product.
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Findability is how easily users can locate the information or content they are looking for within a product or system. It depends on clear structure, intuitive navigation, and effective search, ensuring users can get to what they need without friction.
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Wayfinding is how users understand where they are, where they can go, and how to get there within a product or system. It relies on clear navigation cues, structure, and feedback to help users move confidently through an experience.
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Content hierarchy is the prioritisation and ordering of information to guide users through content in a clear and meaningful way. It determines what users see first, what stands out, and how information is consumed.
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Search is the functionality that allows users to find content or information by entering queries. It relies on indexing, metadata, and relevance algorithms to return useful results.
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Filtering is the process of narrowing down a set of results by applying specific criteria such as attributes, categories, or ranges.
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Content mapping aligns content to user journeys, needs, and touchpoints to ensure the right information is delivered at the right time.
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A content audit is the process of reviewing and evaluating all existing content to understand its quality, performance, relevance, and accuracy.
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A content gap is a missing piece of content that users need but cannot currently find within a system or experience.
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Content design is the practice of creating and structuring content based on user needs, ensuring it is clear, useful, and usable within a specific context.
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Content flow describes how content is sequenced and presented across a journey to guide users through information and actions.
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Drop-off refers to users leaving a journey before completing a desired action or reaching the next step.
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Engagement refers to how users interact with a product, content, or experience, including actions like clicks, time spent, and interactions.
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A session is a single period of user interaction with a product, from entry to exit within a defined timeframe.
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User intent is the underlying goal or reason behind a user’s action, search, or interaction.
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User behaviour refers to how users interact with a product, including actions, patterns, and decision-making processes.
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Interaction rate is the percentage of users who interact with elements such as buttons, links, or features compared to those who view them.
View glossary termUser Experience · Artificial Intelligence
AI trust refers to the level of confidence users have in an AI system’s outputs, behaviour, and decision-making.
View glossary termUser Experience · Systems
The frontend is the part of a system that users interact with directly, including interfaces and visual elements.
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An error state is a UI condition that occurs when something goes wrong, preventing a task from being completed.
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An empty state is a UI condition where no data or content is available to display.
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A loading state is a UI condition shown while content or data is being fetched or processed.
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Visual feedback is the visual response a system provides to user actions, such as highlighting, animations, or changes in state.
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System feedback is any response from a system that informs users about the result of their actions or the current state.
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Learnability is how easy it is for users to understand and start using a system or interface.
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Efficiency measures how quickly and easily users can complete tasks once they are familiar with a system.
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Predictability refers to how well users can anticipate what will happen when they interact with a system.
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Information flow describes how information moves through a system, from input to output.
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Navigation depth refers to how many levels a user must go through to reach content within a structure.
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Navigation breadth refers to how many options are available at each level of a navigation structure.
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Menu structure defines how navigation options are organised and presented within a menu.
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Behaviour refers to how users interact with a system, including actions, patterns, and responses.
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A decision point is a moment in a user journey where a user must choose between actions that affect what happens next.
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User motivation is the underlying reason or drive that causes a user to take action.
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A trust signal is any element that increases user confidence in a product, service, or decision.
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Credibility is the perceived trustworthiness and authority of a product, brand, or system.
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Iteration is the process of repeatedly improving a product through cycles of testing, feedback, and refinement.
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Performance refers to how quickly and efficiently a system responds to user actions and processes tasks.
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A prototype is an early version of a product used to test ideas, interactions, and concepts.
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Cognitive Load Theory explains how the amount of mental effort required affects a user’s ability to process information.
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The framing effect is a cognitive bias where decisions are influenced by how information is presented.
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Hick’s Law states that the time it takes to make a decision increases with the number of choices available.
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Fitts’s Law states that the time required to move to a target depends on its size and distance.
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The Peak-End Rule is a psychological principle where people judge an experience based on its most intense point and its ending.
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The Serial Position Effect is a cognitive bias where people remember the first and last items in a sequence better than those in the middle.
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Choice overload occurs when too many options make decision making difficult and reduce the likelihood of action.
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Touchpoints are the moments where users interact with a product, service, or brand.
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Moments of truth are critical points in a journey where users form strong impressions about a product or service.
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Scannability is how easily users can quickly read and understand content without reading every word.
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Progressive disclosure is a design technique that reveals information gradually as needed.
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ARIA labels are attributes used in HTML to improve accessibility by providing additional context for screen readers.
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Focus order defines the sequence in which interactive elements receive focus when navigating with a keyboard.
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An insight is a meaningful understanding that explains why something is happening and what it means.
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Sampling is the process of selecting a subset of data or users to represent a larger population.
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Qualitative research explores user behaviours, motivations, and experiences through non-numerical data.
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Quantitative research focuses on numerical data to measure behaviours and patterns.
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Customer feedback is information provided by users about their experience with a product or service.
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Voice of Customer is the structured collection and analysis of customer feedback to understand needs and expectations.
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User confidence that a product, service, or organisation will do what it promises.
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The surrounding conditions that shape behaviour and decisions.
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How easy content is to read and understand.
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How well users understand content, instructions, or interfaces.
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Confidence is the level of certainty in a decision or outcome based on available evidence.
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Dual Track Agile separates discovery and delivery into parallel streams of work.
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Delivery is the process of building, testing, and releasing a product or feature.
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A design sprint is a structured, time-boxed process for solving problems and testing ideas quickly.
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Lean UX is an approach that focuses on rapid experimentation, collaboration, and learning over documentation.
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Acceptance criteria are the conditions that must be met for a piece of work to be considered complete.
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A UX designer focuses on creating effective, usable, and meaningful user experiences.
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A UX researcher studies user behaviour, needs, and motivations to inform design decisions.
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A product designer combines UX, UI, and product thinking to design end-to-end product experiences.
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Journey mapping visualises the steps users take to achieve a goal across a product or service.
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Task completion measures whether users can successfully complete a specific task.
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Success rate is the percentage of users who successfully complete a task.
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Time on task measures how long it takes users to complete a specific task.
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Hierarchy is the organisation of elements to show importance and guide user attention.
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A primary action is the main action a user is expected to take on a screen or within a journey.
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A call to action is a prompt that encourages users to take a specific action.
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WCAG is a set of guidelines for making digital content accessible to people with disabilities.
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A screen reader is software that reads digital content aloud for users who cannot see the screen.
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A design system is a collection of reusable components, guidelines, and standards for building consistent products.
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Qualitative data is non-numerical information that describes user experiences, behaviours, and opinions.
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A behaviour pattern is a repeated way in which users interact with a product or system.
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An edge case is a rare or extreme scenario that falls outside typical user behaviour.
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The happy path is the ideal user journey where everything works as expected without errors.
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A heuristic is a general rule or principle used to guide decision making.
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Heuristic evaluation is a usability inspection method where experts assess a product against recognised principles.
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Service design is the process of designing and organising people, processes, systems, and touchpoints to deliver a complete user experience.
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Decision points are moments in a journey where users must choose between options or actions.
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Clarity is how easily users can understand what is happening and what they need to do.
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Overthinking in UX is adding unnecessary complexity or analysis that slows down decision-making and delivery.
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Journey breakdown is the process of analysing a user journey step-by-step to identify issues and opportunities.
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Optimisation is the process of improving a product or journey to increase performance, usability, or conversion.
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Incremental change is the process of making small, continuous improvements over time.
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End-to-end refers to the complete user journey from start to finish across all touchpoints.
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Mixed methods research combines qualitative and quantitative approaches to gain a more complete understanding.
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Primary research is data collected directly from users through methods like interviews, surveys, or testing.
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Behavioural data captures what users actually do within a product or service.
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Attitudinal data captures what users say, think, or feel about a product or experience.
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Usability testing is a research method used to evaluate how easily users can complete tasks within a product or service.
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Moderated testing is a usability testing method where a facilitator guides the participant through tasks.
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Unmoderated testing is a usability testing method where users complete tasks independently without a facilitator.
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Task success rate measures the percentage of users who successfully complete a given task.
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Error rate measures how often users make mistakes while completing a task.
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Think aloud protocol is a method where users verbalise their thoughts while completing tasks.
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Interview bias occurs when the way questions are asked or interactions are handled influences participant responses.
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Leading questions are questions phrased in a way that suggests a particular answer.
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Sample size refers to the number of participants included in a study or test.
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Recruitment is the process of finding and selecting participants for research or testing.
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Target users are the specific group of people a product or service is designed for.
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Screening is the process of filtering participants to ensure they match the target user criteria.
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A research objective defines what you are trying to learn or achieve through research.
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Observation is a research method where user behaviour is watched and analysed without interference.
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Bias is a systematic distortion in thinking or data that affects the accuracy of research or decision-making.
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Confirmation bias is the tendency to favour information that supports existing beliefs while ignoring contradictory evidence.
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Remote research is conducted without physical presence, using digital tools to interact with participants.
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In-person research is conducted face-to-face with participants in a shared physical environment.
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Session recording captures user interactions within a product for later analysis.
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A heatmap is a visual representation of user interaction data, showing areas of high and low activity.
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Clickstream data tracks the sequence of pages and interactions a user takes during a session.
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UX, research and product leadership for teams tackling complex digital services. The work usually starts where things have become harder than they need to be: unclear journeys, inconsistent products, competing priorities, or teams trying to move forward without a clear direction. I help simplify the problem, shape the right next step, and turn complexity into something people can actually use.
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I had a fantastic experience working with Andy. One of his most impressive achievements during our time at NHS HEE was masterminding a deeply complex information architecture for a new platform that brought together a large number of legacy websites.
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