Design Dictionary
Unext Design Dictionary
- Accessibility: Designing products and services to be usable by people of all abilities, including those with disabilities.
- Aesthetics: The overall visual appeal or beauty of a design, influenced by elements such as color, composition, and style.
- Alignment: The arrangement of elements along a common line or axis, contributing to a sense of order and cohesion.
- Aspect Ratio: The proportional relationship between the width and height of an image or screen.
- Asymmetry: Balance achieved through the distribution of dissimilar elements, often creating dynamic and engaging layouts.
- Baseline: The imaginary line on which most letters in a typeface sit, providing consistent alignment within a line of text.
- Branding: The process of creating and promoting a unique identity for a product, service, or organization.
- Call to Action (CTA): A prompt or button that encourages users to take a specific action, such as making a purchase or signing up.
- CMYK: A color model used in printing, based on the four ink colors: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.
- Collage: An artistic composition made by combining various materials or elements, such as photographs, text, and illustrations.
- Complexity: The presence of intricate or layered elements in a design, often used to convey depth or richness.
- Contrast: The difference in visual properties, such as color, size, or shape, that creates interest and distinction between elements.
- Cropping: Removing parts of an image or design to focus on a specific area or aspect.
- DPI (Dots Per Inch): A measurement of the resolution of printed or digital images, indicating the density of dots or pixels per inch.
- Depth: The illusion of distance or three-dimensional space created within a two-dimensional design.
- Emphasis: Focusing attention on certain elements in a design to make them stand out and communicate importance.
- Flat Design: A minimalist approach to design, emphasizing simplicity, clean lines, and two-dimensional elements.
- Focal Point: The primary area of interest in a design, drawing the viewer's attention and guiding their gaze.
- Gradient: A gradual transition between two or more colors, often used to add depth and dimension to designs.
- Grid System: A set of guidelines or framework used to align and organize elements in a design, facilitating consistency and structure.
- Iconography: The use of symbols or icons to represent concepts, actions, or ideas within a design.
- Infographic: A visual representation of information or data, often using charts, graphs, and illustrations to aid understanding.
- Kerning: Adjusting the spacing between pairs of letters to improve readability and visual harmony.
- Leading: The vertical spacing between lines of text, affecting readability and overall visual appearance.
- Legibility: The ease with which text can be read, influenced by factors such as typeface choice, size, and spacing.
- Letterform: The visual representation of a letter in a particular typeface, including its shape, weight, and style.
- Material Design: A design language developed by Google, emphasizing tactile surfaces, realistic motion, and bold colors.
- Moodboard: A collage of images, colors, and textures used to convey the visual direction and mood of a design project.
- Mockup: A realistic representation of a design concept, often used for presentation or testing purposes.
- Negative Space: The empty or unoccupied areas of a design, which can be as important as the positive space in shaping the overall composition.
- Opacity: The level of transparency of an element, affecting its visibility and the visibility of elements behind it.
- Pattern: A repeated decorative design element, often used to add visual interest or texture to a design.
- Proximity: The principle of placing related elements close together to create a visual connection and improve organization.
- Prototype: A preliminary version of a design, used to test and refine functionality and usability.
- Raster Graphics: Images made of pixels arranged in a grid, suitable for photographs and complex illustrations.
- Repetition: The use of recurring visual elements or motifs within a design, creating a sense of unity and continuity.
- Resolution: The clarity or sharpness of an image, typically measured in pixels per inch (PPI) for digital displays.
- Responsive Design: Designing interfaces that adapt to different devices and screen sizes, providing a consistent user experience.
- RGB: A color model used in digital design, based on the primary colors of light: red, green, and blue.
- Rule of Thirds: A compositional guideline dividing an image into thirds horizontally and vertically, used to create balance and interest.
- Sans-serif: A typeface without decorative flourishes, known for its clean and modern appearance.
- Serif: A typeface characterized by small decorative flourishes at the ends of strokes, often perceived as traditional and formal.
- Simplicity: The practice of reducing design elements to their essential components, promoting clarity and ease of understanding.
- Skeuomorphism: Designing elements to resemble their real-world counterparts, often for familiarity or ease of use.
- Scale: The relative size of elements within a design, used to create visual hierarchy and interest.
- Symmetry: Balance achieved by arranging elements evenly around a central axis or point.
- Texture: The perceived surface quality of elements in a design, either tangible or implied through visual representation.
- Tracking: Adjusting the overall spacing between letters in a block of text for improved legibility and aesthetics.
- User Experience (UX): The overall experience of a user when interacting with a product or service, encompassing usability, accessibility, and satisfaction.
- User Interface (UI): The visual elements and controls that users interact with in a digital product or application.
- Vector Graphics: Images made of paths and curves defined by mathematical equations, scalable without loss of quality.
- Visual Flow: The path that a viewer's eye follows when looking at a design, influenced by elements such as alignment, contrast, and directionality.
- Visual Hierarchy: The arrangement of visual elements in a way that establishes a priority order, guiding the viewer's attention.
- Visual Identity: The visual elements that represent a brand, including logos, colors, typography, and imagery.
- Visual Weight: The perceived heaviness or prominence of an element within a design, influencing its importance and impact.
- Wireframe: A skeletal outline of a design, showing the structure and layout without detailing visual elements.