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In the constantly evolving digital space, anyone involved in designing or managing digital products must understand the basic language of user experience (UX). Whether you’re a client, designer, developer, or project manager, familiarizing yourself with UX terminology significantly improves communication and project outcomes.
In this guide from UX Glossary, we’ll introduce what UX is and explore commonly used UX design terms and concepts that professionals rely on every day.
You’ve probably heard the term “UX” tossed around frequently. But what does it really mean?
User Experience (UX) refers to the overall experience a person has when interacting with a product, system, or service. It focuses on understanding user behavior, needs, and motivations to design meaningful and relevant experiences.
According to Don Norman and Jakob Nielsen, UX “encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products.” The Interaction Design Foundation adds that UX design is the process of creating products that offer meaningful and relevant experiences to users.
Here are ten foundational UX terms you’ll often encounter. You can find more comprehensive definitions in our curated UX Glossary.
The user interface is the visual layout of a digital product — including buttons, menus, icons, and text. UI design focuses on creating interfaces that are visually pleasing and easy to interact with. While UX is about the overall experience, UI zeroes in on the product’s look and feel.
A wireframe is a low-fidelity layout that maps out the structure of a website or app. Think of it as the blueprint — showing the placement of elements like headers, buttons, and content blocks — without any color, images, or detailed styling. It’s a key deliverable in the early design stages.
A prototype is a working model of your product used to test functionality, user interaction, and design flow before development. Prototypes can range from simple paper sketches to clickable, high-fidelity mockups.
Fidelity describes how closely a design or prototype resembles the final product.
Different levels of fidelity are used for different stages of design and testing.
Usability is about how easy and effective it is for users to accomplish their goals with a product. It includes aspects like clarity, efficiency, and satisfaction. A product with poor usability frustrates users and leads to drop-offs — even if it looks great.
User research involves studying users to understand their needs, behaviors, and pain points. Methods include interviews, surveys, and usability testing. This research ensures that design decisions are grounded in real-world user insights, not assumptions.
Information Architecture (IA) refers to how content is organized and structured. A clear IA helps users navigate your site or app with ease. It often involves creating sitemaps, navigation menus, and content hierarchies based on user needs and behaviors.
A user flow maps the steps a user takes to complete a specific task within a product. For example, the flow of logging in, adding a product to a cart, and completing checkout. User flows help ensure processes are intuitive and efficient.
Accessibility ensures that digital products are usable by people with a wide range of abilities and disabilities. Following WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) helps remove barriers and makes content available to more users, including those using screen readers or assistive devices.
Interaction design (IxD) is the discipline of creating engaging interfaces with responsive behaviors. From hover effects to swipe gestures (like Tinder’s right swipe), IxD enhances the overall user experience by providing intuitive, meaningful interactions.
The UX Glossary was created to help beginners, designers, and professionals alike deepen their understanding of UX language and best practices. Each term is carefully curated with simple definitions, examples, and external resources to help you grow your UX vocabulary.
By bookmarking UX Glossary and returning to it often, you’ll build fluency in UX concepts that can elevate your role in digital product teams — whether you’re a designer, marketer, developer, or stakeholder.
Learning the language of UX is a key step in creating digital experiences that are intuitive, inclusive, and effective. As a beginner, you don’t need to know everything at once — but understanding the terms above gives you a strong foundation to build upon.
Keep users at the heart of everything you create. As you continue your UX journey, explore more terms in the UX Glossary to expand your knowledge and stay aligned with industry best practices.