All the different abbreviations we see these days and how they relate to each other.
UX – User Experience
UX design is the process used to create products that provide relevant experiences to users. This takes into consideration the functionality, value and usability of products or digital products.
This term is often used interchangeably with UI (see below for more info), however UX manages s user’s general overall experience.
CX – Customer Experience
Customer Experience design is the process of optimising customer experience at all touchpoints before, during and after a customer converts or purchases. The term refers to how a business engages with its customers at every point in their journey – taking into consideration both the customer’s actions and feelings. It also includes how the customer connects with the company and their relationship, pinpointing all of the interactions between the two.
BX – Brand Experience
Brand Experience looks at the link between a brand and the interactions that consumers have with them, and builds products and features with a brand-conscious approach. As each person has different experiences and associations with a brand, the BX is subjective and ever-evolving. Strengthening brand experience helps with the product development process, as it highlights key features to be focused on.
IxD – Interaction Design
Interaction design is the interaction between users and products – such as websites and apps. The goal of Interaction Design is to create products that enable users to achieve their objectives. IxD focuses on elements such as words, visual representations, space, time and user behaviour.
Whilst Interaction Design focuses on the interacteration with a product to achieve a goal, User Experience (UX) focuses on all of the user-facing aspects. Therefore, it is considered that IxD is part of UX.
IA – Information Architecture
Before we can even begin to design the aesthetics of a website, we first have a solid structure in place. This is where Information Architecture comes in – this process focuses on organising, structuring and labelling content and websites in an effective way – with the goal to help users find the information that they are looking for.
There are multiple elements involved in IA, which include organisational structures, labelling, navigation and search systems.
UI – User Interface
User Interface design is the process designers use to build interfaces in software, with a focus on look and style. The aim of UI design is to create designs which users find easy to use, understand and help facilitate their actions.
SD – Service Design
Unlike other design processes, Service Design doesn’t just focus on solutions for the user – but also takes into consideration service providers. Designers break services down into sections, to create solutions to suit all users needs – improving both employee experiences and customer experiences.
PNG – Portable Graphics Format
A PNG is an image file used for lossless compression – meaning even if you make it smaller, all of the image information is restored. PNG images are also able to have transparent backgrounds.
JPG/JPEG – Joint Photographic Experts Group
JPGs are the most common image file type used in cameras and on the internet. JPEG and JPG are used interchangeably, and is named after the group that created the JPG standard.
Unlike a PNG, making a JPG smaller will lose image quality. This is because they feature lossy compression that reduces the size of the image.
SVG – Scalable Vector Graphics
SVGs are an XML-based vector image. They are vector graphics rather than pixel-based raster images, meaning you can resize them without losing image quality – unlike JPGs.
SVGs are useful when designing websites, as they look good and work well across all screen sizes and devices – perfect for responsive design.
What’s more, SVGs can be easily animated to give an immersive interactive experience.
GIF
We’ve all used GIFs in work or on social media, but what actually is a GIF? A Graphics Interchange Format is an image file format that can be used to create animated images using a series of GIF images. Similar to PNGs, GIFs have a lossless data compression format meaning that no information is lost in the compression. This also means that the file size is much smaller than a video – making it perfect to add to websites, emails and social media.
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Want to further your design and website knowledge? Read our Alphabet Glossary Blogs that explain more abbreviations and jargon.
