The world of web development is full of jargon that can be confusing. To help you understand the key terms, we’ve compiled this glossary. We’ll continue to add to it, but this should provide a good starting point for your journey.
Discovery Meeting: This is where our team learns about your company and product goals. We use a discovery document to gather information beforehand, then delve deeper in the meeting to map out user flow and create a project timeline. It’s the kickoff for our initial design sprints. (Read More)
Moodboards: A collaborative collection of images, colors, fonts, and examples that inspire and guide the visual style of your website. We use InVision to create and share moodboards.
User Flow: This outlines the paths users take through your website, helping us design intuitive navigation before moving on to layouts.
User Experience (UX): This crucial phase focuses on how users interact with your site. We build wireframes and meticulously plan how to create the best possible experience.
User Research: We conduct observations, task analysis, and gather feedback from real users to understand their behaviors, needs, and motivations. This informs our first round of revisions.
Style Guide: A visual guide that encapsulates your brand’s DNA—colors, fonts, buttons, illustrations, and more. We either create a new style guide tailored for your website or adapt an existing one. Often, a design system selection is a key component of this process.
User Interface (UI): The final design phase where we bring your website to life. We create a visually appealing design that resonates with your target audience. We incorporate your feedback through two rounds of revisions.
Testing: We use several types of testing to ensure your website functions flawlessly:
- Regression Testing: We check if updates affect unrelated parts of the website.
- Black Box Testing: Our QA engineers manually test the website for bugs from a user’s perspective.
- Test-Driven Development (TDD): Our programmers write code that automatically tests for expected outcomes, identifying potential issues early in development.
We hope this glossary clarifies some of the common terms used in web development. If you have any questions or need further clarification, don’t hesitate to ask.
