There's a certain amount of terminology used on this site that assumes a reasonable level of previous exposure to the world of UX design and Information Architecture (IA).
One of the key considerations in my role as a user experience designer is to make sure that the site or application I'm designing makes sense to the target user groups, and phraseology and terminology form a large part of this.
With this in mind, the remainder of this page is my take on some of the common terminology associated with the realm of UX design in the hope that it may help those getting acquainted with this field.
If you are interested in finding out more about this area of website and application design and production, please feel free contact me and I'll do my best to help. Alternatively I am available for UX consultations online via Skype which can be booked via the contact me page.
My interpretation of UX design / IA terminology
Personas, user journeys, and task based design
User Experience Designer (UX Designer)
The term user experience designer, UX designer, user experience architect, user experience consultant are all used to describe pretty much the same thing. Often it's just a question of who you speak to or what company you are working with.
Having said that, the term User Experience designer is sometimes used as an all encompassing role title (as in fact is Information Architect, but increasingly less so now), incorporating all aspects of user focused design considerations including information architecture, user centred design, user testing, interaction design, and even aspects of visual design.
One subtle, possibly growing difference, (we'll see over the coming months/years) is that a UX designer (as opposed to an information architect) may suggest to some a more creative outlook in terms of visual design considerations and incorporation of both documented and less defined aspects of a given company's brand.
So to some, a user experience designer differs from an IA in that the practitioner has an added focus on a creatively lead brand experience as opposed to an approach based solely on solid usability principles and the organisation of information.
Conflicts between creative and usability view points are well known to UX designers and so there is likely to be growing pains as some organisations seek to apply more and more of a creative/visual aspect to UX design.
It's very important to note that the term 'creative' needs to be handled with care in this sense as it's my firm belief that the best (and still quite rare) user experience design allows for the combination of impactful creative presentation of information in a way that preserves and optimises usability. Combining these 2 sometimes competing disciplines (along with the overarching principle of 'usefulness') is in my view an act of high level creativity, often resulting in world class design solutions.
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Information architect (IA)
An IA is responsible for ensuring that the organisational structure and presentation of information on a website or application makes sense from a user's perspective. There's a lot that needs to be done behind the scenes to achieve this, however in a nutshell, the objective is to ensure that the right information is presented in the right way, in the right place, at the right time.
If you've ever been on a website and felt frustrated because you can't seem to complete what you thought was a simple task? (we've all been there), chances are the site you were struggling with needs the attention of an experienced information architect who is well versed in the core aspects of designing for website usability.
Conversely, have you ever been to a site and completed the task that you went there for quickly and easily? Hopefully so. Such positive experiences are not so easy to remember, and it's a tough fact of life for information architects (and other usability related professionals), that if they've done their work well, users will never notice they've even been involved.
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User Centred Design (UCD)
User centred design is the application of a user focused methodology which incorporates activities (in any combination depending on the practitioner) such as focus groups, user/call center/stakeholder interviews, analysis of user data/demographics (often sourced via an organisation's marketing department), creation of user personas, creation of task based user journeys, creation of User Experience Specification documentation (site map and wireframes as a minimum).
Essentially, this approach aims to craft a solution based largely on key user goals (usually those belonging to the target or most common visitor types). UCD can be a very successful approach as focused attention on user needs is a healthy thing and helps to shift the focus away from potential stakeholder pre-conceptions and pressure to design in ill-advised 'cool' features, visuals, or functionality that would add noise and clutter to the design and so detract from the user experience overall.
As long as all elements identified during the UCD process are produced to form a united, well balanced solution, then users are likely to enjoy a smooth streamlined user experience, greatly enhancing the chances of repeat visits and growth though positive word of mouth.
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User testing
As the name suggests, user testing is about testing the web site/page/application with real life users. There are different ways that this can be achieved depending on project approach, testing time available, and budget.
Experienced user focused professionals have often seen the great benefits gained from user testing and will generally be in favor of a robust usability testing plan being factored into a web project as early as possible. Resistance to this approach is often a source of frustration to usability professionals as they try in vain to convince project sponsors of the considerable merits of the early application of usability testing.
Some common types of user testing are:
- Paper prototype - web pages/interfaces are simply sketched onto paper and then tested with suitable candidates. This approach is often used several times during the early stages of a project as a quick and low cost way to test, refine and re-test (known as an iterative process) so see if the initial potential users can easily follow given design patterns and approaches through to task completion.
- Clickable prototype - this is often made up of either static images which are made clickable via the application of clickable hotspots (to facilitate user interaction), or working html/flash web pages that are also made clickable (to a greater or lesser degree).
- Clickable wireframes which although generally devoid of colour and other core aspects of visual design, can be a quick way (depending on the software package being used), to quite quickly utilise wireframe documentation for the purposes of testing designs.
- Remote user testing - here a user can be tested from the comfort of their real life browsing environment (therefore potentially showing more true to life results) allowing their progress through the predefined tasks to be viewed/recorded using relevant software.
It's critical that the user tasks to be tested as well as a moderators' guide are produced by an experienced usability practitioner. The role of testing moderator itself requires key skills in order to draw out the common patterns of comprehension and behavior from the testing candidates.
The key benefit of user testing is that testing design concepts on users prior to full technical build allows the design team to bring the usability of a new design from an initial point of "nice idea, no idea if it would work with our customer base" to "proven idea backed up with a proven design". The proposed design can then be refined and polished to as high a level as the projects' usability testing time constraints and budget allow.
The powerful business case is quite simply that it's much much cheaper to fix usability problems iteration by iteration before the final solution is built and launched (at which point it's sometimes passed the point of no return).
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Usability expert review
With a usability expert review, an evaluator explores a product or web site in detail and assesses its usability against a set of principles, best practice guidelines, and/or knowledge and experience gained over time. Expert reviews are popular because they are much quicker and cheaper to carry out than a usability test.
User Experience Specification
This term is used to describe the documentation that a user experience designer / information architect produces as their key deliverable towards the end of the design phase of a web project. It is most commonly comprised of site maps and page wireframes as a minimum, however other aspects that can be included are:
- Personas
- User journeys
- Project/business objectives
- Accessibility checklist/guidelines
- Browser specifications
- Required operating environments (e.g. browser plug ins, target screen resolutions, page weights)
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Personas, user journeys, and task based design
A persona is essentially a fictitious user, described in varying amounts of detail, the majority of which is ideally based on marketing/demographic data, interviews with client interfacing staff members, experience from previous projects, and general insight gained during the earlier stages of the project.
A key aspect of a persona is the identification of their site goals/objectives/tasks which allow the usability practitioner to work out the optimum user journey to allow the persona to achieve their on-site goals. This helps drive the formulation of a suitable site map and eventually the page/component wireframes.
The number of personas developed for a given project depends on the complexity of the project and the amount of information available about a given organizations' user base. I have found that the application of between 3-6 personas is best in most circumstances.
This has simply been my take on what is clearly a set of constantly evolving terminology that you will find within the UX / IA arena. If you would like any more input / opinion re the above, or perhaps you'd like to put forward a alternative view, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
For a more detailed introduction to UX I highly recommend the following book which I found to be reliably accurate and very informative regarding many areas of UX:
UX consulting online
Alternatively, if you'd like me to consult with you online re any UX design related matter then just click on the 'UX Consulting via Skype' button below to book some time and I will come back to you by email to set up a mutually convenient time.
Some areas where I might be able to add value are:
- UX process and strategy
- UX recruitment advice
- UX help for newcomers to the field
- Specific UX design issues and advice
- UX review of your current website or application
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