Design terms explained in an understandable way

A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a conversion rate optimization (CRO) method in which you test two versions of a website (A and B) against each other to determine the more effective variant. In web design, different CTAs or layouts are often tested to improve the user experience and achieve your marketing goals. The results are based on real user data and are crucial for successful online marketing.

An API (Application Programming Interface) is a programming interface that enables various software applications to communicate with each other. In web design, you use APIs to integrate external services such as payment systems or cards into your website. They are crucial for expanding the functionality of your web platforms.

The term “above the fold” refers to the area of your website that is immediately visible to a user without scrolling. Your most important information and primary call-to-action should be placed here to grab attention right away. Placing content in this area is an important aspect that you need to consider when optimizing landing page.

Barrierefreiheit (Accessibility, a11y) bezeichnet die inklusive Gestaltung von Websites und Apps, sodass sie von allen Menschen – auch jenen mit Seh-, Hör- oder motorischen Einschränkungen – ohne Hürden genutzt werden können. Du erreichst dies durch semantischen HTML-Code, ausreichende Farbkontraste, Tastaturnavigation und Alternativtexte für Bilder. Barrierefreiheit ist nicht nur ethisch wichtig, sondern wird durch Richtlinien wie die WCAG und das Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG) zunehmend auch rechtlich gefordert.

Add-on consulting is an additional bookable service that gives you access to strategic consulting hours with experienced creative directors. These sessions are designed to sharpen your brand strategy, solve complex UX/UI challenges, or optimize your marketing goals. This ensures that your final design is not only aesthetically successful, but also commercially successful.

The agile methodology is an iterative approach in project management, which is particularly used in web design and software development in order to be able to react flexibly to changes. Instead of a rigid plan, you work in short cycles (sprints), which enables continuous improvement and adjustment of your UX/UI design. This process leads to user-centered and market-oriented results.

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in design includes tools that help you automate repetitive tasks or generate design variations. While AI can increase your efficiency and serve as a source of inspiration, creative problem solving remains your task. Using AI consciously is crucial if you want to create authentic design solutions.

Target group segmentation is a marketing process in which you divide a heterogeneous overall market into homogeneous subgroups (segments). These segments are based on common characteristics, such as demographics or needs, to more precisely target your marketing and branding efforts. Accurate segmentation is a prerequisite for creating relevant personas and effectively addressing customers.

A brand design agency specializes in the development and implementation of brand identities and supports you from strategic positioning to creating comprehensive brand guidelines. Unlike pure graphic design freelancers, such agencies offer a holistic approach to build your brand strongly and consistently. They are strategic partners if you want to sustainably strengthen your market presence.

Brand loyalty is the tendency of consumers to buy your brand repeatedly and prefer it over competitors. It is created through positive experiences, a strong brand identity and an emotional bond that you build with your customers. A high brand loyalty is one of your company's most valuable intangible assets.

The brand story is the narrative story that emotionally and authentically conveys the mission, values and origin of your brand. It creates a deeper connection with your target group that goes beyond just the product or service. Good storytelling is a powerful tool in your content marketing and branding to build your brand personality.

A brand audit is a comprehensive analysis of your brand's current market position compared to the competition and how it is perceived by your target group. It assesses the strengths and weaknesses of your current branding and marketing communication. The results of a brand audit are the strategic basis for your successful rebrand or repositioning.

Brand guidelines, also known as style guides, are an essential document that sets the rules for using all elements of your corporate design. They ensure that your logo, colors, and imagery are used consistently to create a consistent brand experience. These guidelines are essential for your marketing team and external service providers.

Brand recognition describes the extent to which consumers can recognize and remember your brand. A high level of brand awareness is a central goal in your marketing, as it creates trust and positively influences the purchase decision. Measures such as content marketing, social media marketing and SEO contribute significantly to increasing your brand awareness.

Branding is the strategic process of creating a unique identity for your company that goes far beyond just a logo design. It includes the definition of brand values, the development of a brand story and the creation of a consistent corporate design. A strong brand creates trust, promotes customer loyalty and is a decisive factor for your long-term business success.

CMYK is a subtractive color model that forms the basis for professional four-color printing. As a graphic designer, you must create your designs for print media in CMYK color mode. This ensures that the colors are correctly reproduced in the print.

A call-to-action (CTA) is an interactive element, usually a button, which explicitly prompts you as a user to take a specific action (e.g. “Book a demo now”). An effective CTA is visually eye-catching and clearly formulated to maximize your conversion rate. It is a central element in your web design and online marketing.

A claim or tagline is a short, memorable sentence that summarizes the essence of your brand or advertising campaign. While a claim is often linked to your brand in the long term, a tagline can be campaign-specific. A good claim is a central element of your brand communication and increases recognition value.

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) includes all measures aimed at increasing the percentage of your website visitors who perform a desired action (conversion). Techniques such as A/B testing and improving user experience (UX) are central components of CRO. A good UX/UI design is the basis for every successful CRO strategy you pursue.

The corporate design (CD) is the uniform visual appearance of your company, which is used consistently across all channels — from the website to the business card. It includes key elements like your logo, color palette, and typography. A professional corporate design ensures recognition and visually conveys your brand identity.

The corporate identity (CI) is the entire personality and self-image of your company. It defines what your brand stands for and how you want to be perceived internally and externally. An authentic CI is the basis for your successful branding and consists of the company's philosophy, communication and visual appearance.

A customer journey map is a visual representation of all phases and points of interaction that a customer goes through on their journey with your company. It helps you understand the customer's needs, emotions and pain points at every stage and holistically optimize the user experience. It is a strategic tool that you should use in your UX design and marketing.

Dark Mode is an alternative, dark version of a user interface that you can offer. It is often considered easier on the eyes and can reduce battery consumption on OLED screens. Deploying dark mode has become a popular feature to consider in your modern app and web design.

Design tokens are the smallest, atomic building blocks of your design system, which store visual properties such as colors, font sizes, or spacing as data. They enable you to centrally manage design decisions and apply them consistently across platforms. If you change a token value, the change is automatically transferred to all of your linked UI components.

A design grid is an invisible structure that helps you, as a designer, to arrange content and elements on a page consistently and harmoniously. You create order and improve readability and professional appearance. Using a grid is a basic principle that you should use in visual design.

Design-as-a-Service (DaaS) is a flexible subscription model that provides you and your business with scalable design solutions without relying on expensive agencies or unreliable freelancers. With DaaS, you get consistent, high-quality graphic design and UX/UI services at a fixed monthly price. This model is ideal for your marketing team and startup to efficiently expand your design capabilities and strengthen your online presence with professional branding.

E-commerce design is the specialized design of your online shop with the aim of maximizing the sale of products. This includes designing product pages and optimizing the checkout process. A good user experience that you create here is directly linked to your sales success.

The pricing plans (Essential, Premium, Enterprise) define the scope of the design-as-a-service subscription, in particular the number of design tasks that can be edited in parallel. While the Essential plan is ideal for you to get started, the Premium plan allows for higher processing speeds for demanding marketing needs. The Enterprise plan provides a fully customized solution for large companies with high graphic design and web development needs.

Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD are the leading collaborative design tools you can use for UI/UX design. They enable you and your team to work on wireframes, mockups, and interactive prototypes in real time. Due to its platform-independent web-based nature, Figma has established itself as an industry standard that you should consider.

Flat design is a minimalistic design style that dispenses with three-dimensional effects and focuses on clear lines and simple shapes. You are emphasizing usability and readability. Flat design has significantly shaped the aesthetics of modern user interfaces (UI) that you see today.

The font weight describes the line width of a font, e.g. Light, Regular or Bold. You use different font styles to create visual hierarchy and emphasize parts of text. A good font family offers you a wide range of styles for flexible design options.

The golden ratio is a design principle that describes a specific division ratio (approx. 1:1.618) that you find particularly harmonious. In design, you use this principle to define proportions for layouts and logos. This is how you create a natural and balanced composition.

A headless CMS is a content management system in which the backend for managing your content is decoupled from the frontend to the presentation. You provide the content via an API and can thus flexibly play it out on a wide variety of platforms. This approach gives you maximum freedom when choosing front-end technology.

A heat map is a behavioral analysis tool that uses colors to visualize which areas of your website receive the most attention from users. As a UX/UI designer, heat maps help you understand how users interact with a page. They provide valuable insights for your conversion rate optimization.

Heuristic evaluation is an inspection method in UX design in which experts evaluate a user interface for you using recognized usability principles (heuristics) to identify problems. This method is a quick alternative to complex user tests and helps you identify fundamental errors in the user experience at an early stage. It is an important step in ensuring the usability of your websites and apps.

A HEX code is a hexadecimal representation of an RGB color value that you use in web design (HTML and CSS) to precisely define colors. It consists of a hash sign (#) followed by six characters (e.g. #FFFFFF for white). HEX codes are the standard for color definition on the web, which you should use for consistent color representation.

Information architecture is the art of structuring the content of your website or app so that users can easily find and understand information. It includes the definition of navigation structures and category systems. A well-thought-out IA is the foundation of a good user experience and is decisive for the usability of your digital products.

Kerning is the adjustment of the spacing between individual pairs of letters in a word to achieve a visually harmonious typeface. In contrast to tracking, where you change the spacing of all letters evenly, kerning is a detailed adjustment. Professional kerning is a feature of high-quality graphic design that you should use for logos and headlines.

Lazy loading is a technique for optimizing the load time of your web pages by only loading images when they scroll into your visible area. This significantly reduces the initial load time, which has a positive effect on the user experience and your SEO ranking. You should use lazy loading as a standard way to improve page speed.

Liquid glass (or Glassmorphism) is a recent UI design trend where you use translucent, blurry backgrounds to create a glass-like effect. The elements appear to float on a transparent plane, which creates visual depth. You can use this style in modern operating systems and apps for a lightweight look.

A mockup is a detailed, static design that realistically represents the visual appearance of your website or app. In contrast to a wireframe, a mockup already includes your final UI design, including colors, typography, and images. You use it as a visual template for programming and presenting your design.

A mood board is a visual collage of images, colors, and textures that helps you define the desired atmosphere and style of a design project. It's an important tool early in your branding and web design process to align a common visual direction with your designer. Mood boards help you to flesh out your creative vision before the actual design begins.

Motion design is the discipline where you apply graphic design principles to animations and videos. In UI/UX design, you use motion design specifically to smooth transitions and give the user feedback. In doing so, you make digital products more vivid and understandable.

Naming is the creative and strategic process of developing a name for your company, product, or service. A good name is unique, memorable, easy to pronounce and ideally available as a domain. The naming process takes into account aspects of trademark law, your brand positioning and targeting.

Neumorphism is a UI design trend that allows you to create a soft, almost extruded plastic look. You achieve this through the subtle use of inner and outer shadows, with your color palette often being monochrome. The style stands between detailed skeuomorphism and minimalistic flat design, which you can use as an alternative.

No-code and low-code platforms like Webflow allow you to build complex websites and applications with a graphical user interface instead of program code. In doing so, you democratize software development and can implement digital products faster and more cost-effectively. This trend is accelerating digital transformation, which you can take part in.

A pictogram or icon is a simplified, graphical symbol that you can understand quickly and independently of language. Icons are an essential part of modern user interfaces (UI) because they make it easier for you to navigate. A consistent icon set is an important part of your design system.

A pitch deck is a professionally designed presentation that concisely presents your business idea, product, or company to convince investors. The design of your pitch deck is crucial for success, as it visually presents complex information and convincingly conveys the brand message. Good visual design and a clear user experience are the keys to success here.

A progressive web app (PWA) is a modern web application that you can access directly from the browser and add to the start screen. Thanks to service workers, it also works offline and offers an app-like user experience. For you, PWAs are a cost-effective alternative to developing separate iOS and Android apps.

The project manager is the central interface between you and the design team and ensures that your design projects run smoothly. He is responsible for communication, compliance with timelines and quality assurance of results in graphic design and web design. Efficient project management is crucial for the success of design-as-a-service models.

RGB is an additive color model that is based on the mix of the three primary colors red, green, and blue and that you use to display colors on digital screens. As a web designer or UI designer, you work in RGB color mode. Here's how you design your websites and apps.

A raster graphic (or bitmap) is an image that consists of a fixed grid of individual pixels. Photos are typical raster graphics that you use. If you enlarge them beyond their original size, the individual pixels become visible, resulting in a loss of quality.

Rebranding is the strategic process of fundamentally changing the public image of your company or product. This can include changing the name, logo, or overall brand positioning to respond to changing market conditions or to appeal to a new target group. A successful rebrand requires careful analysis and a clear communication strategy from you.

Responsive web design is an approach that ensures that the layout of your website adapts flexibly to the screen size of the respective device. Your content is displayed optimally on desktops, tablets, and smartphones, which improves the user experience and your SEO performance. Google rates mobile-friendliness as an important ranking factor that you shouldn't ignore.

A review loop is the process by which you provide feedback on a draft design, and then designers revise it for you. Unlimited revisions, as is usual in the design-as-a-service model, guarantee your satisfaction, as the final graphic design or web design is exactly what you want. This iterative process is a core feature of high-quality branding.

Suchmaschinenoptimierung (SEO) umfasst alle Maßnahmen, um die Sichtbarkeit deiner Website in den organischen Suchergebnissen von Google zu verbessern. Wichtige Aspekte für dich sind die Keyword-Recherche, die On-Page-Optimierung (z.B. Meta-Tags) und der Aufbau von Backlinks. Gutes SEO ist entscheidend für den nachhaltigen Traffic auf deiner Website.

Serifs are the little “feet” at the ends of the letter strokes. Fonts without these endlines are called sans-serif (e.g. Arial). Traditionally, serif fonts in print are considered easier to read for long reading texts, while you often prefer sans-serif fonts on the web and for headlines.

A single page application is a modern web application that dynamically reloads its content onto a single HTML page, instead of you having to request an entire page from the server for each new view. This results in a faster, smoother user experience that is similar to that of a native app. Frameworks like React or Vue.js help you create SPAs.

Social media graphics are visual content that you optimize specifically for the formats of platforms such as Instagram or LinkedIn. They must immediately attract your attention in a fast-moving feed and clearly communicate the brand message. A consistent design of these graphics is crucial for your professional brand presence.

The tone of voice describes the unique language style and tonality that you use throughout your brand communication. Whether professional, humorous, or inspiring — the defined tone of voice ensures consistency and strengthens your brand personality on your website, social media, and marketing. It is an essential part of your corporate identity.

Turnaround time is the time from your design request to delivery of the first draft, often within 48 hours in the DaaS model. A quick turnaround time is a decisive advantage for you and your marketing team when you need to react to current trends and implement your campaigns in an agile way. It is an important criterion when choosing a design agency or a freelancer.

User interface (UI) design focuses on designing the visual and interactive elements of your user interface, such as buttons, menus, and forms. The aim is to create an aesthetically appealing and intuitive interface between man and machine. Good UI design is an essential part of your corporate design and contributes significantly to your brand perception.

User experience (UX) design is concerned with designing the entire user experience that a user has when interacting with your website or app. The goal is to create a product that is not only functional for you, but also easy, efficient and pleasant to use. UX design is based on user research and usability testing to optimally meet the needs of your target group.

A user flow is a graph that visualizes the step-by-step path a user takes on your website or app to complete a task. In UX design, you create user flows to optimize navigation and identify hurdles. They are the basis for designing your information architecture and interface design.

The value proposition, or your value proposition, clearly and concisely communicates the unique benefits that a customer can expect from your product or service. In branding and web design, the value proposition is often placed prominently in order to address your target group directly and set you apart from the competition. A strong value proposition is at the core of every successful marketing strategy.

VR/AR Design is concerned with designing immersive experiences for which you design three-dimensional spaces and interactions. This field requires you to have a deep understanding of spatial thinking and user experience in immersive environments. Here, you create experiences that are fundamentally different from traditional 2D screens.

Visual hierarchy is the arrangement of elements in a way that highlights their importance and draws your attention. As a designer, you use contrasts in size, color, and placement. This ensures that the most important information is noticed first.

Voice user interface (VUI) design is the design of voice-controlled user interfaces, as you know them from intelligent assistants. Instead of visual elements, you work with dialogs, commands, and acoustic feedback. Your goal is a conversation between humans and machines that is as natural and intuitive as possible.

Webflow is a leading no-code platform that gives you professional web design by visually developing responsive and interactive websites. It generates clean code, offers an integrated CMS, and is known for its high design flexibility and SEO-friendliness. With Webflow, you bridge the gap between simple website builders and complex custom programming.

The Webflow vs. WordPress comparison compares two of the most popular CMS that you have to choose between. While WordPress impresses with its huge selection of plugins, Webflow scores points with superior visual design control and cleaner code. Your choice depends on project requirements, your budget, and your team's technical skills.

White space (or negative space) is the deliberately left empty space between and around design elements, which you use as an active design element. You use it to group content, focus the viewer and improve readability. Generous use of white space gives your design an elegant and high-quality look.

A wireframe is a schematic “blueprint” of your website or app that focuses on the structure and arrangement of content. Here, you deliberately refrain from using visual design such as colors in order to focus on information architecture and user experience. Wireframes are a fundamental step that you should take in your UX/UI design process.

App design includes the specialized design of user interfaces (UI) and user experiences (UX) for your mobile applications on iOS and Android. You must take into account the specific conventions of the respective platforms and the usage contexts on mobile devices. A successful app design combines high usability with appealing aesthetics to retain your users in the long term.

Brand architecture describes the strategic structure and hierarchy of brands within your company. There are models such as “Branded House” (e.g. Google with Google Maps) or “House of Brands” (e.g. Procter & Gamble with Pampers, Gillette). Choosing the right architecture is a fundamental decision for your brand management and future growth strategy.

Color harmony describes a combination of colors that you find pleasant and aesthetic. In color theory, there are various schemes with which you can create harmony, e.g. through complementary or analogous colors. Creating a harmonious color palette is a goal that you pursue when developing an appealing corporate design.

The color palette is a carefully selected combination of colors that you use consistently in your corporate design. It consists of primary, secondary and accent colors that visually convey your brand personality. Defining your color palette in brand guidelines is crucial for a consistent brand experience.

Color psychology is the study of how colors influence your emotions and behavior. In branding and marketing, you use this knowledge specifically to link specific associations with your brand. Choosing your color palette is therefore a strategic decision in your corporate design.

Composition is the placement and arrangement of visual elements in your design to achieve a balanced and appealing overall effect. You use design principles such as the rule of thirds, balance and contrast. It is decisive for how your message is visually received and interpreted.

Contrast is the noticeable difference between two or more elements that you use in your design. You use strong contrast to create visual hierarchy and focus attention. In particular, the color contrast between text and background is a decisive criterion that you must consider for accessibility.

A design system is your central, comprehensive library of reusable UI components, design guidelines, and code snippets. It helps you ensure consistency and efficiency in the design and development process of your digital products. With a design system, you ensure that your brand identity remains consistent across all platforms.

A font family (Typeface) is a set of fonts with a common stylistic design that you can choose from. Helvetica, for example, is a font family. A font, on the other hand, is a specific file that you install and that contains a specific cut (e.g. Helvetica Bold as a .ttf file).

Gamification is the application of game elements in a non-game context to motivate your users and increase their engagement. In web and app design, you use gamification to encourage users to visit again. It can enrich the user experience and strengthen your customer loyalty.

Generative design is an iterative design process in which you, as a designer, enter goals and constraints into AI software. The software then autonomously generates a variety of possible design solutions, which you can then refine. You can use this approach in product design and architecture to find optimized and innovative forms.

Infographics are visual representations of information that help you communicate complex relationships quickly and comprehensibly. You combine text, images, and charts into an appealing graphical unit. Good infographic design is a popular format in your content marketing to attract attention.

A landing page is a standalone website that you create specifically for a marketing or advertising campaign and that is focused on a single goal, conversion. It's free from distracting navigation and focuses on getting your visitors to take a specific action. A high conversion rate is the main goal that you pursue when optimizing your landing page.

Layout is the deliberate arrangement of visual elements that you make on a page or screen. A good layout provides a clear structure, guides your eye as a viewer and improves readability. It is the basis of every visual composition you create in graphic and web design.

Logo design is the art of creating a unique and recognizable symbol or lettering that represents your brand. A good logo is concise, timeless and works in various sizes and media, from your app to a poster. It is the central element of your corporate design and the first visual anchor point for your target group.

Microinteractions are small, subtle animations or visual feedback on a user action, such as the “heart” icon when you like a post. They improve the user experience by giving you feedback and making the user experience more lively. Well-designed microinteractions are a sign of high-quality UI design.

Packaging design is the design of your product packaging with the dual goal of protecting the product and presenting it attractively. It is a crucial point of contact with your customers and communicates brand values and buying incentives. A successful packaging design takes into account the material, shape and graphics that you choose.

Brand positioning defines how your brand should be perceived in the consciousness of your target group, in particular in contrast to the competition. A clear positioning answers the question of why customers should choose your specific brand and highlights your unique value proposition. It is the strategic foundation for all your marketing and branding activities.

Print finishing is a series of techniques that you use after the actual printing process to give print media a special look or feel. This includes, for example, embossing, or UV painting. High-quality finishing can underline the value of your product and set it apart from the competition.

Print media include all physically printed means of communication, such as brochures or flyers, that you can use in your marketing mix. Despite digitalization, high-quality print media continue to play an important role in making your brand tangible. The prepress stage requires you to have specific expertise in color models (CMYK).

A prototype is an interactive, clickable model of your website or app that you use to simulate user guidance and functionalities before development begins. Prototypes allow you to validate the user experience in usability tests and obtain feedback from users. In this way, you avoid expensive incorrect developments and optimize your end product.

Scalability in a design context means the ability to quickly and easily adapt your design resources to current needs. Design-as-a-Service allows you to flexibly manage your spending on graphic design and web development without having to enter into long-term contracts. This is particularly beneficial for growing startups and seasonal marketing campaigns.

Skeuomorphism is a design style in which you faithfully imitate real world objects in a digital user interface to make them more familiar to use. A well-known example is the trash can on your desktop. This style was largely replaced by flat design, but is making a kind of comeback in the form of Neumorphism.

Sustainable design is a design approach in which you consider the ecological, social and economic effects of a product over its entire life cycle. In web design, you can implement this by optimizing performance to reduce energy consumption. In doing so, you create responsible and sustainable solutions.

Typography is the art of designing and using writing so that it is legible and appealing. You make decisions about fonts, font sizes, and line spacing. Good typography is the basis of every professional design you create and is crucial for the user experience.

A vector graphic is an image that consists of mathematical formulas instead of pixels. The big advantage for you is that you can infinitely scale vector graphics without loss of quality. That's why they're the standard format for logos, icons, and illustrations that you should use.

Web design includes the visual and functional design of your website, with a focus on appealing aesthetics, an intuitive user experience (UX) and technical optimization. A modern web design is responsive, i.e. optimized for all devices, and takes SEO factors into account for good visibility. It is your digital business card and is decisive for the first impression.