Page 20 - First Year Handbook

Glossary of Terms Welcome to the Glossary of Terms. This section is designed to deepen your
understanding of design’s language, empowering you to effectively articulate
and refine your creative ideas. Each term enriches your vocabulary, enhancing
discussions and innovations. As you explore these concepts, you’ll discover
they are essential tools for transforming your design thinking and execution.

Aesthetics: The branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty
and taste, often applied to design in terms of visual appeal of products.
Affordance: A design attribute that suggests how an object should be used,
typically by providing cues that imply its functionality.
Design for Assembly (DFA): A product design process that focuses on reduc-
ing the assembly complexity and costs by reducing the total number of parts
and simplifying assembly operations.
Design for Manufacturability (DFM): A design approach that simplifies the
manufacturing process, aiming to reduce production costs and maximise
efficiency without compromising the design quality.
Design Language: A set of consistent guidelines that dictates the look and
feel of a product or family of products.

Ergonomics: The study of people’s efficiency in their working environment,
particularly the design of products to optimize human well-being and overall
system performance.

Fidelity: In the context of prototypes, it refers to how closely a prototype
matches the final product in terms of detail, functionality, and aesthetics.

Form Factor: Refers to the physical size and shape of a product, which affects
its ergonomics and user interaction.
Haptic Feedback: The use of touch feedback in user interfaces to provide
input or information to the end-user, usually through vibrations or motions.
Holistic Design: An approach that considers the total user experience, includ-
ing physical, emotional, and cognitive factors, when creating products.

Inclusive Design: Design methodology that considers the full range of human
diversity with respect to ability, language, culture, gender, age, and other
forms of human difference, aiming to make products accessible to as many
people as possible.
Intuitive: Pertaining to design, it describes an interface or product that is easy
to use and understand without prior instruction, allowing users to interact
with it naturally and effortlessly.