Glossary
Terms
Concepts and effects referenced across UX anti-patterns.
-
Affordance
A possible action a user can take with an object or interface in a particular context.
-
Cognitive Load
Total mental effort a user spends to complete a task — split between intrinsic difficulty, extraneous interface noise, and learning.
-
Consent Fatigue
Exhaustion and automatic dismissal caused by repeated consent prompts, cookie banners, and privacy interruptions.
-
Deceptive Defaults
Defaults that steer users toward the product's preferred outcome while making alternatives harder to notice or choose.
-
Freely Given Consent
Consent made without coercion, hidden penalties, or forced access trade-offs.
-
Information Architecture
The structure, labels, and navigation paths that determine how users find, understand, and move through information or tasks.
-
Information Scent
Proximal cues — link text, headings, buttons — that users follow to predict whether a path leads to what they want.
-
Mental Model
The user's internal understanding of how a task, product, or domain works, built from prior experience and current cues.
-
Progressive Disclosure
Reveal complexity gradually as the user needs it, rather than presenting every option at once.
-
Psychological Reactance
The motivational state of wanting to restore freedom of choice when an interface is perceived as pushy or restrictive.
-
Signifier
A visible, audible, or textual cue that tells users where an action is available and what it is likely to do.
-
System-Centered Design
Designing the interface around the system's objects, processes, and architecture before the user's language and goals.