The TLAs of UXD

For those of you who may not be familiar with the TLA “TLA”, it stands for Three-Letter Abbreviation. But it also conveniently stands for Three-Letter Acronym Two-Letter Abbreviation or even Two-Letter Acronym. Like many industries, UXD has many TLAs, so here’s a quick guide to what they are, and what they mean.

UXD (also known simply as UX) stands for User-Experience Design, and it’s at the top of the TLA hierarchy. Within it, there are these areas of concentration:

• IxD (Interaction Design)
• UA (Usability Analysis)
• UCA (User-Centered Analysis)
• UCD (User-Centric Design)
• UI (User-Interface Design)
• UT (Usability Testing)
• UX, UXD, UED (User Experience Design)

Other TLAs include:

• CD (Contextual Design)
• CMS (Content Management System)
• GUI (Graphical User Interface)
• HCI (Human-Computer Interaction)
• IA (Information Architecture)
• ID (Information Design)
• JAD (Joint Application Development)
• KPI (Key Performance Indicator)
• PD (Participatory Design)
• ROI (Return on Investment)
• RUT (Remote Usability Testing)
• RWD (Responsive Web Design)
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• SoC (Separation of Concerns)
• UAT (User Acceptance Testing)
• UI (User Interface)
• UID (User Interface Designer)

Some TLAs may be numeronyms (number-based words) or alphanumeric combinations. Perhaps we should call these TCAs or Three Character Abbreviations. But then, we might get TCA with its sixteen or so other meanings.

• 3GL (Third-Generation Language
• 4GL (Fourth-Generation Language
• L10n (Localization)
• i18n (Internationalization)

Numeronyms are created by combining the first and last letters of the word with the number of letters in between. In the example about, the “L” in L10n is capitalized so as not to be confused with the number one, which would appear almost identical to a lowercase L.

“Know thy users…for they are not you”

—Human Factors International

“If the user can’t find it, the function’s not there”

—Human Factors International

“To err is human, but they’ll blame you”

—Human Factors International

Six User-Centric Design Methods

Focus Groups

Low cost, non-statistical output, low sample size; Used during the Requirements gathering stage.

Usability Testing

High cost, statistical & non-statistical low sample size; Used during design & evaluation.

Card Sorting

High cost, statistical, high sample size; Used during design.

Participatory Design

Low cost, non-statistical, low sample size; Used during design.

Questionnaires

Low cost, statistical, high sample size; Used during requirements gathering & evaluation.

Interviews

High cost, non-statistical, low sample size; Used during requirements gathering & evaluation.