Ever been asked for your logo in vector format, or told you need to do some A/B split testing? No clue what your designers are going on about? We're putting together this handy guide to cut through the creative jargon.
Like any industry, design is littered with acronyms and technical jargon that can leave businesses feeling confused and frustrated. From SEO and bounce rates, to clearing your cache and kerning, there is a plethora of baffling terminology. And what the hell is a WYSIWYG anyway?!
So we thought we’d put together a definitive guide that explains the bewildering blurb of designers in simple terms. Here are a few examples to get you started.
Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors to a website that navigate away from it after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate could be a sign that your web page is not engaging enough or that the user experience is being affected by factors such as slow loading times. Anything under 40% is generally accepted as a healthy bounce rate.
Vector format files are comprised of paths rather than pixels. Vector-based graphics are not made up of a specific number of dots and can be scaled to a larger size and not lose any image quality. If you blow up a pixel-based image, it’ll likely become blocky and pixelated, but a vector image will stay clear and smooth. They are excellent for creating graphics that frequently require resizing, such as your company logo, which may need to be small on a business card but large on a construction hoarding.
Above the fold is a term in website design that relates to the content that fills your screen. The ‘fold’ is simply the bottom of your screen. The idea is to place salient information above the fold that engages your audience and entices them to scroll and explore the site further.
Kerning is the spacing between letters or characters in a piece of text. Adjusting this spacing can make copy more pleasing on the eye and easier to read. From web pages and newspapers, to signage and packaging, good kerning is vital to making copy communicate quickly and effectively.
Hi-res, or high resolution, refers to the quality of a digital image. Resolution measures the number of pixels (squares of colour) in an image and the higher the density of pixels, the better the quality of image. If an image is low-resolution it will become blocky and blurry when enlarged. If you want pictures on your website or brochure to look crystal clear, then make sure you’re using hi-res imagery.
We hope that has shed some light on a few terms that you will hear designers and creatives using. Keep an eye out for our full graphic glossary, appearing on the 6rs website resources section very soon.
