Module 3: Product Design - Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the Product Design lecture notes.

Product

An offering for sale that provides a bundle of benefits to users; can be tangible or digital (e.g., apps, websites).

Pain points

Customer problems, needs, or frustrations that a product aims to solve.

Design Thinking Process

A human-centered problem-solving approach with five phases: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test.

Vision setting

Defining the long-term direction and purpose of a product.

Strategy

The plan to achieve the vision; it outlines the journey and goals to deliver the desired user experience.

Value proposition

The core aspects of what the product is, who it is for, and when/where it will be used.

Working Backwards

A technique that starts with target users and works back to the minimum requirements, often framed as a future press release.

Press release

A simple, public-facing description of the finished product used to clarify and envision the future product.

Product research

Research activities (including user and market research) that provide data to inform design decisions.

User research

Methods to understand users’ needs, behaviors, and contexts.

Personas

Fictional characters representing key user groups, based on real research data.

Empathy map

A visualization tool that outlines what a user says, thinks, does, and feels to understand motivation.

User journey map

A visualization of the steps a user takes to accomplish a goal with a product.

Storyboard

A visual narrative showing how a user interacts with a product over time.

Diary log

A diary study; participants record tasks, contexts, and feelings over a period of time.

Empathize

The Design Thinking phase focused on learning about and understanding users.

Define

The phase that synthesizes insights into a point of view based on user needs.

Ideate

The phase of generating many potential solutions to address the problem.

Prototype

An early model of a product used to test ideas and learn what works.

Test

Phase where prototypes are tested with users to gather feedback and validate concepts.

User interviews

Direct conversations with users to gather qualitative insights.

Online surveys

Digital questionnaires used to collect data from a larger audience; can be qualitative or quantitative.

Contextual inquiry

Field study observing users in their natural environment to understand context of use.

Market research

Analysis of market conditions, needs, and competition to inform product decisions.

Competitive research

Comprehensive analysis of competitors to identify standards and opportunities.

Direct competitors

Companies offering the same value proposition to the same customer base.

Indirect competitors

Alternatives that meet similar needs but with different value propositions.

Competitor checklist

A matrix used to compare competitors across criteria and features.

Kickoff meeting

Initial meeting to align stakeholders, outline purpose, roles, and success metrics.

KPIs

Key Performance Indicators; measurable metrics used to gauge product success.

Usability testing

Qualitative testing to determine how easily users can use a product and achieve tasks.

Dogfooding

Internally testing a product to build empathy and identify critical issues.

Guerrilla testing

Informal, quick usability testing conducted in public or non-traditional settings.

Design sprint

A five-day framework to validate ideas by building and testing a prototype with users.

Rapid prototyping

A quick, iterative cycle of prototyping, feedback, and refinement to learn faster.

User stories

Short, value-focused descriptions of what a user wants to accomplish; used to prevent feature creep.

Freytag’s Pyramid

Five-part narrative structure: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement.

Timeline skeleton

A basic visual layout of a user journey showing sequence of steps.

Post-launch activities

Ongoing product improvements based on analytics, feedback, and real-world use.

Data-driven design

Design decisions informed by quantitative and qualitative data and analytics.

Feedback loop

Process of collecting user feedback and iteratively improving the product.