Canary Islands PAU Design flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Gestalt proximity law

Elements placed close together are perceived as a single group, even when their shape or colour differs, so spacing alone can create or destroy visual grouping.

Simultaneous contrast

A colour appears shifted when placed next to another: a grey patch looks warmer beside blue and cooler beside orange, so colour judgements must be made in context.

Munsell colour dimensions

Hue, value and chroma describe any colour. Value is lightness on a 0–10 scale and chroma is saturation; the system separates these dimensions for systematic comparison.

Double Diamond phases

Discover, Define, Develop and Deliver: the model alternates divergent research and convergent selection twice, once to frame the problem and once to shape the solution.

Formative versus summative evaluation

Formative evaluation runs during development to improve the design; summative evaluation happens at the end to judge whether the finished design met its criteria.

Low-fidelity prototype purpose

Cheap, quick representations such as paper sketches or wireframes test concept, flow and structure before detail is committed, when changes cost little.

Kerning versus tracking

Kerning adjusts spacing between individual letter pairs; tracking adjusts uniform spacing across a whole range of text. Leading is the separate vertical line spacing.

Wayfinding decision points

Locations where a traveller must choose a direction. Signs placed there, with consistent naming and redundant pictograms, prevent navigation errors.

Brand identity system

The coordinated set of logo, colour palette, typeface, imagery style and usage rules that makes an organisation recognisable across every application.

Anthropometric percentile design

Design for the 5th–95th percentile range for reach and clearance, but design to the extreme when one dimension is critical, such as door height.

Design for disassembly

Using reversible fasteners, snap fits and minimal material variety so a product can be taken apart for repair, reuse or material recovery at end of life.

Waste hierarchy order

Prevention ranks highest, then reuse, then recycling, then energy recovery, with disposal last. Recycling is therefore not the most sustainable option.

Bauhaus Vorkurs

The preliminary foundation course at the Bauhaus that trained students in material, form and colour before specialising, shaping modern design education.

Ulm School influence

The HfG Ulm, active 1953–1968 and linked to Braun and Dieter Rams, promoted systematic, restrained product design and the principle 'less, but better'.

Swiss Typographic Style

A mid-20th-century approach using grid systems, sans-serif type, asymmetric layout and photography, associated with Müller-Brockmann and Ruder.

Third-angle projection

A projection convention placing each view on the near side of the object, used in North America; first-angle projection places views on the far side.

Section view hatching

Cut material in a section view is filled with thin, evenly spaced parallel lines at a consistent angle, distinguishing solid material from empty space.

Two-point perspective

A drawing method using two vanishing points on a shared horizon line, used when a rectangular object is viewed from a corner rather than face-on.

POUR accessibility principles

WCAG's four principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust. Conformance levels A, AA and AAA sit beneath them, with AA the common legal baseline.

Planned obsolescence

Deliberately shortening a product's useful life through functional, technological or aesthetic design, which right-to-repair legislation seeks to counter.

Copyright versus patent

Copyright protects the expression of a work and arises automatically; a patent protects a novel technical invention and must be applied for and granted.

Minimum touch target size

Common guidance sets interactive targets at about 44×44 px or 48×48 dp, with adequate spacing, so users with limited dexterity can activate them reliably.

Red-green colour blindness

Protan and deutan deficiencies affect roughly 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women, so meaning must never be encoded by hue alone.

Dark pattern

An interface design that manipulates users into unintended choices, such as forced continuity or confirmshaming, and is increasingly restricted by consumer law.

Circular economy loops

Reuse, repair, remanufacture and recycle form nested loops. Each step down loses embodied energy, so repair ranks above recycling.

Extended producer responsibility

A policy making manufacturers responsible for take-back and end-of-life handling of their products, pushing design toward disassembly and material recovery.

Informed consent in research

Participants must understand the purpose, risks and use of their data, participate voluntarily, and retain the right to withdraw at any time.

Life-cycle assessment stages

Raw material extraction, production, distribution, use and end of life. The use phase often dominates for energy-using products, so it must be modelled.

EN 301 549

The European harmonised standard for ICT accessibility, which references WCAG and adds requirements for hardware, documents and support services.

Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

A licence requiring attribution, permitting non-commercial use, and requiring derivative works to carry the same licence terms as the original.

Design for longevity

Durable materials, replaceable components, standard fasteners, available spare parts and upgradable software extend useful life and reduce material throughput.

Design rights

Protection for the appearance of a product, such as shape and ornamentation, distinct from patents for technical function and trademarks for commercial origin.