La Oveja Negra / Glossary

Concept Library

• Affordance

  An affordance is a possibility for action arising from the relationship between a person and an object or system. In an interface, perceptible cues help people recognise which actions are available.

• Checkout Friction

  Checkout friction is the effort or obstacles that make completing a purchase difficult during identification, delivery, review and payment. It applies the broader UX concept of friction to order completion.

• Choice Architecture

  Choice architecture is the organisation of the context in which a person compares alternatives and makes a decision. It includes ordering, presentation, labels and default options.

• Cognitive Load

  Cognitive load is the mental effort needed to understand information and carry out a task. In UX, this includes interpreting the interface, remembering details and comparing options while pursuing a goal.

• Conversion Bias

  Conversion bias is an editorial label for examining how cognitive biases and framing can influence commercial decisions and their interpretation. It does not identify one established academic bias or provide a formula for increasing sales.

• Decision Fatigue

  Decision fatigue describes difficulties or changes in decision making associated with a sequence of demanding choices. It is a research concept, not an automatic explanation for every abandoned purchase.

• Fitts Law

  Fitts law describes the relationship between the time needed to reach a target, the distance to it and its size along the direction of movement. In interfaces, it informs the design of controls selected with a pointer or by touch.

• Friction

  Friction in UX is the effort, difficulty or interruption an interaction introduces into a task. It can arise when understanding an option, performing an action, waiting for a response or correcting an error.

• Information Scent

  Information scent is the set of cues people use to estimate whether a link or route will lead to the information they need. It depends on labels, surrounding context and their relationship to the person’s goal.

• Mental Models

  Mental models are the representations and expectations a person uses to interpret how a system works. They help predict what will happen after an action, even when that expectation differs from the system’s actual behaviour.

• Social Proof

  Social proof is the use of other people’s actions or judgements as cues for interpreting a situation or option. In ecommerce it can appear in reviews, testimonials and verifiable accounts of product use.

• Trust Signals

  Trust signals are verifiable elements that help people assess a shop’s reliability and purchase conditions. They include clear commercial information, accessible policies, payment explanations and documented experiences.

• User Intent

  User intent is the goal a person seeks to achieve in an interaction context. It may involve learning, comparing, finding a specific product or managing a purchase, and can change during the journey.