Glossary
Design and automation terms, in plain language.
A running glossary for anyone who’s ever nodded along to “CMYK” or “webhook” without quite knowing what it meant.
Graphic Design
Design Glossary
Abstract Mark – A type of pictorial logo. An abstract geometric form that represents a business. BP, Pepsi, Adidas.
Aspect Ratio – The ratio of the width to the height of a rectangle (in this case, the design).
Bitmap/Raster File – An image made up of a certain number of pixels. Each pixel has its own color, transparency, etc. They lose quality (get blurry) when blown up.
Bleed – A printing term that refers to the edge of the sheet that will be trimmed off (full bleed is a design printed all the way to the edge of the paper).
Brand Identity – The visual version of a brand, made up of everything that relates to it — logos, typefaces, colour palettes, slogans, tone of voice, etc.
Brand Style Guide – Standards or “rules” for the use of brand designs. Used to ensure that all assets have complete uniformity (margins, colors, etc.).
Combination Mark – A combined wordmark and pictorial mark, abstract mark, or mascot. Doritos, Burger King, Lacoste.
Copy – The words that are written. Example: a paragraph of text on a brochure or a caption for a social media post can be referred to as copy.
CMYK – A color mode used when designing for print. The four colours the name stands for: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key (Black).
Design Brief – A set of questions to gather information for the designer to understand what the client wants and doesn’t want (colors, style, logo type, etc.).
DPI – Dots per inch. The number of dots that can be placed across 1 linear inch. Used to describe the amount of ink dots in print; no effect on digital design.
Font Weight – The thickness of a font.
Gradient – A gradual change of colour or shade — for instance a red slowly fading into an orange, or a colour gradually fading into transparency.
Greyscale – A colour palette that only uses black, white, and different shades of grey.
Hierarchy – Creates organisation and direction in a design — it helps to give order to text elements through size, weight, colour, etc.
Icons – Images used to represent objects or actions. A magnifying glass used to signify search is a common example.
Kerning – Adjusting the space between two specific letters or characters, to increase legibility and create proportional, balanced typography.
Leading – (Pronounced “ledding.”) The space between two baselines of text. The larger the leading, the more space between lines.
Logomark/Pictorial – A logo that doesn’t contain the brand name itself — usually a shape or character used to represent the company. Target, Twitter.
Mascot Logo – An illustrated character. KFC, Kool-Aid, Mr. Peanut.
Mock-up – A realistic representation of a design, used to demonstrate how it will look in the real world. Example: a logo photoshopped onto a tote bag.
Monochrome – A colour palette made up of various shades and tones of a single colour.
Monogram/Lettermark – Logos that consist of letters, usually brand initials. HBO, IBM, NASA.
Palette – The colour scheme chosen for a specific design or brand, making up part of a brand’s style guide.
Pantone – A standardised colour set used for printing, product/fashion design, manufacturing, etc. Each colour has its own individual number and name.
Pixel – A contraction of “picture” and “element.” The smallest unit of programmable colour on a computer — all digital images are made of individual pixels.
PNG – Portable Network Graphics. A file format used for lossless image compression.
PPI – Pixels per inch. The number of pixels placed across 1 linear inch, describing the resolution of a digital image; can affect print size and quality.
RGB – Red Green Blue. The colour mode used when designing for digital applications.
Tracking – The spacing of an entire word or paragraph (not just between two letters) — it changes the space between every letter at the same time.
Typography – The style and appearance of words, and the art of arranging type to make it readable, legible, and engaging in print or digital designs.
Vector – An image made with mathematical equations. Vectors can be resized or scaled to any size without losing quality or getting blurry.
Wordmark – A brand name styled as a logo. Disney, Coca-Cola, Google.
AI Automations
Automation Glossary
AI Agent – A program that uses artificial intelligence to make decisions and take multi-step actions on its own, rather than just responding to a single command.
API – Application Programming Interface. A way for two pieces of software to talk to each other automatically, without a person copying and pasting between them.
Automation – A workflow that runs on its own, without a person manually repeating the same steps each time.
Chatbot – A program that carries on a conversation with a user, often used to answer common questions or collect information automatically.
CRM – Customer Relationship Management. Software that tracks and organizes your contacts, leads, and communication history — Zoho and HubSpot are examples.
Integration – A connection between two different tools or platforms that lets them share information automatically.
LLM – Large Language Model. The type of AI model (like the ones behind ChatGPT or Claude) that understands and generates human language.
Low-Code/No-Code – Tools that let you build software or automations with minimal or no traditional programming, often through a visual, drag-and-drop interface.
Natural Language Processing (NLP) – The branch of AI focused on understanding and working with human language, written or spoken.
Prompt – The instructions or question you give an AI tool to get the response you want.
Scraping – Automatically pulling information off a website or document instead of copying it by hand.
Trigger – The event that kicks off an automation — a new email, a form submission, a specific time of day, etc.
Webhook – A way for one piece of software to instantly notify another the moment something happens, instead of one checking in on a schedule.
Workflow – The full sequence of steps an automation follows from trigger to finished task.
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