EXPLORATORIUM Glossary

Be Kind. Do Good. Have Fun.

PoC: literally “Proof-of-Concept”, it’s an advanced demo project intended to show that a program, product or system is viable for the market. It differs from prototypes because no final products are produced until the concept has been validated.

Prototype: an original model, a working example that serves as a basis for a new model or a new version of an existing product.

MVP: literally “Minimum Viable Product”, it refers to a development technique in which a basic version of a new product is introduced in the market, with enough features to get the attention of the customer

Validate: to make something officially acceptable or approved. Validation focuses on ensuring that the stakeholder gets the product that meets his true needs and expectations.

Value Proposition: a short, clear and concise statement that is a promise of value stated by a company and it summarize the tangible and intangible benefits that will be delivered to customers.

Mock up: a scale or full-sized model that reflects the design choices and a part of the functionality of a system, in order to enable testing of the overall aspect of the product.

Wireframe: the initial product concept to provide a clear overview of the structure, layout, user flow, functionality. The aim is to provide a visual understanding of a page early in the development process, before visual design and content are added.

Mood board: composition of images, visuals and other objects that serves as a visual tool for communicating ideas and creating inspiration. It’s often created for the purposes of design or presentation.

Lean canvas: a one-page business plan template designed to allow its user to visualize an entire business plan deconstructing the idea into its key assumptions through: Key Partners, Key Activities, Key Resources, Value Propositions (UVP), Customer Relationships, Customer Segments, Channels, Cost Structure, Revenue Streams.

Design sprint: part of the Design Thinking method, it’s a 5-days process that is used for answering critical business questions through co-creation, rapid prototyping, and qualitative testing.

Design: A drawing or a set of drawings showing how a building or product is to be made and how it will work and look.

UX UI: User Experience (UX) is determined by the easiness or uneasiness of the interaction with the user interface elements. The User Interface (UI) is the graphical layout of an application, any sort of visual element.

Copy: written communication used to attract customers to the company’s business, to persuade an audience to take an action or to raise their awareness of the brand.

Landing: a landing page is a standalone web page designed with a single focus or goal and created specifically for a marketing or advertising campaign. The potential customer “land” on this page when they click through from an email or ad.

Ads: paid messages with the mean of promoting or selling products and services. They’re one of the components of marketing and their primary goal is to inform and influence people’s buying behaviour.

Growth hacking: a combination of marketing, data and technology. It’s a process of rapid experimentation that uses elements like the marketing funnel, product development, sales, etc. to identify how a business can quickly grow.

Personas: a fictional character that sums up the primary characteristics of a group of users, identified and selected as a key target. It enables the company to design the best user experience for the customers at all touchpoints.

Beta: the version of a software that is undergoing testing and has not yet been officially released, because it likely contains a number of known or unknown bugs.