termart

Termart is a field and practice that focuses on the visual representation of terminology and lexicon. It combines typography, graphic design, information design, and lexicography to present words and concepts in ways that enhance clarity, recall, and cross-linguistic understanding. The term can refer to both a method of designing term-based visuals and to the broader discipline that studies how terms communicate meaning through form.

Practitioners employ techniques such as typographic posters, visual glossaries, diagrammatic term maps, and interactive terminology interfaces. Visual treatment—type choice, color, layout, and iconography—is used deliberately to encode relationships among terms, differentiate levels of specificity, and support multilingual or specialized vocabularies. Termart projects may be standalone artworks, educational resources, or parts of information-design and user-experience work.

Applications span education, publishing, brand naming, and user interfaces, where clear terminology improves navigation and learning. In education, termart aids vocabulary acquisition and semantic grounding. In digital products, it supports glossary features, help systems, and data dictionaries, especially in technical or multilingual contexts.

The concept emerged from intersecting streams of information design, typography, and visual dictionaries, gaining attention with the rise of digital glossaries and data-driven design. While termart is not uniformly defined across institutions, it is widely described as a practice that foregrounds the appearance and architecture of terms to strengthen communication.

See also: typography, information design, visual dictionary, lexicography.