← DictionaryMicrointeraction
A small designed response that confirms an action or state change.
Tiny feedback that tells you something happened.
What It Is
In the BWH map, Microinteraction lives under Website — Interaction. In practice it means this: a small designed response that confirms an action or state change.
It is a label with a settled working definition, so the value is in using it the same way every time. Keep it that plain and it will still be true in twelve months.
How It's Used
You will usually meet Microinteraction in site builds, page structure and the technical decisions underneath them. It is usually discussed together with Hover State, Animation and User Interface. The practical test is whether everyone in the room means the same thing by it.
Why It Matters
Microinteraction is cheap to get right early and awkward to fix late. When it is unclear, the site still launches — it just quietly underperforms. It is worth pinning down before anyone builds on top of it.
Think of it as a name on a box. Open the box and this is what is inside: Tiny feedback that tells you something happened.
Termshift™
How the meaning shifts depending on who is using it, and where.
Practitioners use Microinteraction as shorthand and expect no explanation — a small designed response that confirms an action or state change.
Outside the industry, most people would just say: tiny feedback that tells you something happened.
The Bottom Line
Keep Microinteraction plain: tiny feedback that tells you something happened. That is the version that holds up in a real project.