Product UX term
Error taxonomy: meaning, examples, and AI prompt use.
Groups failures so the product can respond with the right message and recovery path.
What it means
Plain meaning
error types: Groups failures so the product can respond with the right message and recovery path.
Aliases
error types, failure categories
People say / experts say
People usually say
- failure handling
- error messages
- what went wrong
- recovery
Experts usually say
Error taxonomy, Recovery path, Error boundary, Observability
When to use it
Use it when
Your rough ask sounds like: failure handling, error messages, what went wrong. The term gives your design critique a clearer problem shape.
When not to use it
Do not use this term as generic UX polish. Use it when the product decision, user behavior, or interface risk needs to be named clearly.
Copy-ready handoff phrase
Before and after
Weak ask
Improve this failure handling.
Exact Terms ask
Create an error taxonomy with user-fixable, system-retryable, and support-required failures.
Prompt templates by use case
UX critique
Review this product experience using Error taxonomy and related UX concepts: Recovery path, Error boundary, Observability. Name the user confusion and the fix.
Redesign brief
Create a redesign brief centered on Error taxonomy; include the current user expectation, the friction, and the smallest interface change.
AI feedback prompt
Act as a product designer and critique this screen for Error taxonomy, then rank the most important improvements.
Common mistake
What goes wrong
Asking for a prettier UI before naming the user confusion or product mechanic.
Better move
Use Error taxonomy with the related vocabulary trail: Recovery path, Error boundary, Observability.