Metaphorical transfer
Graphic interfaces - Cognitive foundations

The development of mass-market applications calls for the design of "intuitive" interfaces, as it is neither possible nor desirable to have to train users. To achieve this, the dialogue relies on a mechanism known as metaphorical transfer to suggest instructions to users, based on analogies with known things.

The word metaphor comes from the Latin metaphora, meaning transposition. In linguistics, a metaphor is defined as the process of transferring meaning by analogical substitution.