Buzzwords

Working in an in-house creative department—as well as a freelance designer—offers the opportunity to be exposed to a lot of industry jargon. Some jargon is necessary, because it describes common situations and processes that are readily understood within that industry. Jargon, therefore, acts as a shorthand for either complex systems or industry-specific understandings. In some cases even acronyms fall into that category. But some jargon is meant to obscure communication.

What I mean is that the goal of communication is to be understood. It is not to impress, or simply to edify oneself. It is to convey meaningful information from one party to another. Following, information that is meaningful includes non-verbal, emotional, or even factual which affects the listening party.

But in our modern era we've adopted a type of jargon that spans industries, and has little meaning, because it has lost its meaning. We call them buzzwords. There is a great list of these buzzwords on the Creative Group's website. I love the quote from their article:

"Willmer noted that the strongest communicators keep the message simple. 'Direct, concrete statements typically are the most powerful and persuasive. When professionals find their communications laden with buzzwords, they should consider how they might convey their thoughts more clearly.'"

Good communication is simple. Good communication gets to the point. Good communication actually communicates to the intended audience. Sounds familiar doesn't it. That's what good design is suppose to do.