I was recently involved in the development of the new Versitas site and found I had to learn a whole new language to be able to communicate with our design team.
My first exposure to design-speak was when one of the designers told me his company could “play in the sandbox”. I had always heard that designers were a unique bunch, but the image of grown men playing in a sandbox did not inspire confidence. What he was referring to (of course!) is a protected environment where they could test the new site without risking damage to the existing one.
In another conversation, one of the designers said he wanted to be sure they “don’t walk off the end of the pier”. While that sounded like good common sense under any circumstances I wasn’t sure how it related to our website. I later pieced together that the phrase is the modern equivalent of “we don’t want to get in over our heads.”
My favorite idiom is “grab the low hanging fruit” which is business-speak for selecting the easiest targets which require the least amount of effort. Editor’s Note: Use caution when using this expression in social settings since it could have a very different meaning!
Thanks to our design team I’ve learned a whole new language. Now please excuse me while I climb out of the sandbox and jump off the pier while grabbing some low hanging fruit! Who did we use to design our new site you ask? Check them out at www.zurb.com.
