Updated June 14, 2026
I’ve been working in the design industry for a long time — most of it directly with clients, small business owners who have no idea what a “brand ecosystem” is and frankly shouldn’t have to. Because I’ve spent more time in client relationships than in agency hallways, I sometimes lose track of the latest industry terminology. I pick it up mostly from online reading — thought leaders, bloggers, LinkedIn posts from people who seem very impressed with themselves.
And honestly? A lot of it makes me tired.
The jargon industrial complex
I understand where it comes from. Agencies are competitive. Coining your own terminology can position you as a thought leader — especially if the term catches on. And some of it is genuinely useful shorthand among professionals who share a common vocabulary. I get it.
But it has gotten out of hand. Here’s a partial translation guide for the uninitiated:
- Ideation — brainstorming
- Deliverables — the stuff you’re going to make
- Brand ecosystem — all your marketing materials, working together
- Omnichannel — being consistent across platforms
- Whitespace strategy — leaving room to breathe on the page
- Storytelling (used as a verb, as in “we need to be storytelling”) — communicating
- Learnings — things we learned
- Synergy — still unclear, decades later
- Pain points — problems
- Circle back — follow up
- Move the needle — make progress
- Silos — departments or teams that don’t talk to each other. Often used as in “we need to break down the silos,” which means “we need our people to communicate better,” which is something you could just say.
- Verticals — industries or market segments. As in “we serve multiple verticals,” which means “we work with different kinds of businesses,” which again — just say that.
- Client journey — the experience a customer has with your business, from first contact to last
- Landing page — a page on your website designed to convert visitors into leads or customers. Often used interchangeably with “home page” by people who mean something quite different. Your home page is your front door. A landing page is a specific room you’ve built to get someone to do one specific thing. They are not the same.
None of these terms communicates more clearly than their plain English equivalent. Most of them communicate less clearly. And yet they proliferate, because using them signals membership in a professional tribe.
The client problem
Here’s the thing: clients don’t speak this language. So when you’re actually sitting across from a small business owner explaining what you’re going to do for them, you have to translate everything back into plain speech anyway. Which raises the question — what is the jargon actually for?
In my experience, it’s mostly for impressing other designers. On LinkedIn. At conferences. In agency pitches where everyone in the room already knows the vocabulary and fluency signals credibility.
With clients, plain speech wins every time. Not because clients aren’t smart — they’re often very smart — but because clarity is a form of respect. When you explain what you do in language your client actually understands, you’re telling them that the goal is communication, not performance.
Plain language is also an accessibility principle
This is worth noting: writing and speaking in plain language isn’t just good client practice. It’s an accessibility principle. People with cognitive disabilities, people reading in a second language, people who are simply busy and skimming — all of them benefit from clear, direct communication. The same instinct that makes you question jargon in client meetings should make you question it in your website copy, your proposals, and your blog posts too.
Including this one.
The McSweeney’s test
If you want a good laugh and a reality check, this McSweeney’s piece perfectly captures what happens when jargon runs completely off the rails. If your own agency bio reads anything like it — it might be time to circle back on that.
