We’ve all been there. You’re in a meeting. Someone says “leverage synergies” or “optimise the user journey across multiple touch points” and for a moment, everyone nods, but no one really knows what was just said.

Jargon creeps in quietly. It starts as shorthand, intended to be helpful and efficient. Then, before you know it, you’re talking about “user onboarding ecosystems” and wondering if anyone’s actually spoken to a real person lately.

As a studio, we predominantly work in UX, UI, strategy and brand. And yes, sometimes those areas come with their own vocabulary, but we try (hard) not to hide behind it. Because the moment language gets too abstract, we risk designing for a concept, not a human.

The word “user” is a perfect example. Technically accurate, but a bit cold. It’s easy to forget that behind every ‘user flow’ or ‘persona’ is an actual person. Someone trying to get something done, not appear as a value in a flowchart. The more we reduce people to data points, the more disconnected our work becomes from the people it’s meant to serve.

The best interfaces don’t just look good, they feel obvious. The best products don’t need tutorials and the best brand experiences communicate like real people.

It’s why, when we’re building something, from interface systems in cars to an identity refresh for lifestyle brands, we’re thinking less about "adoption rates" and more about "is this helpful?", "is this clear?" or "does this feel right for someone who’s coming at this for the first time?"

And we’re not saying language doesn’t matter. It absolutely does. But it should help people understand, not make us sound clever. As a rule of thumb, if you wouldn’t say it out loud to a friend, it probably doesn’t belong on a homepage.

There’s a quiet confidence in being clear. It shows you understand the thing well enough to explain it simply, and in our experience, simplicity is often the difference between something being used and something being ignored.

So this is our gentle nudge to anyone writing UX copy, brand messaging or slide decks this week:

Say what you mean. Cut the jargon. Design for people, not just ‘users’.

Because when we stop talking in circles, we start designing things people actually want to use.