The Art of Communication: 4 Steps to Improving Your Language as a Designer

Do you ever feel like you are not reaching your full potential as a designer due to your current level of English?

Are you frustrated that you are unable to articulate your design solutions?

Does your mind go blank, searching for the right thing to say to support what you want to convey?  

To make it even more challenging, not everyone you speak to shares the same experience in design. This poses an even greater challenge when you are having to communicate, especially when it is in another language. 

As a designer, pitching is an important aspect of your job. You know the importance of being careful of your word choices. Users are the core of what you do and being able to explain the user experience is important.

In fact, great communication is so important that being a good communicator may be all it takes to set you apart from other designers. 

You may have been studying English for years, or even live in an English speaking country, but you feel frustrated when you cannot express what you are thinking or find the right vocabulary to articulate your design ideas. When you meet clients or speak with stakeholders, you feel embarrassed and lose confidence because you are not able to explain your product, even though you have the technical background. 

You might think it is because:

- You haven’t spent enough time reading books or watching videos

- You haven’t found the right resources to help you improve your English

- You haven’t got any opportunities to practice with native speakers 

But actually, it is NONE of these things.

The truth is that you haven’t been learning English in a systematic way to get what you need to improve your job performance and secure future career opportunities. 

You can read all the books you want, and watch a hundred more videos on YouTube, but unless you have a systematic approach to achieve your goal you’re really wasting your time.

Let me use an analogy to help you understand. 

When you create a user-centred design, a product that provides meaningful and relevant experiences to users, you wouldn’t just focus on creating a usable product. There is an entire process of acquiring, owning, and even troubleshooting it. You need to follow a systematic approach. This approach may not always be the exact same for everyone but there are steps in place that you take. 

As a designer, first, you may start by identifying the user’s motivation for the product, the tasks they wish to perform, and the current knowledge and use of the product. This is the 'why'. 

Second, you consider what. The what addresses the things people can do with the product - it’s functionality. 

Third, 'how'. This relates to the design of functionality in an accessible and aesthetically pleasing way. 

Finally, you can create and enhance products that users can form meaningful experiences with which allows you to build a deep understanding of your product and users.

In order to improve your English so you can improve your job performance and secure future career opportunities, you need to follow these steps:

1. Master the language you actually need. 

There is no point learning how to order a taxi, or a meal at the restaurant if you are unable to give a presentation, use the correct language to negotiate or articulate your work flow. 

Learn the specific business idioms, structures, expressions, and phrases that you need to help you express yourself better. What language do you need to negotiate a raise? What structure should you use when giving a presentation? 

When you go into a negotiation meeting with your clients or your boss, you need the right words to make your points clear. There is no point knowing in your head what you want to say if you can’t express those thoughts clearly in English. 

Decide what you often need to do when you are in meetings or negotiating with stakeholders. Do you need to negotiate agreements, diplomatically disagree with people, and then make strong recommendations? 

When you know what kind of words and phrases business people use to express these ideas, you can find out how to say them effectively in English and learn them.

2. Improve your communication clarity - the how. 

Work on your pronunciation, word stress, intonation, and sentence rhythm. It’s not just what you say, but how you say it!  

Why? Because it is possible to change the meaning of a sentence by changing the stress or intonation. Get it wrong, and you might offend someone! Speaking quickly doesn’t make you fluent, knowing when to pause can make your speech even more powerful. Your rate of delivery and how you deliver yourself shows a lot about yourself as a communicator. You want your colleagues and clients to understand you clearly, and you need confidence while attending meetings that you are saying what you mean. 

Also, now that you know the words and phrases you need to make your point and get your ideas across, you need to activate and implement that language so that your speaking is more spontaneous and fluent.

3. Improve your email writing skills to make a great impression.

Spoken English is very different from written English. An email to your boss or a senior partner will be very different from one to your colleague or friend. And the format of your emails needs to change as you build familiarity with the recipient. You need to practice the various formalities so you feel comfortable that your emails are giving the right impression. 

4. Enhance your language so you can become a powerful communicator. Build a deep understanding of others. 

Communication is a two-way process. After you've said what you have to say, stop, listen, and look for feedback and clues of comprehension. You need to be able to read the room, understand cultural differences, and use a range of communication tools to be a great leader. 

I help my clients following this approach. 

Before working with me, clients feel frustrated and lack confidence in their English communication skills. Many have missed out on opportunities to grow because they are too nervous to speak or start working in an English-speaking environment. They are unable to articulate themselves at the level they wish to which has meant they couldn’t make important contributions to conversations and be involved in decision-making. They have not been able to get high paying clients, convince others about their design decisions, or ask for a pay raise successfully. 

Now they are more confident and involved in the discussions. They no longer worry about making mistakes and are able to implement the specific knowledge that they have learned.

Just imagine being able to apply the same skills you use to solve design problems to the way you communicate.

Let me help you too.

Send me a message so we can achieve your goals together!