Why all the acronyms in Digital Design?

When I think about my worst nightmare, it would be speed dating. I’ve never done it before, but I bet that if I did, this is what would happen…

“Hi, I’m Aimee. I’m a writer, websites and blogs mostly, and I live on the North Shore of Auckland.”

“Hi Aimee, I’m Greg. I’m an interaction designer, mainly working on UIs, but I also do some UX and CX stuff too and…”

And then I just sit there taking it all in and wondering when will it end. “…I really enjoy doing MVT or A/B testing…”

Argghhh. Acronyms. Even having spent years in the digital industry, I still can’t get over how many there are, and I feel like it’s getting worse.

WHY SO MANY ACRONYMS IN DIGITAL DESIGN?

When it comes to digital, especially digital design and development, acronyms and jargon are everywhere. And they can be a tad confusing for people.

On the other hand, it’s obviously a positive sign of how the digital industry is adapting and growing. The rapid growth and advances across the technology industry, even just over the last five years, have helped create an extremely competitive industry and also changed the working environment. You just need to look at job titles to see the impact these technological advances have had on on digital design — with more and more specialised jobs (and their acronym buddies) out there. For example, not many people would have heard of a User Experience or used the term UX designer 10 years ago.

This advancement in the technology space is a worldwide trend. A survey done by Sageworks in 2017 showed that “Computer systems design (and related services)” was the fastest growing industry in the US.

The Kiwi market is similar, with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise stating that telecommunication, computer, and information services grew nearly 10 percent from 2015–2016 and technology remains New Zealand’s third largest and second fastest growing major export sector.

HOW CAN WE MAKE DIGITAL EASIER TO UNDERSTAND?

This growth in the digital industry is obviously a good thing, but on the flip side it’s bringing about these new job titles and digital terms that all seem to have acronyms. The use of acronyms can really confuse and frustrate people, but worst of all it can leave some (especially clients) out of the loop.

The team at HEROIC want all New Zealanders, especially those in the digital industry, to do their bit to bring everything back to basics and make it easier to understand digital and digital design.

Read on at the HEROIC blog