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Whether at home or at work, we’re all constantly completing tasks. Often we do things without thinking; undertakings can be repetitive, so we go on autopilot. Only occasionally do we stop and ask, What could we improve upon next time? What could be done more efficiently, and how could we make the outcome better?

When you hear the term product design, what comes to mind? You’re likely imagining the evolution of a physical object like Edison’s light bulb or the first iPhone. If your own work is design related, you may also think of the most basic definition of product design: the creation of an item, from its appearance as an idea in someone’s head through to its development as a tangible entity. 

In our previous two posts about shared language, Senior Learning Experience Designer Lexie Bryan discussed the topics of vocabulary inflation, common industry terminology, and client branding, among others. Each of these concepts is key to working together to create engaging learning experiences and give  learners a clear, cohesive path to the knowledge we want to teach. 

As we addressed in our first post in this series, the language people use within a field changes and evolves over time. While this is completely normal, it can make it easy for people to misunderstand each other, even when they think they’re talking about the same thing. So it’s crucial for us at Extension Engine to clarify what we’re discussing when we talk to each other and to our clients so that we can create a successful learning experience for them and their learners. 

At some point, you’ve probably had a conversation with someone during which you misunderstood each other. It’s an inevitable part of being human. Even when we’re speaking the same language, it’s possible to get confused about the meanings of and subtexts behind words.