I was approached the other day with a request to create a graphic to help explain terminology from an IT firm. They were having an issue where their clients weren't understanding the questions being asked, particularly around what sort of networking was already in place.
The idea
Create a perspective illustration of the client's office which would include the all the elements on the glossary of terms and label them to help the client understand the terminology.
The real question
Immediately I stopped this person and asked him if he had asked the
client what they would call each item. Judging from the vacant stare I
could tell he was thinking I had no clue what I was talking about and he
said their terminology varied across the clients.
The problem
The problem that he didn't see was that no diagram, graphic, cartoon or anything he could provide would change the terminology being used by the client. A graphic with bad labels won't help them understand any better than you explaining it to them.
The Solution
Ignoring his protest that each client uses different terms, I suggested that he talk to at least 5 different clients and find out the most common terms being used in their industry and adjust the terminology of his document to match.
The outcome
Unfortunately the outcome was that he decided to create the graphic on his own, I only hope those poor souls in the client's office will be kind when he presents them with a graphic that makes absolutely no sense to them.
