Drop the Design Jargon
We’ve all been there. You have to present your designs to your stakeholders. Your designer brain wants to talk about the beautiful new component library or the fascinating user research session you had yesterday. But here’s the thing: that’s not what they’re asking. They don't want the "how"; they want the "so what."
ROI over Pixels
Stakeholders care about three things: Risk, Revenue, and Reputation. If you want to build influence quickly, you have to stop talking like a designer and start talking like a business partner.
When you get asked for an update, don’t dive into the Figma files. When discussing your design think about:
The Progress (The What): "We’ve just finished the first round of testing on the checkout flow."
The Impact (The Why): "We found a friction point that was potentially costing us 15% in drop-offs."
The Confidence (The Next): "We’ve already iterated on the solution and we’re on track to ship by Friday."
Next time you're heading into a "check-in," leave the design jargon at the door.
Don't say: "We’ve updated the typography and the primary CTA colors."
Do say: "We’ve improved the visual hierarchy to make sure the user doesn't miss the 'Buy' button."
The Bottom Line: Your job as a designer is to translate design effort into business value. When you show that you understand their priorities, they’ll start trusting you with yours.
Nessa’s Pro-Tip
Keep a "Business Wins" sticky note on your desktop. Every time your team does something, jot down the business impact. It makes these 2-minute updates effortless because the data is already in your head.
Image created using Gemini
