I never thought that a word could hold so much or so little value for me. I am not one to be squeamish or easily offended by words. But there is one four-letter word that I have grown to despise. The mere thought of it makes me sick, and to hear it… Well… Just a warning, don’t ever utter it in my presence.
The word is…
Yes, that’s right. I am sick and tired of the word sexy.
“Why?” You may ask: “What’s so harmful about that word?”
And I answer, its not what you would think.
A lot of people use this word as a descriptor to tell me what they want in a design. This word does not help in the brainstorming process, as it is very vague and subjective (it can mean different things to different people in different situations). I know that sex, in and of itself, sells. But in some places it is just plain creepy and inappropriate. The most abusive use of the word was from one client who used it to describe every project that I was to do for them, whether it be designing for construction, lawn services, house cleaning, a children’s playroom (sexy = pedophiles?), etc. The base descriptor was always the same: “Sexy”. They used the word so much, in fact, that the word began to mean nothing to me.
The biggest problem was that they did not take into consideration the individual project and what the client or even the users may want, or need. The only feedback I would get before starting a project was something along the lines of “We need a site for a ____ and they want it to be sexy.” They would assure me that their client said they wanted it to be sexy but I knew that they had put the word in their mouth first (I highly doubt that the first descriptive word to jump into the head of a mature gentleman describing his construction company’s future website would have been “sexy” without some sort of suggestion). This would end up in most of the projects being designed to appease my client (who thought they knew best and was merely a middleman), and their clients would get frustrated at what looked like a “template site” (because my client also wanted every site to look exactly the same), was nowhere near satisfying their needs, and they would leave unsatisfied.
Another problem with the overuse of the word sexy, is that the meaning of the general term “sexy” changes. What was considered “sexy” in the realm of the web years ago is not “in” anymore. Heavy use of Flash movement and intros used to be considered “sexy” and now are thought of (in most cases) as an outdated hindrance to your site’s performance and content delivery. ”Sexy” designs are now considered to be designs where the content takes center stage and users are the main concern. It was thought a few years back that you had to put on a show to captivate your web site visitors. Now people are so accustomed to using the web the only thing they want is the information they came for, and usually, if you give them something outside of their expectations or slow them down they will leave before they get that information and go to one of your competitor’s sites that provides that information without impeding upon their time.
I could go on and on about my distaste for the word, and similar words, but I will stop here. I think you get the idea, anyway.
What I can give you is this: Try to avoid using subjective words when describing what you want to achieve. Either use much more descriptive and objective words, or, at the very least, provide additional words, and better yet – examples, to supplement the subjective words. Also, be open to alternative suggestions your designer will make. Although you may know your product better, your designer will know how to design for your target audience. And although that design may not appeal to you, you are not trying to sell to yourself (unless you are, and then, well, that’s kind of a silly business strategy – but hopefully you are successful). If you remain open and communicative, it will make it much easier for yourself, and the people you are working with, to achieve your goals.
Written by Sarah Camp
Sarah's passion for design built Camp Creative Group. Educated in design, she has applied and evolved her knowledge for 10+ years. You can chat with her on twitter or view more posts that she has written.
