Being geeks I think we sometimes get caught in the trap of thinking that because we know what a web browser is others do as well and this recent video seems to advocate our thoughts on this.

Even after watching it I myself thought “Oh boy do I hear that a lot”. But then I put some more thought into it and maybe we’re being a bit too critical in what the public knows, what they should know and what they really don’t need to know.

Let’s look at the every day mechanic and what he or she might go through. If you take your car in and say “Well it makes this hunkedy chunkety flippity flop noise when I put it in drive” the mechanic is forced to guess at what the problem might be.

And if you ask just about any person who drives if they have an oil filter, they’re answer is probably ‘yes’. But could they point it out to you? Do they know if it’s on top of the engine? Below? Is it long? Fat? Tall? Skinny?

I think we as designers are better off to try and educate our clients and help them understand some of the technical jargon so that as we progress through their project, everything can run a bit more smoothly.