Setting the terms: how words shape our experiences

Naming is powerful. Clear terminology helps users build strong mental models, navigate spaces without frustration, easily figure out what a thing is for, and understand who matters in its ecosystem. It’s vital for supporting translation, localization, and accessibility.

But how do we decide what to name things—and who should wield that power? That's what this meetup will explore.

Some words are useful skeuomorphs, like “inbox” and “shopping cart.” Others are silly, like rebranding human workers as "talent." And some are harmful—the stuff that led so many of us to create anti-racist style guides and lists of words to avoid.

This session is about the words that are load-bearing. We’ll talk about how we choose the words we use for things, and why it matters.

Talks and speakers (more to be announced soon!

Elizabeth McGuane, Author, Design by Definition

Upma Singh, Lead User Experience Designer, government services & enterprise software
Discover your words through noun foraging

Dr Lisa Matthews, Senior UX designer, Nexer Digital
The poetics of content design

Dr Cate Frieman, Associate Professor in Archaeology, Australian National University
Who doesn't innovate?

image description:
black text on a white background, and text is the title of the event, and name of the meetup