Really enjoyed this article. And in a somewhat meta-sense, I think it’s interesting you call language a “small thing”. Given the context of the piece, I assume by “small” you mean “easy to overlook or take for granted”? In general, I don’t think of language as being small at all.
Either way, I 100% agree on its importance. It’s very easy for us to fall into language patterns out of habit or convenience (or to look smart).
There’s definitely an obscuring-spectrum here. I would say there’s a big difference between saying “The CTR is low due to prominence” vs. “Our design should be consistent”.
If any member of a team, Design/Dev/PM, argues that consistency isn’t compelling, I would be worried. :)
But again, the big takeaway for me is to be mindful of, and question the language you use. It’s very easy to fall into a trap where you assume a level of understanding and end up sacrificing clarity to gain efficiency.
