UX Isn’t Just Design — It’s Communication

 It’s your first week as a junior UX designer on a small, tight-knit product team — one lead designer, one mid-level designer, and two developers. You’re excited to finally put your skills into practice and contribute to real work.

Your first project focuses on improving a section of the company website that’s been struggling with performance. After your first stakeholder meeting, you receive a detailed summary document packed with business metrics: conversion rates, drop-off points, and profitability trends.

You scroll through it, trying to make sense of everything. The language is full of business jargon — meaningful, but disconnected from the world of users.

Unpacking the Jargon

You take the document to the mid-level designer, who’s experienced with the product and can help translate the metrics into actionable insights. Together, you review the spreadsheet. They explain:

“When stakeholders talk about conversion rates, they mean how many users complete key actions — like signing up or completing a purchase. If those numbers are dropping, our job is to figure out why users might be hesitating.”

Then you translate the data into a single, clear problem statement:

“Users are dropping off during checkout, which prevents them from completing their purchase.”

Communication Tip: When dealing with data-heavy documents, start by translating numbers into plain language that connects to the user experience. This builds a shared understanding for your next steps.

Checking In with the Lead Designer

Before moving into research, you review your notes with the lead designer. They scan your problem statement and nod.

“Good start. The next step is understanding why users are dropping off — the story behind the numbers. Focus your research on the friction points and decision-making moments.”

With approval, you feel confident and ready to move forward.

Communication Tip: Get early alignment with leadership to confirm your direction. This ensures your efforts will be focused on insights that matter to the business and the user.

Designing the Research

You team up again with the mid-level designer to prepare a usability testing plan.

You know simple yes/no questions won’t uncover the reasons behind user behavior. Together, you reframe tasks and questions to guide conversation toward insight while keeping users comfortable.

Instead of asking:

“Do you like the checkout page?”

You ask more thoughtful, nuanced questions, like:

• “What’s going through your mind as you move through these steps?” – to reveal decision-making and friction points.

• “Was there any point in this process that slowed you down or made you uncertain?” – to identify friction.

• “If you could change anything about this step, what would it be?” – to surface user ideas for improvement.

• “How do you decide when you’re ready to proceed to the next step?” – to understand confidence and trust in the flow.

During testing, you notice subtle but telling behaviors: a pause at a form field, a frown at a confusing label, hesitation at the final step. One participant even closes the tab briefly before returning. Each of these moments adds color to the story that the metrics alone couldn’t tell.

Communication Tip: Use open-ended, targeted questions to understand why users behave the way they do. Observing body language and hesitation can be just as informative as what they say.

Sharing the Findings

When it’s time for the team debrief, you present your observations:

• Layout feels cluttered.

• Labels are confusing.

• Button styles are inconsistent.

The mid-level designer helps you link these insights to design principles, like hierarchy and clarity, while the lead designer ensures that solutions align with business goals.

Together, you define a plan to simplify the checkout experience, clarify labels, and improve consistency across steps.

Communication Tip: Frame insights in ways that connect both to design principles and business goals. This keeps discussions productive and actionable.

Working with Developers

With prototypes ready, it’s time to collaborate with the developers. You know that vague notes won’t survive translation into code, so you focus on precision.

You walk through the design step by step:

• Form Fields: “We need 16px padding inside each input for readability and touch comfort. The tab order should flow naturally from top to bottom.”

• Error Messages: “Error text should be 14px, red (#D32F2F), and appear in real time as users type — for example, if an email format is invalid, show the message immediately.”

• Button Behavior: “The ‘Confirm Purchase’ button should be 48px tall, with 16px padding, and remain visible on screen without scrolling, even on mobile devices.”

• Edge Cases: “If a user enters an invalid credit card number, the field border should turn red (#D32F2F) with a 2px thickness, and an error message should appear directly beneath the field.”

• Responsiveness: “On mobile, form fields should span 100% of the viewport width with 16px side margins, and buttons should remain 48px tall for tapability.”

• Accessibility Considerations: “Labels should remain linked to form fields, color contrast should meet WCAG 4.5:1, and error messages should be announced by screen readers.”

• “Should the error disappear after correction?”

• “What about autofill behavior?”

Developers ask clarifying questions:

Each question becomes an opportunity to refine both the design and your communication. You also explain why these details matter for users:

“Keeping the confirm button visible prevents frustration and helps users feel confident they won’t lose progress if they scroll.”

By the end of the session, everyone has a shared understanding: the designs are implementable, accessible, and aligned with the user goals identified in research.

Communication Tip: When working with developers, combine precise specifications with reasoning. Explaining why a detail matters helps developers understand its impact on the user experience.

Presenting to Stakeholders

Weeks later, the updated checkout flow is complete, and it’s time to present the results.

You know stakeholders care about measurable impact, so you translate your findings from user behavior into business language:

Instead of saying,

“Users didn’t like the checkout page.”

You say:

“Simplifying the checkout form reduced user confusion, and clearer real-time error messages increased successful task completion. We expect these changes to reduce drop-off by at least 15%, directly improving conversion rates.”

The stakeholders nod in understanding. Your words connect because you’ve learned to bridge user experience and business outcomes.

Communication Tip: Translate UX findings into business terms for stakeholders. Focus on measurable outcomes, impact, and improvements — not just aesthetic changes.

The Real Lesson

As you leave the meeting, it hits you: you didn’t just redesign a flow — you acted as a translator across every layer of the project.

You translated:

• Business metrics into design problems.

• User observations into actionable improvements.

• Design intent into clear instructions for developers.

• User impact on business outcomes for stakeholders.

You’ve realized that communication is as critical as design skill. Listening, adapting, and framing your insights for different audiences is what makes UX effective.

Communication Tip: Great UX isn’t just visual design — it’s about bridging gaps between people. Mastering communication is as important as mastering design tools.

Want a practical starter for bridging UX and business language? 

Download our UX Gaps Translation Sample — a concise set of 5 examples of stakeholder terms translated to UX actions and 5 examples of UX terms translated for stakeholders. It’s a quick reference to help you communicate more clearly, align with stakeholders, and make your UX work more impactful.

Get the Sample here: https://tinyurl.com/3rne2z7v

Helping UX Designers bridge gaps and grow