On Tuesdays, we watch talks or interviews with artists and designers and discuss how to present our work clearly and with confidence. This week we’ll hear about the future of intrinsic web design from Peter Anglea.
As you watch this interview, consider these questions: Does the designer speak clearly and with confidence? Does he use gestures and intonation to emphasize his points? Does he smile and look at the camera? Does he use professional vocabulary?
What does Anglea do well? The first thing I noticed about this interview was that the speaker seems very relaxed. His posture is casual, and he looks right at the camera – like he is just sitting and chatting with a friend. He smiles and gestures very naturally, and uses vocal variety for emphasis. His speed and volume are good, he is easy to understand, and he avoids filler words. Overall, this is a very successful interview.
What could he improve? I don’t really think this designer needs to do anything to improve. However, I want to mention that this is a very casual interview, as I said earlier, and so it’s ok that his posture is relaxed and he speaks to the camera in an informal way. Sometimes you want to speak more formally, like if you’re doing a presentation for work or a gallery talk, or if you’re making a video that needs to be more professional. It’s important to choose the right style for the situation, and in this situation, I think the speaker makes the perfect choice. The ending is a little abrupt, but again, for an informal interview, this is not a huge problem.
What professional vocabulary does he use? He begins by introducing the conference he’s at, called An Event Apart in Seattle, USA. He talks about how responsive web design, or RWD, has been a buzzword since it was introduced eight years ago at this same conference. It means websites that are designed to respond to the device they are viewed on. For example, this website will look different on a laptop than it will on a phone. Next, he says that the next big thing in web design will be intrinsic design. This is a new concept in web design. He says that since CSS can do so much more than it could a few years ago, we need new terminology to discuss what is possible. This new style of design provides different ways of flowing content or doing layout. He expects that in the next few years, the conversation will shift from responsive to intrinsic design.
Knowing the correct vocabulary or jargon used by your industry can help you to talk about your work more effectively. It is also important to understand the language register, which means the different ways of speaking or writing for different audiences. A language coach can help you to learn these words and phrases to speak both in formal, professional settings, or a more casual one like today’s video interview.
At Artglish, we help artists and designers to speak confidently about their work. We coach you to speak professionally using the best vocabulary and correct pronunciation. If you’d like to learn more about what we offer, click here to get exclusive content, or check out our Courses page.
I’ve chosen 5 words or phrases for you to focus on today. They are in bold. If you don’t know them, look up the meaning, synonyms, antonyms, and other forms of these words. You can find links to Merriam-Webster dictionary sites at the bottom of this page.
To see the original video, posted by Helix Education on April 4, 2018, click the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtV5TyuZhr8