why reinvent the rollying?

i had thought that folks in my profession were like the down-to-earth advertising people. i mean, the stereotype of ad people (in my head, anyway) is that they’re always just making stuff up and holding focus groups and talking corporate speak. and designers are like, sure, but how can we actually MAKE THAT EXIST? (the answer: Photoshop.)

but i realized this week that designers are in on the corp-speak nonsense, too. the moment of revelation came when i was reading a document and it called part of the design process “concepting.” i was pretty sure that wasn’t a word, so i read the description of what the “concepting” portion of the process was about... and it’s about coming up with a concept, or theme, or, more basically, an idea for the work.

see, the problem is, concept isn’t a verb.

and you may say, but cate! google isn’t a verb either, yet you embrace googling! and i say to that, yes. because google is a) made up and b) the verb form refers specifically to using google for your interwebs searching pleasure.

the problem with “concepting” as a verb is that there are ALREADY WORDS THAT MEAN THAT. you don’t just get to make up words willy-nilly, as you please, because you don’t know the english language. if you’re not a fan of using the phrase “come up with a concept,” you can also “conceive” and “conceptualize.” those are both perfectly good verbs, with the same meaning as what you’re trying to say.

and as a jargon word that only people “in the biz” know, “concepting” also sucks. it’s too long and doesn’t roll off the tongue... conCEPTing? CONcepting? how do you say that?

i’d go on about more trauma to english that i’ve witnessed lately, but i have to go back to layouting a brochure.