I find it odd that companies still call people who give them money in exchange for goods or services “users.” Likewise, that a discipline that extols the virtues of empathy in design still calls what it does “user experience design” and “user interface design” This is distancing language. A form of othering that, while not intentional, works against empathy no matter where it is used. At a bare minimum, I would start by calling them "customers" or maybe refer to them by how they interact with your product or service (e.g. readers) or their profession (e.g brokers). And I would do so internally and externally. #language #customerexperience #userexperience #userresearch #userrequirements #usercentereddesign #userfriendly #userstories #userexperiencedesign #userinterfacedesign #userinteraction #usergeneratedcontent #usergroups (I was trying to add in all the hashtags LinkedIn suggested that had "user" in them but there are just too many) …see more