Plain language writing
It's true that words can paint pictures and stir emotions, but sometimes they just have to do a job to do: to be understood as easily as possible.
Plain language talks to people in terms they understand so it's seen as trustworthy (a value every brand aspires to). It also means it gets things done the right way, first time, which saves lots of time and money telling people the same thing again.
Plain language projects // Blog posts // Top
Projects
NHS Summary Care Records
Having, as requested, ‘taken time to read this leaflet’ (all 12 pages of it) about NHS Summary Care Records, I realised most of it was unnecessary
Have a look at how I got on making it into manageable amount of information.
See the full NHS Summary Care Records page
Projects
bmi baby baggage allowance text
A little while ago I picked up on a tweet from Mark Boulton about the confusing information about baggage allowance that he experienced on the bmibaby website. Having taken a look at the site in question it was easy to see why.
Having already had a go at Virgin Atlantic’s baggage information I thought I’d have a go at this too. Here’s how I got on
See the full bmi baby baggage allowance text page
Projects
NHS appointment letter
Project to rewrite and redesign an appointment letter sent out by the local NHS trust.
See the full NHS appointment letter page
Blog posts about plain language // Projects // Top
Blog
A long post in three lines
I’ve long wanted to write a long blog post about how interference from legal departments causes information to become less understandable. In an angry moment, I realised I could sum up my feelings about it in three lines, so here they are.
See the full A long post in three lines page
Blog
UK Census website 15 minute challenge
No, I haven’t challenged myself to fill in the entire Census form online in 15 minutes. When I have to do that I’m treating myself to a Chinese take-away to lessen the pain of the chunk of my life I’ve lost to bureaucracy.
Instead I took 15 minutes to make some sense of, and simplify, this page from the Census website
See the full UK Census website 15 minute challenge page
Blog
Why should lawyers get special treatment?
First of all, I want to say this isn’t a personal attack on the author of the website www.typographyforlawyers.com, I’m all for anything that improves the design of documents, even if they never see the outside of a courtroom. The reason for this post is more a sense of frustration at the missing of a bigger picture.
The rules of typography for lawyers should be the same as they are for the rest of us. It may be easy to blame a bit of bad typography for poor communication, but in the case of the legal profession, I think a big step backwards needs to be taken.
See the full Why should lawyers get special treatment? page