Instead I took 15 minutes to make some sense of, and simplify, this page from the Census website

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.

A comment I often make, is that 'I get paid to delete stuff'. It's meant to be self-deprecating but it's largely true.

And what's the first thing I look for when I've got my hatcheting head on? Duplicated information.

As a first step to making information simpler, deleting duplicated information is a great place to start, particularly because it doesn't require any great analysis. It's a very simple process.

I was recently asked to contribute to the design chapter of Plain Language in Plain English by Cheryl Stephens. Presumably what I had to say was fairly convincing, because no sooner had I finished the writing than I was asked to design the book as well.

Project to rewrite and redesign an appointment letter sent out by the local NHS trust.