Plain English

In her book Content Design Sarah Winters addresses the argument against using plain language by saying “it’s not about dumbing down, it’s about opening up”.

Daniel M. Oppeinheimer tapped into this message when he wrote a paper titled Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly.* Yes, I still chuckle every time I read that.

The Readability Guidelines state that plain English “…is for everyone, even experts”. That can sometimes be a tough message for a content designer to push at a university, but then I just pull out this quote: “people with the highest literacy levels and greatest expertise tend to have to read the most. They do not have time for lengthy, complex content”. Nielsen Norman Group echo this message by saying “highly educated online readers crave succinct information that is easy to scan, just like everyone else.”

When I’m designing services and content I put the user at the forefront of my mind. What are they trying to do? How can I make it easy for them? What can I do to ease their cognitive overload? Steve Krug’s book Don’t make me think always pops up in my thoughts. Our users don’t want to spend hours reading through our websites. They want to get in, get what they need, and get on with what they were doing.

I take a lot of inspiration from GOV.UK (excellent job Sarah) and the Australian government’s Digital Service Standard when designing content. Both sites set the bench mark for good content and service design.

*Oppenheimer, Daniel M. (2006). Consequences of erudite vernacular utilized irrespective of necessity: problems with using long words needlessly. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20(2), 139–156. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1178