When communicating about a policy, a service or a product in writing, we can get bogged down in the complexities and the details. This is particularly true when you’re highly invested in it. Perhaps you helped devise the policy over many iterations and know it inside and out. Perhaps you wrote the comms strategy and worked hard to mimic your client’s way of thinking. Or maybe you have been working for your organisation for years and the way you write for the business is just the way it has always been done.
Reader first
The challenge with writing about something you’re close to is that you may not be able to step into your reader’s shoes. All written communication asks your reader to do something: to feel, to act, to change, to learn, to understand. But if they can’t find the information or understand it, the message is lost and so is the desired action.
Putting the reader first is a key principle of AS ISO 24495.21:2024 Plain language, Part 1: Governing principles and guidelines. The ISO calls on communicators to use plain language to ensure ‘readers can find what they need, understand it and use it’.
Sounds simple enough. Yet we can get distracted by what the business or client wants rather than checking in on audience needs. It’s our job as communicators to always put the reader first. We can do this by following the 4 governing principles of plain language.
Relevance
The first principle is making sure your written content is relevant to your reader. To know this, you need to do some research.
- Who do expect will read this?
- What is their current knowledge of the subject matter?
- What are their literacy and language skills?
- Why are they reading this document/website/report?
- Where and how are they reading this information?
Findable
When a reader starts looking at your content, they should be able to determine pretty quickly if it’s for them. They may do a quick scan, check the table of contents or read an executive summary. In following the second principle, you can help readers find what they need in your writing by:
- structuring it logically by grouping related information and following a clear order
- putting the most important information first
- using headings, break-out boxes, bullet points and other reader guides
- keeping headings consistent, descriptive and short
- making use of appendices or ‘more information’ options.
Understandable
Number 3 is about comprehension. To help your readers understand the message:
- use familiar words and avoid specialised terms where possible
- use clear sentence structure, accurate spelling and punctuation, and, if appropriate, address readers directly
- keep sentences and paragraphs concise
- use respectful and inclusive language
- offer other ways to communicate the message, such as images and infographics
- keep the overall document consistent – the reader needs to feel like it all fits together.
Useable
When compiling a website or a large report, it’s likely there have been multiple authors contributing over a period of weeks, months or even years! To be sure it is offering your readers what they need (and hopefully what you intended), you should assess its useability regularly. Consider these scenarios:
- You have drafted and redrafted a discussion paper after input from various stakeholders. It’s almost ready to be released publicly. Has anyone reviewed the entire document from a plain language perspective?
- You have spent months compiling research and drafting a report for a client. Have you sent a draft or sample to your client (or their users) for a review of whether it is meeting their needs?
- You have been tasked with bringing multiple chapters of a report together and each chapter was written by a different person. Have you tested whether the overall purpose of the report is understood by readers? Have you evaluated whether the overall report has a consistent tone and style that reflects plain language principles?
- You published your website 4 years ago. When was the last time you evaluated its effectiveness? Is the information still relevant, findable, understandable and useable for your readers? Have you asked them for feedback?
Simple, right?
In many ways, the principles of plain language for written communication are super simple and logical. Yet they’re easily lost in the frantic pace of delivery, changes to scope, input from various stakeholders, or availability of an overarching ‘author’ who wears the plain language cap.
Where you can, keep these principles front-of-mind during drafting and review phases. And if time and budget allow, seek a review from an editor who can rewrite or edit for plain language – ensuring your important communication is relevant, findable, understandable and useable.
