Plain Language is a Win-Win-Win
By: Editor | November 09, 2009 | Category: General
In honor of World Usability Day, which will be celebrated Thursday, our guest blogger today is Whitney Quesenbery, a user researcher, user experience practitioner, and usability expert with a passion for clear communication.
Between websites, blogs, twitter, and all the other new online communities, there are more ways for the government and citizens to communicate than ever. Just communicating more won’t mean much unless everyone understands what is actually being said.
That’s where plain language comes in. This is not a new concept. The idea of speaking directly to people, in terms they understand, seems obvious. It can be hard to break a long tradition of arcane terminology and long-winded sentences, but the results can be a win for everyone.
Which would you rather read:
“The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends a half hour or more of moderate physical activity on most days, preferably every day. The activity can include brisk walking, calisthenics, home care, gardening, moderate sports exercise, and dancing.”
Or
“Do at least 30 minutes of exercise, like brisk walking, most days of the week.”
That example is from a Department of Health and Human Services project that replaced a 6-page article with 1-page fold-out brochure. The shorter version is not only fewer words to read, but gets right to the point. It speaks directly to the reader, uses an active voice and keeps the message as simple as possible.
Who wins when you write information in plain language?
- Citizens win - they can understand something on their own.
After one government agency rephrased the language in a letter that it sends to citizens many times each year, phone calls to ask for explanations dropped by more than 80%. - Agencies win - they don’t have to spend as much time and money answering questions.
When a cable company rewrote and redesigned its bill, call volume dropped by 15%. The calls were shorter, too. - You win - when you don’t have to spend as much time explaining what you meant. In the first example, the new letter meant almost 1,000 phone calls that a small staff didn’t have to answer.
Want to learn more?
- Plainlanguage.gov has more examples and useful tools.
- The Center for Plain Language has a toolkit for starting plain language in your organization and other resources.
- The Office of the Federal Register has guidelines for clear and concise legal writing.
World Usability Day is on November 12. This international day is about “making life easy” and user friendly. It is celebrated in over 36 countries.
In Washington, DC, Webcontent.gov and the Center for Plain Language have teamed up celebrate the sustaining power of Usability + Plain Language on World Usability Day. World Usability Day events and resources to help you build your skills and improve your documents and web sites include:
- Free “mini-consultations” with a usability or plain language expert to improve your government web page or document by phone on Nov. 12 from 1:00 – 4:00 pm ET
- A free in-person plain language course on Nov. 12 from 9:00 – 11:30 am in Washington DC near Union Station
- The Plain Language + Usability Resource List to help you conduct a World Usability Day activity at your agency or company and improve your website year-round
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