The February Issue of Intercom is Online

The February issue of Intercom, guest edited by Karen Schriver, is now online. This issue’s theme is Plain Writing and Information Design. “It is an absolute honor to have Karen Schriver guest edit this special issue of Intercom on plain language and information design,” exclaimed Editor Liz Pohland. “Karen helps organizations around the globe realize the social and economic benefits of excellence in information design.” Below is a copy of the note from the guest editor. Take advantage of one of the many benefits of STC membership; read the February issue of Intercom!

Although technical communicators recognize the importance of plain language and information design, they may have a hard time finding good examples that show how these fields can work together. This special issue presents five case studies that demonstrate how good writing combined with good visual design can improve the quality of the communications people experience. These cases tackle some difficult issues:

  • Helping home mortgage loan applicants understand the “terms of agreement” before they sign on the dotted line.
  • Making it easy for low-literacy learners to sign up for free medicine without the need to be an expert in following instructions and filling in forms.
  • Devising ways to help schoolteachers and college professors comply with IRS regulations about their retirement income without making them feel anxious.
  • Giving families who inherit money clear information about their options for investment without overwhelming them.
  • Making it simple for employees to understand company rules and policies without the assistance of a lawyer.

Quite by accident, these case studies turned out to be redesigns of paper documents (yes, paper does still exist). With their interesting insights about the cognitive and emotional sides of peoples’ experiences with wretched communications, these case studies are applicable whether one is designing for print or electronic delivery.

This is an interesting time for STC to bring plain language and information design to our attention. The fields are burgeoning around the world—with governments and organizations beginning to take writing and design seriously. Even the U.S. government is starting to get it. In October 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Plain Writing Act of 2010. Although it has taken a long time, government and business have been increasingly more willing to launch redesign efforts by communicators who specialize in plain language and information design.

Plain language and information design have interesting stories to tell and an intertwined history. Indeed, a lot has changed since I first wrote about their relations in 1991 and 1997. For some perspective on recent trends in plain language, check out my upcoming report on the history of the field at http://centerforplainlanguage.org/. For ideas about how you can use information design as a technical communicator, see my recent book chapter (2013). It is a pleasure to introduce the case studies in this special issue:

CASE 1: In “What’s ‘The Deal’?: Designing Mortgage Disclosures that Consumers Can Use and Understand,” Susan Kleimann, Barbra Kingsley, and Kristin Kleimann iteratively design and test mortgage disclosures that integrate content from legacy documents. Their goal? To make sure potential homeowners would actually know “what the deal is” before they sign on the dotted line. Prompted by the financial crisis, the new disclosure was created in conjunction with experts from the Consumer Finance and Protection Bureau. The “remodeled” disclosure allows consumers not only to understand what they are signing—supporting comprehension and decision making—but also improves their ability to choose among competing financial products and make sense of the risks involved. The new design is an exemplar of plain language and information design.

CASE 2: In “When You Need the Medicine But Can’t Understand the Form: Making Prescription Medicine Available to Low-Income Patients,” Kathryn Summers, Michael Summers, and Amy Pointer redesign a set of documents from a pharmaceutical company, which were aimed at making medicines available free to low-income patients. The problem? Patient information and forms that were too hard for the very audience the client was trying to reach. The authors evaluated the writing and design of the documents with usability testing and found that participants with low literacy skills, who were immigrants and new to English, or who were seniors had genuine problems with the complexity of the material. Their revised forms and instructions integrate principles of plain language and information design—demonstrating that excellence in writing and design was good not only for patients, but also for the company by significantly reducing the need to reprocess forms that were completed incorrectly.

CASE 3: In “From Chaos to Clarity: Overcoming Negative Emotional Responses to Financial Information,” Deborah Bosley presents a fascinating case study that shows how people respond emotionally to confusing content. Her case explores the usability testing and redesign of a letter about critical financial information that went out to retired schoolteachers and college professors. She shows how even PhD’s can be mystified by poor writing and information design. Her study emphasizes that organizations need to take seriously the importance of building trust, honesty, and empathy through good writing and design.

[Editor's note: CASE 4 has been removed due to alleged infringement of intellectual property rights.]

CASE 5: In “Putting Language Last: Using Structure, Visual Cues, and Marketing-Style Analysis as the Primary Tools of Simplification,” Josiah Fisk emphasizes how clear communication depends on the power of structure and visual cues. His case study on the redesign of workplace policies and procedures shows how a marketing-style analysis can inform an understanding of what audiences need. His impressive redesign cut a complex document in half while also improving its readability, and while still providing everything the audience (and the attorneys!) needed.

Across the set, the authors stress the importance of plain writing and clear visual structure, showing that plain language and information design is not only valuable for people who deal with these everyday documents, it’s also good business—saving organizations time and money—while potentially promoting goodwill and trust.