Writing

Here is a smashing and very short post about the active voice on LinkedIn by Hannah Collins. Some people find it tricky to spot the difference between the active and passive voice, so I am very much into this kind of concise overview.

I'm always slightly fascinated by the way different organisations in different sectors present their style guidelines. Here is Imperial College London on writing good headings and I can't see much I disagree with.

It includes the following statistic and link:

According to a WebAIM survey of 1,539 people in January 2024, 71.6% of screen reader users navigate pages using headings.

Make a note of that, as it might come in handy for future discussions with your senior leadership team or design colleagues.

More good stuff on plain language basics in the Australian government's style guide:

There are 4 basic elements of plain writing. If you consider these elements, you’ll be well on the way to writing in plain language. They are: structure, word choice, active voice, short sentences.

I really like the last section that explains why plain language benefits everyone. Always worth reminding yourself. And anyone who'll listen.

Time to head into the BBC Bitesize archive for you to meet Frieda Fishmonster. I'm not saying you have to complete these activities as a way of testing your clear language skills, but would it hurt? I won't tell anyone.

I wrote a lot of letters on the previous project I worked on. You won't be surprised to hear that the UK government's service manual has some guidance on how to write good letters. I will also point you to this shorter piece about designing letters as part of the whole user journey.

I like this piece on jargon by content designer, Amy Hupe, because it acknowledges the nuances of language and even clear language.

This is a fantastic paragraph:

Jargon always gives power to those who understand it, and takes power from those who don’t. It’s really important that we recognise this and think about who we’re empowering and disempowering when we use jargon.

Yes, in most cases, jargon should be avoided. But jargon can empower people and communities too. I think this is why it's important that we don't get all... preachy about clear language. There is never one way of approaching a piece of writing. And it's absolutely vital to understand who it's for.