The Health Literacy Style Manual - Covering Kids & Families

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Contents FO R E WO R D V IN T RO D U C T I O N 1 Who are your readers? W hy are most health-related materials written at the 10th grade level or higher? Readers with limited litera cy skills H ow clients “read” health information Client-centered materials <strong>The</strong> payoff and the business case PRO J E C T_PL A N N I N G 7 Plan for resourc e s Prepare others for ch a n g e Identify a communication goal Create a look and feel Organize the content W h a t ’s it going to say ? What are the most important messages? W h a t ’s the most logical order? H ow long should it be? When long is too long Manage the budget C O N T E N T S | i
WR I T I N G 1 7 Write in plain language Use simple vo c a b u l a r y A b b r e v i a t i o n s B u r e a u c ratic language and legalese Colloquialisms and jargon Use the active vo i c e Write simple sentences Write one-topic para g ra p h s Use an inviting and encouraging tone D e l ivering bad news Write notices that answer readers’ questions Link new information to old Offer help to readers Polish the text FO R M ATT I N G_A N D_STY L E 3 7 Choose a clean design Choosing fonts Serif and sans serif fonts Print size L ayo u t A l i g n m e n t Short lines of text White space C o n t ra s t Emphasizing words or phra s e s Color for appeal and nav i g a t i o n Organizational aids Ti t l e s H e a d i n g s ii | THE HEALTH LITERAC Y STYLE MA NUAL
Page 1: The Health Literacy Style Manual Pr
Page 5 and 6: C overing the cost Small-scale test
Page 7 and 8: and improving problem materials, an
Page 9 and 10: WHO ARE YOUR READERS? Nearly half o
Page 11 and 12: HOW CLIENTS “READ” HEALTH INFOR
Page 13 and 14: This is a “before and after” of
Page 15 and 16: help the rest of the team understan
Page 17 and 18: This example of a poster, like that
Page 19 and 20: CR E AT E A LO O K A N D F E E L Al
Page 21 and 22: u n f o r t u n a t e l y, explaini
Page 23 and 24: 16 | THE HEALTH LITERAC Y STYLE MA
Page 25 and 26: vocabularies. Using common, everyda
Page 27 and 28: The left column shows words that ar
Page 29 and 30: B u r e a u c ratic language and le
Page 31 and 32: USE THE ACTIVE VOICE Write in the a
Page 33 and 34: Longer sentences are not necessaril
Page 35 and 36: Here is the revised notice. US E A
Page 37 and 38: You can improve the readability of
Page 39 and 40: This notice contains important info
Page 41 and 42: LINK NEW INFORMATION TO OLD Readers
Page 43 and 44: OF F E R H E L P TO R E A D E R S M
Page 45 and 46: CHOOSE A CLEAN DESIGN The first pag
Page 47 and 48: CHOOSING FONTS For readers with lim
Page 49 and 50: PRINT SIZE The point size of type (
Page 51 and 52: LAYOUT To lay out a page is to arra
Page 53 and 54:
When the alignment is right-justifi
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CONTRAST Text is easiest to read wh
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• I t a l i c s . The contrast be
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The blue on this brochure (written
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H e a d i n g s Headings and subhea
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Be careful to write an introductory
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• Make them illustrative. Visual
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• D o n ’t print over a graphic
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This form (still in draft when we r
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The small print and difficult vocab
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Folding and mailing When you’re p
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application itself. Don’t begin t
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• Avoid using the word “optiona
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• Many readers have no context fo
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PROBLEM CHARTS AND TABLES Forms and
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This application doesn’t avoid cr
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Income charts Income charts are par
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80 | THE HEALTH LITERAC Y STYLE MA
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d i ff e rent point of view. But fo
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a little more, and the re s e a rch
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Small-scale testing is a significan
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p rompt the participant if she’s
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TRA N S L AT I N G I S A S P E C I
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When your quality assurance person,
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Page 105:
For more information For more detai
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