Improving Readability by Design

When developing patient education handouts, the focus is often on the writing. The challenge is to present health information—that is often complicated and unfamiliar—in a way that it is easy to understand. A number of recommendations, often referred to as “plain language" (among them using short, simple words, writing short sentences, and avoiding unnecessary words and jargon), have become proven methods for improving the readability of printed documents. A second set of recommendations, often separated from “readability” and referred to as “legibility,” can be easily overlooked.

This toolkit explores seven design elements that affect the readability of printed patient education materials and the key role they play in developing handouts that are both easy to read and easy to understand.

The toolkit is available as a serious of flash presentations with audio. Choose a topic below. Clicking on the screen starts the presentation. [Need help? Click here]

More flash files coming soon!

Tools to dowload and use

(Tip: right click on a link below and select "save target as")

design readability score card.pdf design readability score card.pdf
Size : 156 Kb
Type : pdf
Improving_Readability_by_Design.pdf Improving_Readability_by_Design.pdf
Size : 4904 Kb
Type : pdf
checklist.pdf checklist.pdf
Size : 510 Kb
Type : pdf
simple_experiment.pdf simple_experiment.pdf
Size : 29 Kb
Type : pdf
character characteristics.pdf character characteristics.pdf
Size : 325 Kb
Type : pdf

 

Here are some additional resources you might find helpful

(Tip: right click on a link below and select "save target as")

developingPFEdMaterial.pdf developingPFEdMaterial.pdf
Size : 183 Kb
Type : pdf
Easy-to-Read_NYC.pdf Easy-to-Read_NYC.pdf
Size : 347 Kb
Type : pdf
Patient Education Materials.pdf Patient Education Materials.pdf
Size : 150 Kb
Type : pdf
PPForClearHealthCommunication.pdf PPForClearHealthCommunication.pdf
Size : 859 Kb
Type : pdf
Simply Put.pdf Simply Put.pdf
Size : 2805 Kb
Type : pdf
The Health Literacy Style Manual.pdf The Health Literacy Style Manual.pdf
Size : 3887 Kb
Type : pdf
WritingEasyToReadMaterials.pdf WritingEasyToReadMaterials.pdf
Size : 147 Kb
Type : pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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