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Non-text explanations – text boxes, text tables, and flowcharts – help lawyers to summarise complexity, and draw readers in. I gave a talk on this topic at the Plain Language Association International (PLAIN) conference in Sydney. My presentation covers six examples, and a better way to do the slides-and-handout thing. More

Tag-clouds give website users an easy way to find content on particular topics – users don't need to know in advance which section of the website that content has been tucked away in. But website-designers don't like them because they rain on the information-architecture parade. More

The law of shiny things works like this: magpies can’t tell the difference between a diamond ring and a bit of Kit Kat wrapper. And humans aren’t that different. A new delivery format or an extra bells-and-whistles feature will attract client attention – even if it’s not a step-change improvement. (Penicillin was a step-change improvement, [...] More

Know-how updates need product features, but they're often weak or missing. We've created a parable on the value of product feature (based on the Golf and the Allegro). More

Lawyers who use numbers and data will stand out from the crowd There’s a myth that lawyers don’t ‘do’ numbers. Believers say it’s because lawyers live in a world of words where numbers don’t get a look-in. We’re less convinced – 0ur view is that business is pretty numbers-focused, and lawyers are part of business. [...] More

Text tables show your readers that you’re trying to help. Text tables give you a flexible way to sum up complexity. They’re a really helpful feature in any update, bulletin, article, newsletter, or seminar handout. Or pitch. Or pretty much any document that you can think of. Clients value them as they summarise, and allow [...] More