MusicNSW came to the Foundation and asked for our help to prepare a plain English summary of an important new report. At 78 pages, Raising Their Voices is a comprehensive look at the extent of sexism and discrimination in Australia’s music industry.
Our plain English summary (which is about 10% of the size of the full report) was designed to focus readers’ attention on the most important information. We did this by summarising the report’s main findings and highlighting its 17 recommendations for change.
Our approach included:
reorganising the material to bring the important information to the front and the contextual information to the back
breaking the content into 4 well-defined sections to improve navigation
using design elements like bullet lists and tables to present complex material
writing in short, punchy sentences to engage readers and get the message across.
Our editors have brought their plain language skills to many fascinating and influential projects. Here we share links to a handful that are available online, so you can see how we have transformed content across a range of genres and sectors.
The Financial Services Council commissioned us to overhaul the Life Insurance Code of Practice. We created a new plain English document with big improvements in readability, usability and accessibility.