“A plain language document, by definition, is words and design working together to create clear communication.”
— Diane Macgregor, quoted in “Why worry about document design?”
Plain Language for Lawyers, 3rd Edition, Michele M Asprey
A transformative style
Plain language editor: Fish Safe: A Handbook for Commercial Fishing and Aquaculture
Working on this safety publication taught me so much. It came in as a well-researched and well-written manuscript.
My original role was to copy edit. But I knew that if we produced the document as requested — pages of paragraphs with pictures added for visual interest — it would not change behaviour. We needed to bring the contents to life with clear illustrations and minimal text.
The information designer and illustrator were essential to its transformation. It became easy to read and easy to absorb. Illustrations communicate key messages. Meaning jumps off the page.
An action-focussed safety plan
Plain language editor: Small Business Safety Toolkit
This project transformed existing materials into a "toolkit" focused on making the implementation of a workplace safety plan more do-able for small business owners and managers.
It focuses on both getting them started and encouraging them continue to improve safety by making it a regular part of doing business.
When a form is needed, a sample is offered, making a new process easy to implement.
An encouraging booklet
Writer: Breastfeeding Basics
This one is dear to me! I was literally nursing a child while working on this with a team at Public Health.
Together, we transformed a longer and more complex publication to suit a wider public audience. Key features are photographs of local moms with their nursing babies, an easy-to-use coil binding for moms with one free hand, and a size that fits in a diaper bag.
The revision restricts content to basics only — conveyed in as simple a style as possible — to attract the mothers who would not already own a stack of parenting books. It has been updated and reissued many times since 2001 and translated into French.
A joy and a pleasure
Editor, researcher, ideas generator: The Nova Scotia Nine: Remarkable Women, Then and Now
Learning history, sharing stories: What could be more fun?
But it started with a problem to solve: how to meet the client's deadline after their original plan fell through. We found a way. And it turned out amazingly. What a team!
And, yes, Granny Ross has a First Nations first mother — recently confirmed by triangulating mtDNA results and family trees of those who share her female line (including me).
