Plain language

At the heart of plain language¹ are recommendations such as:

• Common words, not jargon
• Personal pronouns (‘we’ and ‘you’)
• Short sentences
• Active sentences (‘I kicked the ball is active’, whereas ‘the ball was kicked’ is passive, and doesn’t tell you who did the kicking). 

Over last few decades, plain language laws have been passed in a number of countries, and it has heavily influenced government and legal communication.

The recent international standard for plain language² moves beyond the word and sentence level, and is based on a wider model of what it means to read:

Principle 1: Readers get what they need (relevant).

Principle 2: Readers can easily find what they need (findable).

Principle 3: Readers can easily understand what they find (understandable).

Principle 4: Readers can easily use the information (usable).

These means that information design is recognised by plain language experts as central to their craft. For example, readers need informative headings you can skim, and graphic structures where continuous text would be hard to follow.

1. Martin Cutts (2020) The Oxford Guide to Plain English. Oxford University Press

2. ISO 24495-1:2023. Plain language —Part 1: Governing principles and guidelines.

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