12 design principles to ensure patient information is easy to use and understand

This post by Marie Ennis O’Connor, a consultant on global trends in patient engagement, digital health and participatory medicine, provides a handy checklist to guide the design patient information materials. Tips include:

1. Consider the purpose behind creating this information
2. Use plain English
3. Communicate from the perspective of a patient
4. Write as you would speak to the reader, using pronouns such as “we” and “you”
5. Use active voice
6. Follow plain language principles such as using short sentences and lowercase letters
7. Keep paragraphs short, separated with headings
8. Choose typography and fonts carefully
9. Think about the design and how you want the information to look
10. Include images and graphics
11. Use consistent design throughout
12. Tell people what other information and resources are available

Read the informative blog post here.