Making Your Text Readable

Diversity and inclusion expert Verna Myers said:

“Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance.”

How can you ensure that your audience not only come to your party but dance at it too? Especially if your "party" is a text document?

There are a number of simple strategies that can be implemented to make your text more readable. Consideration of your audience, as well as your content will assist in deciding which of these to use.

Individuals have different learning styles, meaning they may be receptive to information presented in different ways.

I'm not going to discuss the neuroscience behind this as I don't feel I am sufficiently qualified in neuroscience to do so. However, as a trained teacher and the mother of a child on the Autistic Spectrum, I do feel suitably qualified and experienced to describe pedagogical strategies that can be used to try and make your document more accessible. Sometimes trial and error to find what is comfortable and works is required.

Knowing and understanding your audience should help decide which of these strategies to implement.

Choice of font is important because some styles are found to be more "readable" than others. There can be an element of personal choice in which is found to be most comfortable.

"Standard" fonts such as Arial, Calibri, Segoe UI and Times New Roman as characters are clearly defined when compared to more intricate font designs such as Lucida Handwriting, Alfredo or Fingerpop. The more intricate designs are better suited to a situation where text is being incorporated into a piece of art rather than a piece of writing, where the standard designs are more appropriate. Sentences are made of words. Words are made of characters. If characters are clearly distinguishable, words are more distinguishable and sentences are better understood.

Again, this is about comfort. Not too small, not too large for most people but consider the market for large print books. These are more comfortable where the reader may have issues with sight.

Text effects such as shadowing or emboldening usually do not have a place in main-body text.

Another formatting strategy. Leaving a larger space between lines of texts can make it easier to follow those lines.

Academic documents such as essays are often written in double line or 1.5 line spacing. This makes them easier to mark - consider the lecturer who has to read several such documents and may become tired. If text is easier to track, this can help maintain interest.

In terms of marking assignments, using larger line spacing can be helpful for making comments on the content.

To assist others in following your train of thought, break your ideas into chunks of text (paragraphs) rather than one solid block.

I think of them as steps. If I am reading an explanation or argument and become confused, I can work back up through the paragraphs to where I need to start over.

Personally, I like to think one paragraph = one idea.

Does your content need to be presented in prose or can it be more effectively communicated in table form? In science writing, experiment results should be in table form with discussion of those results following in structured paragraphs.

Use headings to introduce sections of text in structured paragraphs. This introduces the topic that is to be discussed in the section following and helps your audience navigate around your document.

Be efficient with your words. Why use 27 words if 10 will suffice? Carefully choosing your words in this way can task a reader's brain less as they try to not only read what you have said but understand it too.

Incorporating images or infographics into your document assists reading by breaking up the text.

It can complement your text to assist with understanding. Sometimes a visual will stick in our minds rather than the ideas gleaned from lengthy text. Visuals may be able to convey information much more quickly in certain situations. Visual CVs based on a timeline design are popular nowadays in some industries.

You do not need to be a graphic designer to incorporate images or infographics into your text. There are many royalty-free pictures that can be used at no (or little) cost or by simply crediting the photographer or artist. The images in this article were obtained from the Noun Project. They are free to use but credit must be given to the artist. I have simply used selected icons to put together the header infographic.

There are pros and cons to using those of others, making your own or doing a bit of both. These should be considered so that balance of all factors can be achieved for a "best fit" scenario.

Use of colour is subjective and so should be used with caution. A colour of text that may be comfortable for one reader may be painful for another.

Colour also has messages associated with it. Red for danger or green for safe as examples. So, you need to think about whether there is a message already in the colour you choose.

Some individuals will be colour-sensitive, in which case avoiding or using certain colours may be essential.

Printing on pages tinted with a colour other than white (or displaying on a tinted background if the document is digital) can make your document more accessible to some individuals.

It is a strategy commonly employed for, but not exclusive to, learners with dyslexia. It is more comfortable and easier for some to determine words when not confronted by the sometimes harsh effect of black on white. For printed material, the paper may be tinted or a coloured overlay may be used to read through.

As we have already discussed, it is necessary to balance all of these factors. Particularly if your audience is quite wide or varied. Some strategies, such as tinted backgrounds, are perhaps too specific and business time/cost analysis does not warrant differentiation for all eventualities.

From my own perspective, when writing this article I realised there is more I could do to make it accessible to more. For example there is a harsh contrast between the black and white on the page but this was limited by using icons from the Noun Project. Noun Project icons are simple, which I love, but only available in black and white under the copyright terms for the use. This took into account cost/benefit considerations. There is also some limitation with the editing tools on the web template.

I hope however, that this has given you an idea of the possibilities. I am always interested to hear about other strategies and to diverge from the standard templates I transcribe into, to make your document more accessible to your audience.