What does it mean to create plain language content
Plain language is about designing information so that your audiences:
- Find the information they need
- Understand the information they find
- Use that information to learn or do something
Often, this means using simpler sentence structures. It also encourages features that help people scan, such as headings and bullets.
A myth about plain language is that it means dumbing down meaning. A better way to think of it is, plain language helps you communicate information in more manageable chunks, and in a format that’s accessible for your audience. For example, a long sentence can often be broken into 2 (or more) to give readers a chance to breathe.
Why do it
Plain language for government information is already part of the law. The 2010 Federal Plain Language Act sets guidelines for federal agencies that states can follow. Plain language is also a component of accessible products and services. Your organization may already be working to comply with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act by the April 2026 deadline. Plain language should be part of this work.
The law isn’t the only reason to produce plain language information. Plain language makes it easier for the public to find and use information. This can reduce phone calls and emails. In fact, federal agencies have reported saving lots of money and staff time through plain language revisions. It supports access for people with less formal education. It also benefits people whose first language is not English. Studies show that even experts prefer plain language, too, since it’s easier to scan and less taxing to read. It even makes machine translation (e.g. using Google Translate) easier.
Communicating in plain language helps you show to your audience that you’re thinking about their needs. For example, you might revise a document to define jargon or technical terms so less experienced members of your audiences can understand them. Doing this shows that you know these terms might be difficult for newcomers.
What you're aiming for
Your organization should produce content that’s easy for audiences to find, understand, and use. To do this, you will:
- Have talented writers on staff
- Prioritize constituents' ability to understand and use what you publish
- Establish editorial standards for all teams who publish constituent-facing content
- Evaluate people’s experiences with what you publish. For example, you’ll test if people can easily find and complete applications, correctly interpret complicated data and reports, understand and complete processes the first time they go through them
- Make revisions based on what you learn in your testing
- Have buy-in for plain language writing from leadership and teams across your organization
Plain language overlaps with usability, accessibility, and experience research. These skills build and depend on one another.
What you need
First, you need staff with strong communications skills, especially in writing. This could be a communications professional, content strategist, or someone with experience in journalism or teaching.
A few other things shape your success with plain language. At minimum, you'll need:
- To understand who your constituents are
- To understand what they are trying to use your documents to do or learn
- Collaboration from teams across your organization
Who are your constituents and what do they need?
It’s essential to understand who your constituents are and what they want to learn and do. This knowledge shapes what “plain language” means for your organization. Here are 2 examples to show how:
- Most organizations can’t avoid jargon or technical terms when explaining their services. If you know who your audience is and what they want to do, you’ll have a much easier time recognizing and defining terms your audience might struggle with.
- Many pages on Mass.gov get more than half their traffic from cell phones. Knowing that should change how you design your web pages. PDFs are not easy to use on phones. Neither is very long content. Creating succinct, simple content will support a huge portion of your audience.
Plain language requires collaboration across your organization
Stakeholders across your organization shape your content. It's common for organizations to get feedback from legal teams, subject matter experts, and program staff before they publish. A good editorial process incorporates their expertise and produces content that’s accurate and usable.
Advocates for plain language also need a say in what content looks like. They should help teams recognize when jargon needs explaining, or when sentences are too complicated. They can also point out where information is missing and where people are likely to have questions. It helps to have executive champions when you are integrating plain language into your writing processes.
It takes time and effort to build this kind of process and collaboration. Ultimately, you're aiming for everyone to collaborate on publications that are easy for people to find, use, and understand.
How to get started
Teams who want to try out plain language can take these starting steps:
- Make it a habit to check the reading level of important content. To do this, you’ll use a tool like the Microsoft Word Editor or the Hemingway Editor. (Note that different apps use different readability algorithms. Choose one and use it consistently across your organization.)
- Try to reduce grade reading levels. This doesn’t mean trying to write everything at 8th grade reading level right away. Instead, find the most complicated and used publications and reduce them as much as you can. Going from 12th to 11th grade is a meaningful step.
- Socialize standard plain language practices across the organization. These can be aspirational, such as “Try to write in sentences that are 25 words or fewer,” or “Make frequent use of headings and bulleted lists.” Start with the guidelines from Plainlanguage.gov. This site summarizes the official guidelines from the 2010 Federal Plain Language Act.
- Staff who write a lot may want to join Content Lab, a community of practice for writers and content strategists in state government
Maturing your practice
Grade levels and plain language guidelines are blunt instruments. They'll help you get started, but alone, they don't create constituent-centered content. That is, we want to focus on what our audiences need. This might require going beyond a grade level threshold. As you mature, your organization will:
- Develop a more sophisticated understanding of its audiences. This may come from web analytics, experience research, or feedback. These findings will shape the language and design of your content.
- Build support for plain language across your teams and leadership. This usually involves establishing editorial standards and processes. Often, it also requires teams to open communications channels. For example, your legal team has to be as invested in plain language as your content team. They need to be in the room with each other often, making sure both groups’ agendas get fair hearings.
- Take on more ambitious plain language projects that cover more ground. Maybe you’ve rewritten your most-viewed webpages and documents. Next, you can try important technical content or reports. Research shows that experts benefit from plain language as much as non experts. You can expand the reach and impact of these documents with plain language revisions.
- Transition from “plain language principles” to testing with real people. Even the best writers are better off if they can see how real people use their documents (or fail to). You’ll use increasingly sophisticated research methods to make sure your documents work.
Guidance and resources
These resources help your staff learn to write and revise plain language:
- Guide to conducting plain language reviews
- Plainlanguage.gov covers the official guidelines for the Plain Writing Act of 2010.
- The Mass.gov style guide includes guidance for producing plain language content
- Use Hemingway Editor to find ways to make your texts more plain language
- Several Content Lab sessions have focused on plain language
- Book a consult with a Mass Digital content strategist to review a piece of content for plain language