Plain Language for COVID-19 Communications

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Civic Service Design Tools + Tactics

6 min readApr 10, 2020

In the effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 and manage its staggering impacts, we have an important tool at our disposal: information. By sharing information, we can help keep New Yorkers six feet away from each other; direct families to free grab-and-go meals in their neighborhoods; empower those who have lost their jobs to apply for unemployment benefits; and more.

Information, though, is only useful if a broad range of people can understand and act on it. Now, more than ever, it’s important for the government to communicate simply and clearly.

Use plain language

Plain language is writing that your audience can easily understand and use. Communicating in plain language means considering the needs of your reader first and using a set of best practices to help meet those needs.

Understanding your audience

As a first step in writing plain language that prioritizes the reader, try answering the following about your audience:

Who does your audience include (for example, youth or immigrant New Yorkers)?
What are they trying to accomplish with your information?
What do they need to know in order to accomplish that?
What words do they use to describe their situation?
In what context are they reading (for example, on what platform and in what emotional state)?

While a mandate to stay home and socially distance complicates the process of answering these questions¹, we can still learn a lot from our remote offices. Tools such as Google Search Console and Google Trends and website metrics can provide insights into what people are searching for, how they’re searching, and how they interact with information once they find it. Desk research — articles, reports — also goes a long way.

A quick audience overview

The COVID-19 pandemic and response is moving quickly, and there may not be time for dedicated audience research. As a start, here are considerations about who may be reading our information:

More than 40% of adults in the US lack literacy skills to perform tasks such as filling out forms²
Almost a quarter of New Yorkers don’t speak English very well³
People tend to read about 20% of words on the average webpage, and that percentage decreases as word density goes up⁴
Not everyone experiences content in the same way; for example, some use screen reader software for visual impairments
Everyone, even experts, prefers plain language⁵

People are good at creating meaning from a quick scan of text. The more text we have to scan, though, the less we grasp of it. Scanning is also more difficult for those with lower reading ability.

All of this means that for a general NYC population reading our content on the web, we have to choose words carefully, including only the most vital information and using simple language. The pandemic emphasizes this need, as stress weakens our ability to process information, as many people encounter the lexicon of City resources for the first time, and as the impacts of COVID-19 make the need for resources urgent.

Plain language guidelines

These quick tips can help make writing clear and simple.⁶

Aim for 8th grade reading level or below

Reading level depends on the difficulty of words, length of sentences, and other factors. Tools such as Hemingway App offer a great starting point to gauge the complexity of text.

The Hemingway App scores the example on the left at a “post-graduate” grade level and the one on the right as a grade 7.

Keep it short

In general, aim for:

Sentences with 15–20 words and only one idea
Paragraphs of 150 words and five sentences or fewer
Sections of a few paragraphs or fewer introduced by headers

The example on the right shortens the text by dividing it into two sentences and using simpler language. Sometimes, it makes sense to sacrifice brevity for simplicity’s sake. You may have to substitute a single complex word, for example, with a few common words

Use common words

Choose simple and informal words over complex and formal ones. The list of word substitutes from plainlanguage.gov can help. Avoid jargon, but if you need to use technical language, make sure to define it quickly.

Many people may not be familiar with phrases and words like “timely determination” and “appeal.” Technical or legal terms like “appeal” may be necessary sometimes, but could benefit from a quick definition, such as “a request to reverse a decision.”

Prioritize your information

Start with the most important idea, then follow up with details or exceptions.

For a person seeking help, the most important information is what a resource is, if it applies to them, and how they can connect to it. While background information about a program’s inception may be useful and appropriate in certain contexts, most public-facing communication can de-prioritize this.

Create a digestible structure

Use headers to organize information into chunks and help the user scan content. In general, headers should be:

Representative of the content below them
In a consistent format, for example, all nouns or noun phrases and in title case (“Eligibility Rules,” “Applying for the Program”)
Structured using a consistent hierarchy of header styles (H1 for the main page topic, H2 for subsections, and so on)

Organize steps in a process, requirements, or other series of information in bullet-point lists. If the series has a clear order, use a numbered list.

Since the text contains multiple items in the same category (alternative services), the righthand example breaks it into bullets. The altered header, “Changes in Services,” better describes the content than general “Services.”

Use a casual tone

Address users as “you” and the content owners as “we.” Use contractions, such as “you’re” for “you are.”

Since the “New York City residents” in question includes the reader, it makes sense to address them directly as “you.”

Use the present tense

The present tense is clearer and more direct than the past or future.

“Would be” in the left example is unnecessary and adds confusion.

Use the active voice

In the active voice, subjects act on something. In passive voice, subjects are acted upon. The active voice is clearer and stronger.

One sentence in passive voice, rewritten in the active to be more engaging for the reader

Learn from others

Communicating simply is a challenge. This is true when governments describe the services we provide under normal circumstances, and it’s especially true in the face of this complex pandemic. Thankfully, we don’t have to start from scratch. As governments at all levels and organizations are acting in new and nimble ways, we can build on the creative ways each other are communicating.

For inspiration, here’s a sampling of governments and organizations that have communicated information about COVID-19 clearly and simply using plain language coupled with good design:

United Kingdom, gov.uk
Prioritizes clear, actionable steps to prevent the spread, followed by simple headline announcements to stay up-to-date with rapid developments
California, covid19.ca.gov
Leads with a simple explanation of the novel coronavirus and clearly lays out actions to take and avoid in checklist style
San Francisco, sf.gov/topics/coronavirus-covid-19
Prioritizes clear, actionable information to prevent the spread, followed by simple explanations of available resources
National League of Cities, covid19.nlc.org
Offers a strong and clear description of the site, followed by clear calls to action

¹ On the digital products team at NYC Opportunity, we typically follow the Tools + Tactics to get to know our audiences. Learn more about how to Talk to People, read a case study about how user research can inform content design, or sign up for a virtual office hour with the Service Design Studio.

² “Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion,” Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Health Literacy; 2004.

³ State of Our Immigrant City: Annual Report 2018.

⁴ “How Little Do Users Read?” Jakob Nielsen, Nielsen Norman Group.

⁵ “Plain Language Is for Everyone, Even Experts,” Hoa Loranger, Nielsen Norman Group.

⁶ Note: Examples are based on real resources but have been adapted.