Technical documents and reports should be easy to read, understand and follow. They have a big job to do:
- Help employees navigate major decisions and actions
- Ensure your company meets compliance requirements
- Get a new project approved
- Show how to use tools and machines safely
- Convince a client or funder to invest in an new technology
- Explain a complex product to a client
- Change how citizens think and behave based on facts
Writing in plain English saves time and prevents errors. Plain language and clear flow charts and infographics allow impatient executives to scan legal, procedural, scientific and technical documents. Well presented reports get internal and external stakeholders on board with issues and solutions. Clear procedures create consensus around how things are done.
Documents we edit
- Policies and SOP manuals
- Environmental Impact Assessments
- Feasibility Studies
- Research papers and Case studies
- Training guides and manuals
- Funding proposals
What we do to improve them
Editing
- Write a powerful Executive Summary that focuses on what matters to your reader
- Merge multiple documents into one
- Simplify the language into plain English (Flesch-Kincaid Test Level 6)
- Edit to improve logic and flow of ideas
- Cut text length without losing information
- Re-write into active, punchy sentences
- Get rid of jargon or slang
- Ensure policies are sensitive to ethnicity, disability and gender
Design
- Add a table of contents to jump to sections quickly
- Make headlines, numbers, fonts and colours consistent and legible
- Convert text and tables to diagrams, graphs, flow-charts and infographics
- Break up long, grey blocks of text with relevant photos
- Redesign page layouts to make them legible and memorable
- Ensure reports meet your company style guide.
