Websites and companies that serve adults with basic-level reading skills

[wals...@gmail.com]

Does anyone know of websites or apps that deliberately try to serve adults who are at or below an 8th grade reading level? I know of a few government websites with content and design geared towards this large population, but I'm looking for more recent examples, especially those produced by nonprofit or for-profit entities. The websites don't need to overtly state they are serving the audience, but there should be a deliberate strategy behind the scenes. I'm preparing a presentation for an upcoming conference and would welcome examples and/or referrals to other UX professionals who focus on this area.

Thanks,

Sheila Walsh

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilawalsh

[Ginny Redish]

Hi Sheila,

I don't have a specific site at a low reading level to recommend to you. But I have links to some relevant resources:

Check out 

http://www.designtoread.com/

It's a very clear site by Caroline Jarrett with information for professionals like us.

Also, check out the work of Kathryn Summers who specializes in writing for a low-literacy audience. 

One of the most important papers in this field is Kathryn's summary of a research project in which she was able to show that revising a website for low-literacy people not only helped them immensely. It helped high-literacy people even more. 

Kathryn's paper is available through 

http://www.designtoread.com/Bibliography

or 

http://redish.net/images/stories/PDF/summers_asist2005.pdf

Best,

Ginny

Janice (Ginny) Redish, Ph.D.
Redish & Associates, Inc.
gi...@redish.net
www.redish.net
301 229 3039

Author of Letting Go of the Words -- Writing Web Content that Works
(2nd edition, 2012)

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[jen rotman]

Sheila,

I know for one of my clients--health insurance industry--we have direction from a content perspective to write for an audience well below 8th grade reading level. For examples of companies in this space you might reference the NIH's clear communications site--they sponsor annual awards and often publish a PDF of example sites that won:
http://www.nih.gov/clearcommunication/plarchive/

Regards,

Jen Rotman

--

Jen Rotman

Web Copywriting (Marketing, Sales, SEO Copy)
http://jrotman.wordpress.com
http://www.google.com/profiles/rotman.jennifer

[Nathan Blows]

Hi there,

Disclaimer: I work for the bank mentioned here.

The Capitec Bank website was set up around our core values of simplicity, transparency and control. Part of simplicity and transparency to us means delivering content as plainly as possible. English is generally spoken across South Africa, but is only used by roughly 10% of the population as a home language.

Regards,

 

Nathan Blows

Digital editor, content strategist and web project manager

084 5326 3965 | LinkedIn | Twitter