Guideline overview

• Layout

Landscape orientation is preferred.

• Text style

Use simple, short and plain words and sentences.
Captions have to be especially clear-worded.

• Wording

Use serif type fonts.
Use black text on white background.

• Colour

Use colour but be mindful of red-green colour blindness by encoding information not only in colour.

• Graphs

Use 2D graphs to present any numerical and/or complex information.
Use only one graph for ease-of-use.

• Pictures

Use realistic pictures, which patients can relate to.
Use self-explanatory pictures.
Avoid confronting pictures; instead use non-scary, harmless pictures.
Use photographs to personalise the information and attract the viewer’s attention.

• Individualize

Use wording, pictures and styles patients are familiar with.

• Information-processing style

Use a mix of styles to cover the diverse way patients remember.
Present some information (e.g. risks) in a rational fact-based style.
Story telling is useful for communicating complex information.
Present some information (not risks) in a manner that emphasises self-image or individual or social outcomes.
Present some information in a utilitarian manner that emphasises practical considerations such as money or time.