Newsletters, webpages, and emails are often fulfilling for professionals because it is an opportunity to be a bit creative in our work. However, few of us have formal training in communications or graphic design, professions that combine creativity and practical strategies to effectively engage an audience. In this chapter, we’ll focus on that audience (important adults and family members) and the skills you need to effectively communicate in written and digital formats.

Consideration #1: Accessibility

By accessibility, we refer to the opportunity for people with disabilities to “acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services” as people without disabilities^[1]. This doesn’t just mean providing accommodations or alternate ways of accessing materials and experiences. This means designing inclusively. The following link provides a simple, easy-to-follow list of foundational reminders regarding digital accessibility. We recommend bookmarking it and referencing it when you review communications: https://digital.gov/resources/best-practices-for-writing-for-accessible/?dg  The following are often missed when professionals begin their journey toward making communication more accessible:

• Headers are not simply large or bolded fonts. Designers use the heading levels in the document, making it both easier to read and accessible for those using screen readers.
• Authors use plain language to communicate information. As a non-example, copying and pasting the Standards of Learning or guidance for clinicians from a health professions journal won’t be as helpful as translating the key points into plain language that a family can understand.
• Images have captions and alt text that describes the visual.
• Sans serif fonts are considered the most accessible.
• Color contrast is accessible. The WebAIM color contrast checker is a free and easy tool to check yours!

Consideration #2: Overload

A basic principle of design is asking, What do they need to know?, and conversely, What is nice to know? We can reduce the overload by including only what they need to know, so that family members can focus on the important stuff. Long narratives can become bullet points. Clip art can… well, perhaps it isn’t necessary at all?

Consideration #3: Clean, elegant design

You no longer need a background in design or to start from scratch. And instead of searching popular sites where you can purchase templates that others in your profession created, you can simply use the tools you have. Microsoft Word and Google Docs both have very clean, elegantly designed templates that you can easily edit for your purposes. You may notice some of the following characteristics of well designed documents:

• Text doesn’t fill the page. Designers intentionally use white space to draw the reader’s attention to the important information.
• Bulleted lists replace long narrative sections whenever possible.
• No more than two fonts are used. Some choose one font for headers and another for text, as an example.
• No more than two font colors are used.

Remember, the best guidance we can provide is that the focus of your written communication is the reader, not the designer.