Content Principles
Principle 1: Don’t use language that presumes an emotional state
Be empathetic in a broad sense and cater to different users. Not everyone is going to experience the death of people in their lives in the same way, so avoid totalising language around emotions.
Why?
When we use language that doesn’t align with someone’s experience, we add to cognitive load or imply the service isn’t meant for them. We want this service to be useable by everyone.
Examples:
- Shock
- Love
- Unsure
- Angry
- Relief
Alternatives:
Use phrases that speak to the task at hand, or the context, not to the individual.
Eg. Use: “It can be difficult to know what to do” rather than “It’s a confusing time.”
Principle 2: Be clear
Avoid conditional words, explain the situation This one’s difficult, as not everyone does the same
Why?
It’s distracting when it’s clear there’s information missing (users have called it “waffly” and “wishy-washy”). We don’t want to distract our users – we want them to focus on the task at hand.
Examples:
- Usually
- Sometimes
- Things
- If (where it is not clear what the other options are)
What to do with complex processes
If the task a user needs to do is particularly complicated
_AND
This complication is outside of our control
_THEN
Acknowledge it’s complicated and clearly outline the steps.
Principle 3: Be neutral in your language about relationships
Related to Principle 1. Try not to presume an affective relationship between the user and the person that has died.
Why?
When we use language that doesn’t align with someone’s experience, we add to cognitive load, call guilt/shame into play, or imply the service isn’t meant for them. We want this service to be useable by everyone. We don’t want to do harm.
Neutral is neither overly warm, nor overly cold.
Too warm
- Loved-one
- Father (or other personalised relationship)
Neutral
- Close-to
- Person that has died
- Them/they
Too cold
- Cadaver
- Body
Principle 4: Ease in to hard topics
Don’t lead with difficult words – try to soften them by using them in the middle or end of a paragraph/sentence.
Why?
In Australia, we’re still learning how to talk about death. Some words can trigger strong emotional reactions in people and this can be distressing and/or distracting. In testing, users were more likely to prefer ‘difficult’ words when they were softened with the language of ‘care’ or situated in the middle of a paragraph.
Words to be careful with
- Cremation
- Burial
- Deceased
Principle 5: Checklists: Provide ‘just enough’ information
Like Principle 2, but for checklists.
Make them scannable, and actionable. That is, we want people to get a sense of the tasks at-a-glance, and then be able to click through for more information
Why?
Too much information makes a checklist hard to read and overwhelming. Too little makes them unusable. In testing, most users have said they want a single sentence summary with links to deeper information.