Best Practices
For a full list of best practices, visit the Nielsen Norman Group website.
- Write clearly and simply. Use active voice and conversational tone.
- Front-load the important information. Use the journalism model of the “inverted pyramid.” Start with the content that is most important to your audience, and then provide additional details.
- Less is better than more – include key information only to avoid information overload.
- Use bullets and numbered lists.
- Avoid long paragraphs of content. List are easier to scan.
- Use clear headlines and subheads. Questions, especially those with pronouns, are effective.
- Use images, diagrams, or multimedia to visually represent ideas in the content. Use only images that are free to use, such as those from Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay, and similar sites.
- The Georgia Tech Library subscribes to Piktochart, a good choice if you want to make your own graphics.
- Use white space. Using white space allows you to reduce noise by visually separate information.
- Never use ALL CAPS. If you need emphasis, use bold. Even then, use sparingly.
- Use italics only when they serve a purpose (e.g. setting aside a quote, citation formatting.)
- Never underline text since this is the convention for indicating a link.
- Text should always be aligned left (never centered or right justified).
- Use just one space after a period and to start a new sentence, not two.
