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The Clarity Journal

Our biannual journal, The Clarity Journal, is the leading source of plain language news and research from across the globe. The journal features the latest plain language research, practical advice, before-and-after examples, success stories, campaign strategies and much more.

The Clarity Journal is distributed free to members, keeping you up-to-date and informed of changes and trends in plain language and clear communication.

Contact our Editor-in-Chief at editor@clarity-international.org for advertising, article submissions and enquiries.

  • The Clarity Journal 76 January 2018

    In this issue :

    1. Plain language, citizens and the European Ombudsman,
    2. Using plain language to protect consumers,
    3. Transparent, clear & responsible communication project in BBVA,
    4. Packing a punch: how a small charity put plain English on the national agenda,
    5. New writs are being served? From ceremony to pragmatism in a Dutch court summons,
    6. Why use 50,000 words when 500 will do?,
    7. A prescription for Clarity,
    8. Toward an integrated framework for evaluating plain language,
    9. Capital letters out, swearwords in: one journalist’s legacy
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  • The Clarity Journal 75 June 2017

    In this issue :

    1. Notice me – communicating patient privacy rights through effective notices,
    2. Moving beyond “Clear and Conspicuous” – the omnipresent but elusive standard for disclosures under U.S. consumer protection laws,
    3. Disenfranchised by bad design,
    4. From legalese to reader ease – plain language tips for plainer contracts,
    5. What’s “The Deal”?: Designing mortgage disclosures that consumers can use and understand,
    6. Consumer testing to avoid the Dodd-Frank Act’s UDAAP tripwire,
    7. Legislative Drafting: Step-By-Step

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  • The Clarity Journal 74 January 2017

    In this issue :

    1. Even lawyers want to understand: plain language increases lawyers’ credibility to both lawyers and laypeople,
    2. Foxed and fined: how unclear contractual parking signs bamboozle motorists,
    3. Lost in translation? A multidisciplinary approach on legal issues in tax communication,
    4. Contact strategies for statistical surveys and plain language: a difficult partnership,
    5. The challenges of communicating the law to the public,
    6. The source of bad writing,
    7. Permanent clarity: achieving critical mass in government communications,
    8. Putting the civility into NZ civil collections — a case, study on building plain language into court documents,
    9. Using a holistic and user-centered design in simplifying a Philippine contract,
    10. At the chalkface; challenges of teaching clear legal, writing to non-native English speakers,
    11. The objectives do not meet the finalities. Learning to be clear in the Belgian Legal Sector,
    12. You do not speak plainly alone, you speak plainly together
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  • The Clarity Journal 73 January 2015

    In this issue :

    1. The architecture of clarity,
    2. You think lawyers are good drafters?,
    3. Recent developments in contract drafting techniques,
    4. Setting up a local Clarity meeting,
    5. Plainly in Polish,
    6. Clear language awareness in language policy in Norway,
    7. Communicating with Older People: Writing in plain English by Sarah Carr,
    8. Clear & Concise – Become A Better Business Writer
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  • The Clarity Journal 72 September 2014

    In this issue :

    1. How Do Our Readers Really Think, Understand, and Decide — Despite What They Know?,
    2. What’s in a name? The future for plain language in a converging communication profession,
    3. Plain Language for Accessibility, Democracy, and Citizenship,
    4. A Methodology for Clear Communication,
    5. Coaching legal experts in plain language for the web
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  • The Clarity Journal 71 June 2014

    In this issue :

    1. Judicial decisions: acts of communication,
    2. Judicial decisions a riposte and a retort,
    3. Plain English: Changing the Lawyer’s, Image and Goals,
    4. Bringing the audience to the fore, Radical approaches to preparing legislation
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  • The Clarity Journal 70 December 2013

    In this issue :

    1. Helping legal writers embrace their inner Salieri: Re-vision is just “seeing again”,
    2. Plain-language writing-training course: A challenge, an ambition, and a method in five steps,
    3. Strategies for clarity in legal writing,
    4. “Plain language”: Practical tips for how to make it not so plain,
    5. “Plain language”: Practical tips for how to make it not so plain,
    6. Visual clarity in contract drafting,
    7. Teaching non-native English speakers to draft contracts with clarity,
    8. Clearer words, clearer justice, and more.
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  • The Clarity Journal 69 January 2013

    In this issue :

    1. Trying to change the institutional culture:
      the European Commission’s clear writing campaign
    2. Start a plain language program at your organization
    3. USCIS plain language program
    4. Striving for clarity: the General Service Administration’s steps towards plain language
    5. The IRS and plain writing—challenges and accomplishments for a taxing situation
    6. Texas pattern jury charges—plain language revisions
    7. A study into best practice community legal information—a summary
    8. The challenges of plain language legal information in various media
    9. Empowering individuals to understand and engage
    10. You have the right to remain baffled: plain language and criminal justice
    11. Mobile technology and plain language—a match made in heaven
    12. Consumer testing and the development of TILA-RESPA integrated disclosures
    13. Plain language and statutory drafting: a Stark contrast
    14. Wrong—again—about plain language
    15. Draft of the Clarity Constitution
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  • The Clarity Journal 68 November 2012

    In this issue :

    1. Clarity 2012 opening address
    2. The story of “shall”: a parable of plain language
    3. Reflections of a plain-language legislative drafter
    4. Plain language in the financial world
    5. The IC clear project
    6. Plain language and the role of the visual
    7. Plain language laws in Australia
    8. Plain language laws in the Netherlands
    9. The US Plain Writing Act of 2010
    10. The rewriting of a statute—a case study
    11. The Swedish approach to clear legislation
    12. The risks and challenges of fostering plain language in Mexico
    13. Norway’s never ending story: improving the language in laws and regulations
    14. Simple is smart, smart is fast
    15. Plain language in the new Finnish model for effective legislative drafting
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  • The Clarity Journal 67 May 2012

    In this issue :

    1. Advocating plain language in the media
    2. Plain language: no budget—no problem!
    3. How do public authorities address the citizens? An attempt on a new understanding of textual categories
    4. A campaign for plain language in the municipality of Copenhagen—from textual effects to organisational context
    5. The Swedish Language Act—impact, experiences and challenges
    6. A plain perspective on legal translation
    7. The Korean initiative for easy-to-understand laws
    8. Language Consultancy Training in need of interaction between universities and practitioners
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