Accessibility guidelines for brochures and flyers

Complicated writing can be confusing and hard to understand. It can be particularly difficult for people with dyslexia, autism or other cognitive conditions, or for people whose first language isn’t English.

When writing, think about the words you use when having a conversation. Remember that our brains take in information more easily when it’s broken into small chunks.

It’s good practice to read your writing aloud, line by line, removing unnecessary words and rewriting sentences if they seem too long. If you come across large blocks of text, break them up into shorter paragraphs.

• Instead of: It is important to note that you must exercise caution when travelling to remote parts of Nigeria.
• Try: Be careful when travelling to remote parts of Nigeria.

Jargon and acronyms may only make sense to people who live in a particular region or work in a specific industry.

Make your language as clear as possible by avoiding acronyms where you can. The exception is if the acronyms are more commonly recognised than when spelled out in full: for example URL, DVD or USB.

• Instead of: We are an NGO that works with the WHO to treat and prevent NTDs.
• Try: We are an international organisation that works with the World Health Organization to treat and prevent neglected tropical diseases.

If you need to use acronyms, it’s best practice to write the full wording first, followed by the acronym in brackets. After this, use the acronym.

• For example: We work with the World Health Organization (WHO) to fight disease.

If you’re mentioning a lot of organisations, phrases and words that need to be abbreviated, include them in a glossary so readers can refer to the glossary for more information.

Bullet points can help your audience to read and digest information quickly.

Instead of: The most common signs that a person is suffering from trachoma include discharge from the eyes, irritated eyes and redness.

Try: Common signs of trachoma:

• Discharge from the eyes
• Irritated eyes
• Redness

Do not replace bullet symbols with other icons or characters, as screen readers may read them out, making it confusing for users. If you use a tick symbol, for instance, a screen reader may read the word ‘tick’ aloud.

Good colour contrast between text, images, logos and the background will make your content legible and easy to identify.

Black text on a white background is usually the first choice for maximum legibility. Avoid using background graphics that make text difficult to read.

People with colour blindness may not be able to tell the difference between certain colours such as red and green. Check the colour contrast of your work by using a plugin or view it in greyscale.

Text that’s aligned to the left creates evenly spaced words and makes it easier for people to see where each line begins.

Justified text leads to uneven spacing, which can be hard to read.

Centred text can make it difficult to see where each line begins.

Breaking up content with headings and images will allow people to scan the brochure or flyer easily.

Avoid having a large block of text as it requires more time and effort to read. The best designs are simple and uncluttered.

Only capitalise the first letter of a sentence (this is known as sentence case).

Avoid words written all in upper case: they can be problematic for people with dyslexia and visual impairments.

Upper case can also be tricky for screen readers, which may interpret consecutive upper-case letters as acronyms. For example, if you write ALL, a screen reader may spell it out as ‘A, L, L’.

• Instead of: World Health Organization Launches Innovative NEW Campaign
• Write: World Health Organization launches innovative new campaign

Add alt text to photographs, charts, icons, logos and diagrams.

Alt text is a simple description of an image that can be read by screen reading software. The description should be brief and in context. There’s no need to write “Image of…” or “ Picture of…” – the screen reader will do this automatically. If the image contains a graph or other numerical data, include key points from the data in the alt text.

Read our full alt text guidelines

Hyperlinks should convey clear and accurate information, describing where people will go if they click the link.

People who use screen readers may scan through a document looking for links, so avoid using link text such as ‘click here’, ‘learn more’ or ‘link’. These are meaningless when read out independently, because users won’t know what they link to.

• Instead of: Read more
• Try: Read our general accessibility guidelines

Use a different colour to highlight the hyperlink text and underline it, so people who are colour blind can recognise that the text contains a link.

Links that point to the same destination should have the same description.