Keep It Simple Stupid or KISS. Most of us have heard it and know what it means, so why do more websites, reports, documents and manuals than I can possibly count, ignore this quintessential message? With his customary incisive thinking and concise writing Seth Godin laments all this overbloated writing in but you’re not saying anything.
I still see it all the time, especially on technology and corporate websites. Unnecessary complexity. Long words. Obtuse sentences and paragraphs, that when you’ve read them, tell you nothing. People are afraid of using short, simple words. Instead they relish the long, complex and often fluffy sentences that say nothing. Or, you can’t fathom what it’s saying.
Here is an example. What does this mean? …the breadth and depth of our resources, capability and our committment to the UK industrial base in network enabled capability and deployed systems… I’m sorry. Say that again? This, by the way, is from a corporate website. Who wants to read it? What is enabled network capability? It’s not saying anything. How about this instead…we have the experience and people to build your network… A little easier to read and understand. The people who write this stuff think they are being clever, but really, they’re being dumb.
All copy should be written for an eight year-old to understand. Newspapers are written this way for good reason; to encourage busy people to read them. So, why do corporate website copywriters continue to write this way? Nobody is reading it. There are just a few simple rules; use short words, one message per sentence, one topic per paragraph, short paragraphs, get to the point. Write concisely. Edit out unnecessary words.
Simplicity and clarity rules. Complexity is the KISS of death.
