04 — Clear Is a Form of Care

Every word, instruction, or headline can remove the burden of interpretation. Every unexplained acronym, buried decision, vague instruction, or clever-but-empty headline asks someone else to do the work of interpretation. That work adds up. A person may be trying to apply for a job, complete a form, choose a product, repair a problem, or understand what changed in a system they use every day. They should not have to decode the interface before they can do the thing they came to do. Good interface language has a strange quality: it disappears. The user simply understands what is happening and knows what to do next.