PILs: The font of all wisdom

It’s clear that the choice and size of font have a critical role to play in whether a patient can read a leaflet, let alone understand it.

Choice of font: The Plain English Campaign recommend the use of the sans serif family of fonts, such as Arial or Helvetica as these don’t have serifs (small projecting features) at the end of strokes as in Times New Roman.

Font size: This should be as large as possible to aid readers (e.g. 9 points, in font) and not narrowed. A space between the lines of at least 3mm is probably the minimum acceptable.

At Cognisant Research we understand the challenges our clients face with their PIL house-style, which is why we work in partnership to deliver the best quality layouts and information, consistent with meeting the requirements of Article 59(3) of Directive 2001/83/EC.

Our PIL user testing service delivers a full user test report in 4 working weeks. If you are planning to user test a PIL in 2012, then call us today on (01761) 408165 to discuss our experience and our approach.

Cognisant Research are committed to the development of quality patient information, which is why we are committed to a partnership, not a service.

PILs: The font of all wisdom

Member of