Writing interpretive labels in plain language

Plain language is not a lower register of writing. It is content aimed at a specific audience so that audience understands it, and the Plain Writing Act of 2010 treats writing for the public as a requirement, not a courtesy. For exhibition labels, that shifts the work from deciding whether to simplify to deciding what a visitor needs in order to look well. The goal is not to strip complexity from the subject. It is to remove obstacles between the visitor and the complexity that matters.

What does plain language mean for a label?

Plain language means the reader can find what they need, understand it, and use it. On a label wall, that translates into short sentences, familiar words, and one main idea per panel. The current plain language guidance describes principles, writing for understanding, designing for understanding, and testing for understanding as connected practices. A label fails if the words are accurate but the visitor cannot recover the point in the seconds they stand in front of the object. This is the same discipline that shapes an exhibition brief that guides decisions, where audience and purpose are settled before any text is drafted.

How do you keep accuracy while cutting jargon?

Jargon often hides uncertainty or habit. Keep the technical term when it is the object of the sentence, then explain it in the same breath. Write "a tin glaze, which gives the surface its cloudy white appearance" rather than leaving tin glaze as a password. Accuracy is preserved by naming the material, process, date, or attribution precisely, then adding the plain gloss. Never trade a fact for readability. Trade only the insider shorthand that a general visitor cannot decode. Where the label describes condition or handling, the same care applies as in writing condition reports others can reuse, because both texts must be exact without being impenetrable.

How long should a label be?

Length follows hierarchy. A title can be five words. A tombstone or credit line carries data. An introductory panel might run 90 to 150 words. A single object label usually reads best between 40 and 90 words, and shorter if the object is visually immediate. The discipline is not a word count for its own sake but a decision about rank: what must be read to look better, and what is optional depth. If everything is essential, nothing is. Move the secondary layer to a digital label, a catalogue entry, or a printed room sheet. Planning that hierarchy belongs with setting object selection criteria for a show, since the labels follow the objects that survive the cut.

What is the difference between plain language and dumbing down?

Dumbing down removes information. Plain language removes barriers. A flattened label says a painting is "about sadness." A plain language label says the figure turns away, the light falls from the left, and the setting is a bare room, then lets the visitor reach sadness. The first withholds evidence. The second supplies evidence in words the visitor can hold. That distinction is the editorial spine of every revision session.

How do you decide what to include or cut?

Use the object, not the research file, as the starting point. Ask what a visitor can already see, what they cannot see, and what one thing a curator would say if they had one sentence. Then apply a decision checklist before drafting.

Question	Keep it	Cut or move it
Can the visitor see this?	Only if naming it changes how they look	Yes, if it simply restates the object
Is it needed for accuracy?	Dates, materials, attribution, credit	No, if it is only provenance detail
Is the term familiar?	Everyday words	Rarely, unless defined in the same sentence
Is it one idea?	One main point per label	No, split it across panels
Does it need testing?	Drafts with new vocabulary or contested claims	No, for routine tombstone data

How do you test a label before it is printed?

Testing is part of the plain language process, not an afterthought. Read the label aloud. Ask a colleague outside the department to summarize it after one read. Watch where their eye stops. If a reader cannot say what the object is, what it is made of, and why it is here, the draft needs another pass. For labels with unfamiliar terms or sensitive content, run a small test with visitors or front of house staff before committing to print. A clear label that survives one honest read is cheaper than a wall of vinyl that has to be replaced.

What about contested, sensitive, or uncertain content?

Plain language does not mean false confidence. Write uncertainty plainly: "attributed to," "probably made in," "the record does not say." Where a subject involves harm, descendent communities, or living cultural practices, clarity includes context and voice. Plain wording should not soften a claim into vagueness, and it should not overwrite community guidance. When a label touches cultural sensitivity, follow the museum's own consultation and approval route before the draft is finalized.

Who should approve the final text?

Approval is a process question, not a writing one. Most exhibitions need curatorial accuracy, editorial consistency, and, where relevant, community or rights review. Build the review into the schedule alongside object selection and exhibition brief decisions, so that text changes do not arrive after the panel order is placed. Curatorial voice should stay visible in the label, but plain language editing is a shared service, not a silent rewrite.

How does plain language change the wall?

It changes sequencing more than word choice. A clear wall groups labels by one idea, uses headings visitors can scan, and places the shortest label next to the most visually demanding object. Design supports plain language: type size, line length, contrast, and reading distance all affect whether a well written sentence is actually read. Draft the label and the display text together rather than treating the copy as a finishing layer.

When should you seek current official guidance?

Plain language guidance itself is maintained and updated. The principles are stable, but the published examples, testing methods, and accessibility recommendations change. Before a major redevelopment, check the current plain language guidance at the source supplied below, and confirm your institution's accessibility and interpretation standards. Where labels make legal, medical, or financial claims, do not improvise: refer the text to the appropriate specialist and the current official guidance.

A good label leaves the visitor more able to look, not less able to think. Plain language is how that happens on a wall, one sentence at a time.