Digital innovation and connection are vital parts of a modern, accessible healthcare system. Over the past few years, digital health has grown exponentially in importance. It’s now more relevant than ever for all Australians and healthcare providers.
The challenge
The Agency engaged True North Content to transform 4 separate documents for an external audience:
- 3 research reports
- one literature review.
Agency researchers had written and designed the reports for an internal audience, never intending for the information to be presented publicly. They also prepared the literature review for journal publication.
The research reports needed significant condensing, restructuring and rewriting, a thorough copyedit and proofread, and then to be presented in an eye-catching, accessible way.
The original content was complex, and somewhat politically sensitive, and the published reports could attract media interest.
A primary consideration was maintaining the integrity of the research evidence base while presenting the information appropriately for external government entities – including members of Parliament, healthcare member organisations and lobby groups – and more general public audiences.
For each research report, the final deliverables included:
- a fully designed document
- a concise, high-level summary
- a PowerPoint presentation for the Agency to share with key stakeholders.
The literature review required restructuring to meet the journal’s submission guidelines, including reformatting the references to the appropriate style (Oxford SciMed). The article had input from multiple stakeholders, within both the Agency and the Department of Health and Aged Care. A primary consideration was reducing the word count without distorting the research findings.
Our approach
True North Content formed a project team with high-level science writing, editing and design skills, as well as political astuteness and diplomacy.
Due to our wide network of communications professionals, we quickly assembled a team that possessed all those attributes, with each person specialising in their part of the project.
The first step was to develop a project plan that kept the stream of work moving through:
- writing
- client feedback
- copyediting
- design
- proofreading.
For each document, our experienced writer developed a skeleton draft for client approval before tackling the content as a whole. Although this added a layer of work in the early stage, it saved time overall, as it meant we worked to a pre-approved structure, with specific content earmarked for inclusion after the structure was approved.
Once the client approved the first draft, the document then moved through the copyeditor, designer and proofreader, while the writer began the next piece of work.
For the literature review, our experienced academic editor thoroughly reviewed the journal’s submission guidelines and systematically restructured the article to ensure it complied. They then reformatted the reference list and citations, and conducted a thorough copyedit to achieve the required word count. We consulted with the client throughout this process and gave them the opportunity to provide several rounds of feedback at different stages.
While each document progressed through the workflow, our writer, copyeditor and designer regularly discussed how best to graphically present the content in the final design, while ensuring WCAG 2.2 compatibility.
The project team also met weekly with Agency staff to ensure the integrity and robustness of the final documents.
This process enabled us to overcome an early challenge when it seemed the Agency wanted to move the design in-house. Our strong relationship with the client and our understanding of best-practice design allowed us to reach a compromise where Agency designers provided a template and imagery for us to work with.
The result
We delivered significantly improved research reports that were appropriate for external audiences.
To maintain the integrity of the research while reducing cognitive load on the reader, we:
- improved the reading level of the content
- included accessible graphs and tables
- removed unnecessary content.
We also drew on our combined political acumen to ensure we presented sensitive material accurately and transparently.
The final design document followed the Agency’s branding and met all WCAG 2.2 requirements.
We also delivered the literature review in a format appropriate for submitting to the client’s chosen journal, adhering to all submission guidelines regarding structure, length and referencing.
