Information design
About JETdoc
2019 Reviewer of the Year at the BMA Patient Information Awards
JETdoc began life in 1991, as JET Documentation Services, working mainly for the telecommunications industry — designing, writing and illustrating a very wide range of both customer-facing and procedural information.
Since the early 2000s, I have been specialising principally in information about medicines and healthcare. There’s more information below about some projects I have worked on. During that time, I have conducted many usability-testing sessions and become a very experienced interviewer and analyser of results.
My special interests include clear communication of risks and benefits, and instructions for using medical devices.
Near home in York, with the beautiful Tess
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One of the inaugural Life Fellows of the Communications Research Institute (CRI)
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Fellow and former Council member of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (ISTC)
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Member of the judging panel for the annual PopComm technical, corporate, financial and charity publishing awards, 1994 to 2004.
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Member of Patient Information Forum, the UK’s membership organisation and network for people working in, and involved with, healthcare information and support
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Reviewer and Judge for the British Medical Association’s Patient Information Awards
Memberships and professional status include:
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Committee member, Information Design Association (IDA)
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Member of the organising committee for the InfoDesign 97, 98, 99, 2000, 2007, 2009 and 2014 conferences
The information design process as defined and practised by CRI
How JETdoc works
As an independent practitioner, I bring a comprehensive personal skill set to projects — including writing, editing, design, illustration, usability testing and print consultancy. When a project calls for more resources or complementary skills, I work with trusted colleagues.
With no unnecessary overheads, I aim to offer highly flexible and cost-effective solutions — as much or as little input as you need.
Some recent projects
Since 2000, I have worked as an Associate of Consumation, a leader in the field of consumer information design and usability testing.
I have carried out many projects, for a number of pharmaceutical companies, including GSK, BMS, Astra Zeneca, Novartis, Roche, Mundipharma, Orchard and Ascendis —
• writing, editing, designing, illustrating and testing medicine leaflets;
• improving the information given to people being recruited into clinical trials.
In addition, I have delivered training sessions to in-house staff involved in producing information for patients.
I also played a major part in a project redesigning a suite of material for the UK medicines regulator, the MHRA, to support their Yellow Card scheme for reporting side effects of medicines.
With my colleague Emily Newsom-Davis, I worked on completely redesigning King Edward VII‘s Hospital’s in-house patient information leaflets.
I developed a new design and layout for the leaflets and booklets, and produced templates for ongoing use. I also created a number of new diagrams, tailored to house style and the specific needs of the hospital.
Communications Research Institute
I have worked on several projects for the Communications Research Institute (CRI):
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CRI’s client, a multinational company, was seeking to market an over-the-counter medicine under an established brand name. The Australian medicines regulator was concerned that the information on the packet did not communicate key messages about choosing the product and using it safely.
I led a project to redesign the packaging information, clarifying key messages and generally making it more user-friendly. The redesigned packaging performed considerably better in testing, and the regulator was satisfied.
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When an Australian pharmaceutical company wanted to market a medicine in the EU, I advised them on requirements for patient information, then designed and tested the package leaflet.
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I contributed to a collaborative multinational project establishing usability benchmarks for financial statements.
The Department of Health commissioned a guide to help people understand what
an online care record is, how to access it safely and how to keep it safe and secure. Working with Mynors Suppiah, I developed a simple, effective layout for the guide, which individual institutions could customise locally. This guide was runner up in the BMA’s 2013 Patient Information Awards, in the ‘Information that aids decision making’ category.
When Mynors Suppiah worked on an MOD-commissioned independent audit of
the health needs of the British Nuclear Test Veterans of the 1950s and 1960s, I designed an easy-to-use format for the survey questionnaire.
Kingston Hospital NHS Trust wanted a consistent structure and visual identity for the information leaflets and booklets provided to patients and carers, and produced in-house.
I developed produced a series of templates, together with advice, guidance and support on their use. This enables in-house staff to produce high-quality materials, to the benefit of patients and their families and carers.