Clear labels, careful explanations
1A student design group is testing labels for a small exhibition. Visitors must find an object, read its label, and explain one important feature. The first labels contain many technical terms without explanations. Some visitors recognize the object but cannot explain why it matters. The group therefore compares different versions of each label instead of assuming that one attractive design will solve every problem.
2In one trial, the clearer the headings become, the more quickly visitors find the information they need. In another trial, the more unexplained terms a label contains, the less confident visitors feel about explaining it. These observations concern the versions tested in the room. The group does not claim that adding any heading will always help, or that every long label is difficult. A longer label may include an example that makes a difficult idea easier to understand.
3The students also separate speed from accuracy. A visitor may find a sentence quickly and still misunderstand it. For that reason, they ask visitors to explain the feature in their own words after reading. The more carefully the students compare these explanations with the labels, the more errors they notice. Finding more errors is useful at this stage because it shows what they should revise. Their goal is not simply to make every label shorter. It is to help visitors locate an idea and understand it well enough to explain it.