This is one of the most basic errors of communication.
It's a shame, because it often means great content doesn't get read, and it's so very easy to rectify.
Coming up, for example, is a wonderful poem, one of my favourites.
But before that, have a look at the picture (above) I've used to accompany this musing.
Because you know I love photography, because it's relevant, and because it provides a little light relief first (you may need it!)
So, that poem:
Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths, Of night and light and the half-light, I would spread the cloths under your feet: But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet;Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
WB Yeats, He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven.
How did you feel when you saw that big bulk of a paragraph?
I'm betting you either didn't read it, or had to force yourself to do so, because it looked so dense and unappealing.
Contrast that with how Yeats' beautiful words could be set out:
Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
I imagine you found that much more readable.
The point being that good communication isn't just about content. It's also about appeal and accessibility.
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Which is partly why I use photos in my blogs, of the heavens and their many coloured cloths in this case.
It sounds obvious, but you'd be amazed how often I see attacks of text more dense than a tropical rainforest.
It's particularly a problem here in Cambridge, where brilliant people go about their work, and write some amazing things...
But are so busy being clever, and in their zone, they forget to give the rest of us a chance to actually understand what they're doing.
So, the next time you're writing something important, take just a few seconds to check the layout.
If a paragraph looks too dense to you, no doubt it will to a reader.
Break it up into smaller chunks and hey presto!
As if by magic, you have instantly improved communication.