At first glance, the phrases “federal website” and “designed for kids” seem diametrically opposed. After all, how could one of the world’s most complicated bureaucracies ever hope to communicate with children? But that’s exactly what the Every Kid in a Park team did. In only a handful of months, a small team of designers designed and launched a coherent, compelling government website— and they did it all at a fourth-grade reading level. From testing to approvals, this talk speaks frankly about challenges faced (and solutions uncovered) throughout the creation of everykidinapark.gov.
Emileigh Barnes is a content lead at 18F, a digital consultancy within the U.S. government.
An advocate of plain language and the Oxford comma, Emileigh headed the content strategy for everykidinapark.gov and beta.fec.gov. She’s published in academic journals, literary journals, newspapers, and magazines. She’s the author of two poetry chapbooks.
If not at work, Emileigh’s probably watching West Wing reruns, searching for (actually) spicy food in Minneapolis, or hanging out at the dog park with her boxer, Huckleberry Finn.
