The Imperative of Simplicity in Communications

In the article The Political Speechwriter's Life (The New York Times November 3the author Robert Lehrman provides a useful perspective on communications no matter what the field.  Lehrman illustrates the need for simplicity by an illustration from medicine.  He cites researchers who found that 40% of English-speaking hospital patients did not understand the common direction:  "Do not take this medicine on an empty stomach."