The most important bit of content an AncestryHealth user might see is just a few words: whether they do or don't have a higher chance of cancer, heart disease or another serious condition. Getting those words right was critical, as was striking the right message and tone in the hundreds of words that followed — the consumer-facing reports that explain users’ DNA test results.

In these reports, we had to reassure users who got bad news that it wasn't a death sentence, while also educating users who got good news that it didn't mean serious health conditions were now impossible. After dozens of rounds drafting and editing and restructuring and rewriting and user-testing and stakeholder feedback, we ended up with reports that managed to straddle the tricky line between clinically accurate, legally compliant, and empathetic and clear enough to still be user-friendly.