In the Zurich Life Insurance Forms there is text that asks questions, text that is instructional, and text that is explanatory. We created three distinct voices for these through the use of type hierarchy and colour. The use of different voices helped form-fillers better negotiate the 28-page form.

These voices also provide a sense of conversational turn taking between Zurich, a person’s adviser and the form-filler. Forms often take the place of a direct conversation where someone would ask questions and the other respond. By filling out a form we are having a conversation with an organisation and them with us. Incorporating elements of the conversation process is therefore essential to creating a successful form. We undertook this project for Zurich Insurance on behalf of the CRI.

The application for regional development funding is a long and involved form. Applicants were getting lost along the way to form completion. To address this, we added a snapshot of the funding application process on the first page. Following on from this, the form was structured with same flow of information. We undertook this project for DOTARS on behalf of the CRI.

Despite the fact that people get form-filling fatigue very quickly, organisations demand that their forms do more and more. This is the case with the NSW Birth Registration Form. When someone registers the birth of their child they are also obliged to provide a range of responses on the form that seem to have little to do with their child’s birth directly (rather they are for the benefit of the Australian Bureau of Statistics). In addition, parents can also use the form to purchase a Birth Certificate. The end result of this is a much longer and more complicated form-filling process. When we design a form we conduct an extensive analysis of content to determine whether it is necessary and what format it should take. If possible it is best to create forms that have a singular purpose. Unfortunately, in this case we were unable to do so. We undertook this project for NSW Attorney General’s Dept. on behalf of the CRI.

Interestingly, when we tested the old Births Registration form many people failed to provide their signatures. On the old form there had been an attempt to highlight this area by boxing it. In our new design we removed all cases of ‘boxing’ – the result being that everyone filled this section in. Boxed information seems to do the opposite of its intention – locking people out of sections rather than highlighting them.

Our testing showed that most form-fillers could not navigate their way through CPA’s existing forms. They were also particularly confused as to how to register more than one person. Changes were made so that the text directly addressed the form-filler, providing clear explanations about multiple registrations in prominent positions on the form. The new design provided visual sequencing as well as written. Form fillers get a sense of how to progress, and that they are progressing, through the application process just by looking at the form. (Note: new forms shown above and below)

When we tested the old form for Application to become a CPA Member and enrol in the CPA program it was not obvious that the application process had two stages – i.e. that one must be accepted as a member prior to being allowed to enrol. Our new design created a better delineation between these distinct sections of the form, removing any false expectations.

It was also clear that most people skipped past the conditions and went straight to the form filling. Our response was to make the many conditions an active part of the form by getting applicants to acknowledge they had read and agreed to the conditions by ticking a box. In a way, we are forcing people to read the conditions by utilising this kind of device. Testing showed that this made an enormous difference to form-fillers understanding of the form, with a reduction in errors and a change in their expectations.

Supply of support material has always been a problem for CPA. We also attempted to tackle this problem using the same tick box approach. While probably making applicants aware of the requirement to supply support material in reality many applicants, especially from overseas, do not have the required paperwork in the first place. This shows that the actual application processes that sit behind the form require review and possible modification – which is a common problem that design alone cannot fix. We undertook the CPA forms design projects on behalf of the CRI.