Form-filling fatigue strikes quickly. Despite this, organisations demand that their forms do more and more. When someone registers the birth of their child in NSW they are also obliged to provide a range of responses to help the Australian Bureau of Statistics collect information. They can also use it to order a Birth Certificate. The end result is a longer and more complicated form-filling process.

In most forms there is text that asks questions, text that is instructional, and text that is explanatory.

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. Three distinct voices were created for the Zurich forms through the use of type hierarchy and colour to help form-fillers. These voices also provide a sense of conversational turn taking between Zurich, a person’s adviser and the form-filler.

The application for regional development funding is a very long form – so long applicants were getting lost along the way. To address this, a snapshot of the funding application process was added to the first page. Following on from this, the form was structured with the same flow of information.

When we tested the old form 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. The new design created a better delineation between these distinct sections of the form, removing any false expectations. Most people skipped the conditions and started filling out the form, so we included tick boxes for applicants to acknowledge they had read and agreed to the conditions. This approach pushes people to read the conditions. This resulted in a reduction in errors and a change in their expectations.