Creating engaging contracts and documents

Many organizations struggle with text heavy, dense documents and contracts that are nor read (completely) or not understood (completely). Even though, the information is highly relevant to the target audience and created with great care. 

Essentially, your contracts (and all other documents) should invite users to read and work with them. They should be a representation of your companies culture and its position in the market. Some even say that they function as a window into the soul of your organization. 

So how to create contracts and documents that still display all the information needed, yet delivered in an engaging manner?

The Deloitte Designing Insight team specializes in creating effective visual communication from a cognitive perspective and is the most innovative in the current Dutch (legal) arena. The team has contributed to numerous high-end cases and has a proven track record. They bring 5+ years of experience in the legal sector, financial services and international corporations. Numerous documents have passed their desk. Working with Deloitte on contract design or document design can help realize documentation that is no longer perceived as text heavy and though to work through. The Deloitte Designing Insight team always puts the user first; creating a document that invites used to read it and stimulated understanding. We view contracts as the start of a successful relationship, not a measure to mitigate potential risk arising from that relationship. 

Contract design is one of the most advocated and adopted types of legal design. It’s also referred to as document design, since it can be applied to numerous types of documents not all of them being contracts. The main focus is on making the documents more accessible and preventing misinterpretation from happening by offering both a visual as a textual explanation. Research has shown that offering visuals support in legal documents allows people to: 

1. Move through the content quicker;
2. Gain a better understanding of that content; 
3. Are left with more positive emotions after reading the document in comparison with just text. 

Want to understand how document or contract design can help you? Take a look at the examples of contract design and legal design in the PDF attached. In case of any questions, don’t hesitate to connect!