Communication that's as clear as mud

Have you ever wondered why legalese is so hard to understand? Whether it's a government form, a license agreement, or some other type of contract, the end user is often confronted with unintuitive, unclear, and confusing information. Gregg Bernstein recently raised the question of clear communication for software TOS (Terms of Service) contracts—specifically, why do they need to be so hard to read and understand? For his MFA thesis he analyzed and redesigned Apple's iTunes license agreement and found this doesn't have to be the case. Condensing and simplifying the language, improving the typography for better readability, and increasing brand unity were just some of the changes he made. You can read more about it on his website iagreeto.org.Bernstein's goal in the redesign was to take an unreadable contract and turn it into something that would not only benefit consumers by giving them a fighting chance of understanding it, but would also benefit Apple. By creating a document that users can actually understand, Apple might find that it increases compliance with its terms rather than bamboozling users into it without comprehension.While many don't give it a second thought when they blindly click through Terms of Service contracts and other legalese, the implications of poor visual communication not only raise ethical questions about the intent of the vendor, but can also wreak havoc in other areas of visual communication where contracts and forms are involved.When George Bush defeated Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election some felt the outcome had been determined by poor graphic design. The visual hierarchy of the ballot was confusing, as was the readability of the ballot, which was especially difficult to read for the target demographic, the elderly. The story is now more than a decade old, but it still stings with injustice and outrage as well as embarrassment for graphic designers.Graphic design serves as a filter through which much of our communication is disseminated, and graphic designers are often the gatekeepers of this communication. The influence that they have on how information is delivered is not always apparent to them. They sometimes become completely engulfed in certain details of a project and don't realize the full impact of their work, or for that matter the responsibility they bear in creating communication that is an integral part of our culture.What do you think? How culpable are graphic designers for poor visual design of forms and contracts?Sources:http://www.iagreeto.org/http://www.thedaily.com/page/2011/09/06/090611-tech-technews-itunes-redesign-1-2/http://will-harris.com/wire/html/design_ramifications.html