Visual storytelling – Systemic change in legal profession

J. Kim Wright of Cutting Edge Law is leading a growing community and movement of   ‘GoodMoodLawyers’. She is the author of the book Lawyers as Peacebuilders.

This spring Kim and I are collaborating on visual storytelling to support her presentations and training about the inspiring theme of Systemic Change in the legal profession. We designed a series of information graphics to highlight the shared values of holistic lawyers, and to give an overview of the many forms and practices in which they transform the legal domain. See and read more ...

This is work in progress, so please keep following this evolution on www.cuttingedgelaw.com.

Visual legal advice

Legal advice has two common forms. The first is a long unreadable memorandum with 80% valuable content and 20% legibility. The second form is a popular column in a magazine with 20% very generic information and 80% of self-promotional value for the lawyer-author.

This article in Metropolis Magazine 09.2010 about copyright protection for design work is a goodmoodlaw exception: On the advice of Counsel.

The article gives a short introduction on five basic categories of copyright protection. Two copyright attorneys then analyzed five design products. The article looks attractive and provides a good basic impression of the legal assessments. One page per design, with an overview of the applicability of each form of legal protection, marked with a plus or a minus sign.

A few years ago, I created a pilot version of a visual legal memorandum for a major financial case. My clients, a team of high end litigation attorneys, thought that the set of information graphics would not be appealing to their clients in the banking industry and would reduce the value and the image of their work. The experiment ended, but the argument survived. I still believe that even top level, highly educated professional clients would welcome legal advice in an accessible format with visual support.  Not in place of the (expensive) complete textual version, but in addition to it.

Smart and busy people need to share legal advice in a nutshell with others who have to act or decide somehow on it. Attorneys can provide inviting visual tools, if they want. Corporate legal counsels can ask for this, if they want. Top level managers can insist on it, if they stop believing that legal information needs to look bad and feel even worse.

A touchy privacy policy

One of the small surprises as an expat in the USA was my first doctor’s visit. Almost every detail of the procedure and routine is slightly different. The paperwork however is the BIG difference. The trick is  to sign to agree with a privacy policy that I may or may not actually get in my hand. This ‘acceptance of our privacy policy’ sheet is a standard sheet between all the other sheets of paper on the clipboard, that I have to fill out and sign with a quasi cheerful pen with taped-on toothbrush or paper flower.

Like everyone I just scribble and sign it. But … the big question is:

WHY do they not show any effort to show me a readible, inviting, clear policy. WHY is this not on a wall poster, next to the flu shot posters, wash your hands posters and other Doctors for Dummies messages.

So I crafted a new version.

It is a fabric book with the highlights of the standard policies, stitched on a canvas and painted with acrylics. You can touch it, flip through it, ask the ladies behind the desk (in colorful Pajamas – another cultural uniqueness) for more information. You will get a colorful and quick idea of the do’s and don’ts with your personal medical  information.

And for your peace of mind:  some things in the Dutch health care system are quite funny and unpractical as well.  Bottom line – I love my doctors and their staff. I celebrate the health of my family. It is the packaging of their work that could use a touch up.

This mixed media artwork is for sale. Orders for customized pieces are welcome too.

Vendor Power – Visual support for street vendor regulations NYC

Please take a look at this project VENDOR POWER of The Center for Urban Pedagogy in New York City, and designed by CANDY CHANG.

This project shows a unique combination of ingredients:

• An inviting overall look-and-feel
• High quality communication: the messages are guided by the content, by the interests of the stakeholders and by the target audience.
• In depth study and representation of the essential information. For example on the allowed sizing of a vendor’s table.
• Real legal information: not just the topic, the headline or information on resources or reference contacts.
  ” If you follow the rules, you have the RIGHT to vend on a public sidewalk. ”
  “Policy can’t make you move, unless there’s an emergency or there is a big event. “
• Legal information placed in its context: Street vendors as an iconic part of the urban appeal of New York City . Street vendors as real people, by combining the different types of vendors with short stories. Advocacy to make the street vendor laws work better for different stakeholders.
• A clean and userfriendly lay-out and poster format.
• The artwork is simple, but not too simple. Strong lines, but also recognizable people. (see page 1)
• Icons that are both fresh and understandable: see the icon for the big event-exception. (see page 2, left lower corner)

Very effective and absolutely deserves ‘goodmoodlaw’-honors.

Goodmoodlaw will closely follow the work of Candy Chang. She is a TED Fellow of 2009 and has created more impressive legal information projects and tools.

GOOD Magazine – Transparency Contest – Health Care Bill

Good Magazine excels in information graphics on social innovation. The magazine and the website both display compelling content and inspiring design.

Good Magazine is also the poster magazine for Good Mood Law. They frequently include visual stories from the legal domain. The similarity in name is unintentional, but meaningful. We are not affiliated, yet seem to be part of the same tribe of ‘visionary visualists and shapeshifters for the common good’. The look-and-feel and professional quality of the design of the Good Magazine is beyond contest, simply too good to be true. However, I also feel we are thinking, playing and experimenting in the same conceptual sandbox.

Click here to see the contributions for  the latest Transparency Contest- a rich collection of information graphics on the Health Care Bill. I will give a quick review from the Goodmoodlaw-perspective:

1. Design Haik Avinian: Great look, clear entry point with the legal provision as a headline. A smart design solution to use sunflower image as piechart, zooming in to the detail level in the form of a seed. Careful visualization of sensitive topic.

2. Designed by the Center for American Progress: My first choice. Good storytelling and easy information flow. The low tech look helps people to connect themselves to the information. A clear structure in the distinction between What, Why and How.

3. Design Nate Clancy: A good representation of the political context: financing, lobby and voting. The best representation of the financial resourcing of the bill, on the price tag in the upper right corner.

4. Design Marco Giannini: I like the concept of this map, the inclusion of many aspects, such as previous reform attempts. This richness comes with a price for the clarity and ‘punch factor’. I think the concept of Exchange  between Uninsured and Insured is a great angle as an entry point. This appeals to the ‘What’s in it for me?” question that people have around this bill.

5. Design Nicole Marie Rincon: Inviting, playful, connected information. The pills as icons are interesting. At first glance they seem to be overused, by which they lose their information value. Closer study however shows the meaning of different pills (for example the round red one for pre-existing conditions. This demonstrates that vizualizing is not the same as simplifying.  ‘Reading’ and understanding information graphics is a matter of time and concentrated attention. They have a high information density. The  clauses on pre-existing conditions show up clearly and repeatedly. The terminology on the top is very useful in legal information graphics.

5. Design Tom wilder: A crisp, attractive, one page-fact sheet. The structure of information are less clear. The placement of topics seems somewhat random. For example financial aspects are in different corners. The same font size is used for most of the numbers. There is no visual hierarchy. I would also prefer a different visual clue to distinct between numbers for people and money.

I can’t wait to find out who is the winner , which will be announced tomorrow. So far: my compliments to all submitters for taking on a meaningful and complex topic, including the legal aspects.

Legal promo on beer coasters

The Dutch Department of Economic Affairs invited us to provide some promotional material about the work of Legal Visuals for their annual gathering of lawyers. We could have just shipped a box of flyers, but took the opportunity to design and print some new promotional material.

The result is a beer coaster with a Connect- the – Dots version of our legal icons on the front. The message:|
“Make law inviting with legal icons + information graphics” – Activate legal information users – Connect the numbers and color the shapes.

The back side gives some suggestions for legal communication projects that would benefit from a visual translation:  A  legal dashboard to make terms and conditions, regulations, procedures, compliance projects more transparent.

It also shows a handwritten note and invitation for a free mini brainstorm. Happy Hour for lawyers!

TED video – Let’s simplify legal jargon!

Compelling talk to make clarity, transparency and simplicity  in government and business communication a national priority, by Alan Siegel.

Watch video

Law on the front of a napkin

Finding ideas for goodmoodlaw on the slopes in Arapahoe Basin, Colorado. Life is good.

Here is a strong example of an experiential approach to legal communication: the skier’s responsability code is not only on large posters near the lifts, but also shows up in the restaurants.

The napkin presents a summary of the code. I will deconstruct the information design into  a few building blocks:

1. Simple but effective icon, associating with traffic signs.

2. Plain language, mostly phrased in positive statements.

3. Clear  information design. Shapes, numbers, visual rhythm.

4. Logical practical form: people use napkins in ski resort restaurants.

5. Affordable solution on recycled paper. The napkins are being provided anyway.

6. Multi-sensory law: People pick up this piece of legal information, they use it and they actually touch it with their mouth. Some people might even kiss the rules without noticing. It smells like recycled paper. It makes a rustling sound. Visual support of the message. It also sends a message of lawyers and communicators who care and have thought about  how to package and present the rules, in order to connect with their customers.

Read more: Experiential Marketing – How to get Customers to Sense, Feel, Think, Act, Relate   by Bernd Schmitt.

Multisensory Law – online community

Goodmoodlaw is a free form expression of a much more serious field of legal innovation. I would like to introduce you to her ‘sister’ in the established academic legal environment: Multisensory Law is a fresh and promising legal discipline. A group of Swiss, Austrian and German legal professors, thought leaders and researchers have created an ongoing exchange of their work. Their intention is to build a strong foundation of this discipline and to inform a wider legal audience about the meaning and potential of Multisensory Law.

Recently an online community has been initiated by Beck Publishers in Munich, Germany and dr. Colette Brunschwig, lecturer in Law at the Department of Law, Legal Visualization Unit of the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Please visit Multisensory Law community , join the community, leave comments and contribute. Both scientific and practical contributions are welcome.

Slow law

It’s all about balance in life and law. I love the energy of the fast lane, quick thinking and rapid producing.  And I am grateful for my life as a creative monk at other times. I am a big advocate of fast food in the legal field: bite size legal information, portable, understandable and attractively packaged.  However – the trend watcher in me recently started to play with the concept of Slow Law.

What is slow law? It takes a short  travel back in time. Bzzz – Constant contact – Blackberries, cellphones, carphones, email, fax, typewriter, pen and ink – Bzzzz.

After having worked at a large size consulting firm for a while, we suddenly got email. Somewhere in 1998. When I started to work at a small law firm in 1992 we had a fax machine in the office and the older partners complained how this affected their processing time (up) and their thinking space (down). The older secretaries had worked there since the introduction of the copy machine and had started their careers on carbon copy paper and a typewriter. Could anyone who remembers to have worked with hand written legal documents, pen-and-ink style, please send me the historic details? Basically we have had slow law ever since mankind has felt the need to somehow install and enforce some rules of fair play, except for about the last twenty to thirty years. [entertaining for research oriented readers: www.officemuseum.com/copy_machines.htm]

What would be the essential qualities of law in this era, that we would like to preserve and re-install? I now present you the results of my brainstorm, and welcome all other insights.

• The need to think before you write or act.
• The level of precision.
• The level of focus and concentration.
• The sense of working with really valuable information, that represents one of the pillars of our modern democracies in which we take the rule of law as a given (and not as something we personally have to do anything for).
• The sense of critical agreements, that you will really think about before entering into and before signing, let alone clicking on some kind of spacey box (” Yes, I accept  your terms and conditions”).
• The meditative quality of handwriting with pen and ink or even with a fountain pen (try this at home and in the office!). Your brain actually works better, more clear, more creative, more balanced, when it’s going a little slower. Neuro-scientists could tell you all about this.
• The clear presence  of the human factor: the drops and smudges of ink for errors.
• Appreciation for the craftmanship of handwriting, and the fine motor skills development that comes with it. This could be a metaphor for the slower ingredients of legal education, such as developing patience, wisdom, understanding, a focus on collaboration. The skills set of the master, the (ideal) oldest partner or colleague in your office.
• The need to be very concise, selective and clear on what to write. Every extra word is time-consuming and therefore expensive, especially in the stage of reproduction of documents by the scribes of the tribe.
• The beauty of the profession. In its essence, it is a cool invention to have a dedicated  group of people with clear minds and sharp words work to distinct similarities and differences beyond the appearances of human stories and corporate dramas.
• The exclusivity of the experience and the perceived value of the documents: use email and telephone for ordinary communication, but if you really commit to a serious business or personal relationship, the type of paper needs to reflect the meaning and importance. Did anyone of you send out wedding invitations by text message? Or decided to accept a business partner with the click of a mouse?
• The efficiency and productivity : You could actually do more in less time, in a relaxed and focused state of mind. Slow is the new fast.

So, we need to start somewhere to slow down. Here are a few – highly impractical – suggestions for slow law practice:

• Write with a fountain pen, even when you are making your own notes.
• Sign letters and documents with pen and ink and invite your clients to do the same.
• Buy a quill, a feather pen. Or better: go for a hike, find a feather,  then hand carve the tip. Men love their Swiss army tools and women adore men that are actually carry them along at the right moment and demonstrate agility in the use. This must go back to our hunter/gatherer roots.
• Map out the essence of a business contract or regulatory framework on letter-size paper or a flipchart, before drafting the text.
• Call your clients, co-workers and professional friends. Even better: have a slow lunch with them.
• Write a handwritten summary of your legal advice to your management, maximum one page. This will help them slow down too.
• Walk to the bookstore. Buy a legal textbook, touch the pages. Hear the crisp sound of flipping through the pages.
• Read the dissertation (full text edition!) of one of your academic heroes in law. If you don’t have any, find a new profession. When finished, send a box of chocolates to the author and a handwritten note on the most poetic sounding concept of the theory. You don’t really have to understand what it is about.
• Visit the library. Go find the oldest book available. Smell it.
• Unplug your electronic devices for 30 minutes, then try 60 minutes. You’ll be OK.

Advanced slow law skills:

• Hand bind documents that are really important for your clients into a book. (research tip: antique bookbinding techniques). Or go to a nice office store to handpick a good looking binder. Pay a bookbinding class for your secretary. This would slow down and energize her job as well. This is a long term investment in your professional relationship.
• Read aloud a legal document to older clients. Record it. Give the CD in addition to the paperwork.
• Embroider your signature and invite other parties to do the same.

For your comfort: slow is in. Good Magazine recently published a special on ‘Slow’.

There also is a (serious) Dutch website, SlowManagement.nl and magazine around this theme.