From Visualization to Legal Design: A Collaborative and Creative Process

From Words to Images Through Legal Visualization

“…Moreover, interdisciplinary cooperation of (design, legal, technical) experts and non-experts in the stage of transforming concepts into visualizations also decreases the chances of personal bias [5]. The expertise of designers ensures that the proposed visual representation is coherent with the lessons drawn by previous experiments and good practices in legal design.…”

“…The same principles are usually respected by legal designers. They draw best practices from human-centered design and they usually cooperate with legal experts and other individuals with diverse backgrounds [5], [10] to graphically elaborate concepts with the end-user of the legal document in mind. Although legal design does not explicitly tackle legal interpretation, this approach guarantees, on the one hand, the correctness of the visual representation of legal concepts thanks to the knowledge of legal experts [7] and, on the other hand, it considers the characteristics of the user that could influence the interpretation (i.e.…”

“…Indeed, the design process starts with empirical studies (e.g. surveys and interviews) and observations that reveal users' needs and characteristics, so that designers do not project on them their own beliefs and assumptions [5]. The process ends with user-testing, which is an empirical evaluation of the legal visualized document, e.g.…”

Smart Contracting: A Multidisciplinary and Proactive Approach for the EU Digital Single Market

“…This way of lawyering follows naturally from the greater understanding in collaborative strategies, of the needs and interests of the stakeholders and the regulatory environment. User-friendly transaction design solves understanding deficiencies and should improve trust in legal relationships (Berger-Walliser et al, 2017).…”

Exploring contract visualization

“…Proactive contracting scholars also stress the importance of contracts as communication and coordination tools: good contracts should prevent legal troubles and help parties’ success (Haapio and Siedel, 2013), but can only do so if they are communicated in clear, simple ways that allow managers – not only lawyers and judges – to understand, implement and monitor their contractual promises (Barton et al, 2013; Berger-Walliser et al, 2011; Haapio, 2013). Addressing this need for clarity, researchers suggest complementing contract texts with explanatory visualizations – for example, charts, diagrams, icons – to make them more understandable and actionable (Berger-Walliser et al, forthcoming; Conboy, 2014; Passera and Haapio, 2011).…”