The question we are asking ourselves and to which we will try to give an answer is simple: what is legal design? At first glance it may seem simple to give an answer but, if we analyze the question in depth, we'll discover that the answer is not so easy. 

So we ask ourselves: is legal design the process of improving the comprehensibility of a legal act (and therefore design thinking applied to the legal world) or can simplifying and improving the layout of a document also be considered legal design? 

The academic world is quite clear: legal design is design thinking applied to the world of law. Stop. 

Analyzing the data of a survey carried out by the Linkedin group "Young Legal Innovators" involving a sample of 123 professionals of all ages and working in different sectors, we can see that the market thinks differently. According to 92% of the respondents, in fact, it is possible to improve the comprehensibility of a legal document only by improving its layout. So a simple graphic modification, such as the inclusion of icons, images or concept maps, for example, would allow the user to better understand the content.

So who is right? 

To go deeper into the question it is necessary to make an important analysis and distinction between readability and comprehensibility. 

Very often, in fact, the two are confused but it is also true that they are closely dependent on each other. 

The readability of a text mesure how easy is to read a text. 

The comprehensibility of a text, instead, is the capacity of the text to be understood in its content.

When you improve the graphic layout of a document, you often modify its readability. 

To improve comprehensibility, however, it is important to carry out the typical work of design thinking, i.e. asking yourself who is the end-user of the document, trying to use a lexicon familiar and set up the document so that it can be well understood by him.

It goes without saying that a text that is highly comprehensible but poorly readable will not achieve the goal of being read anyway. 

That's why readability and comprehensibility, graphic elements and textual content, go hand in hand and one cannot be separated from the other. 

So, for those of you who love clear-cut answers, unfortunately we can't satisfy you today: we can't say who's right and who's wrong between academia and the market. Probably both.

The reliability of a document

Another interesting fact that emerged from the Survey concerns the degree of reliability of a document. Many professionals and non-professionals, until now, thought that a document that was not just a wall of black and white text was considered to be poorly reliable. This is not what the respondents of Young Legal Innovators think, as 70% of them do not consider a document with images, colors and icons less reliable than a "traditional" one.

Last but not least, a figure that makes you think is that "only" 80% of respondents think that a legal document should be understood by everyone and not only by insiders. It seems strange that there is still a 20% of professionals who still believe that comprehensibility is exclusive to a few. 

The saying "clear pacts, long friendships" should be every lawyer's wallpaper. We create pacts daily that allow for relationships of all kinds, it is only fair that anyone be able, easily, to understand them.