About - Formulate Information Design

What is form design?

When we say form design, we mean the design of any tool for collecting data.

This includes:

questionnaires
surveys
applications
tests

It also doesn't matter to us if the form is on the web, using a browser, on the desktop, paper-based or for use in interviews (telephone or face to face), although the design we recommend can differ according to mode.

What does Formulate do?

We provide form design services to public, private and not-for-profit organisations. Our aim is to rid the world of poorly designed forms.

Why do we do it?

We believe that a well designed form benefits both the gatherer of the information and the people providing the information, through a reduction in errors, costs and frustration.

For some real world examples of forms design, check out this 5 minute presentation.

Who are we?

Based in Canberra, Australia, Formulate Information Design is run by Jessica Enders.

Jessica has worked for the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the social research arm of Colmar Brunton Australia (a private market research agency) and The Hiser Group, Australasia's leading usability consultancy. She has had a lifelong passion for form design.

Do I really need a specialist form designer?

You often hear people say “anyone can write a question”. This is true, but to write the right question is much harder than it looks. Here’s a simple example.

Suppose you are designing a form and you want to know how many children the respondent has, so you ask them “how many children do you have?” Now suppose the respondent has two children living at home, but another who is an adult and no longer lives with them? What if some of the respondent’s children are step, adopted or fostered? What about children that are no longer alive?

This example shows that writing a quality question takes skill. And in this example, we haven’t even considered the impact of the physical design of the form, the order of the questions, the type of answers that can be given etc.

A specialist knows how to design every aspect of your form or questionnaire to ensure the data it gathers is as relevant, error-free and usable as possible.

Why choose Formulate Information Design?

We believe we are the only organisation in Australia that can provide a complete form and questionnaire design service.

Some companies specialise in the physical layout of the form, others specialise in use of language and still others focus on the psycho-social aspects of information gathering. We have expertise in all of these elements, based on academic learning as well as practical experience.

Better still, we can advise on the design of forms in all modes, be they paper based or electronic. We also provide assistance with the design and presentation of information.