Information design

Information design addresses how contractual information is structured, organised, and presented. Information design can also help make implementation, governance relationships, and operational sequences more visible and navigable. Even clearly worded requirements and commitments may remain difficult to use if they are hard to locate, poorly organised, or disconnected from related information.

Information design is a broad field that can operate at multiple levels, from systems, services, and digital interfaces to entire document ecosystems. In this Module, however, we focus primarily on document-level improvements: how contractual information can be organised and presented more clearly within and across contract documents to support understanding and implementation.

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Anne Ketola: Information design

* embedded from the Panopto platform at Aalto University (privacy policy)

When we talk about information design in contracts, we are not talking about aesthetics, branding, or making documents “look nicer.” Design, in this context, is about how information is organised, sequenced, and made visible so that users can navigate the contract, understand how different elements relate to each other, and understand how contractual expectations translate into actions, responsibilities, and implementation processes.

Information design often raises scepticism in legal and commercial teams. Some associate it with unnecessary visual elements. Others worry that introducing design into contracts risks undermining seriousness or creating documents that look less authoritative. These concerns are understandable, but they are based on a narrow view of what design actually does.

Information design helps make contractual information, implementation logic, and governance relationships visible, navigable, and usable.

Information design works with structure, hierarchy, sequencing and layout to support orientation and understanding, especially in complex documents. Rather than adding new content, information design helps users see what is already there: how implementation unfolds, how obligations are connected, where responsibilities lie, and how different parts of the contract relate to one another.

Information design helps different users – legal teams, procurement, sustainability experts, suppliers – find the information they need without having to decode complex document structures. Importantly, design works together with plain language: even well-written clauses lose much of their value if they are hard to locate or poorly organised.

Like plain language, information design does not need to be applied perfectly to deliver value. Even small, targeted design improvements can turn a contract from a static legal artefact into a practical coordination and communication tool. This matters especially in sustainability-related contracting, where commitments and requirements must be understood, implemented, monitored, and followed up across organisational and supply-chain boundaries.

Thoughtful information design:

• Reduces implementation risk by making sustainability-related content visible rather than hidden in dense document structures.

• Makes expectations predictable for suppliers, especially where suppliers differ in size, legal capacity, or familiarity with complex contractual matters.

• Strengthens sustainability outcomes, because well-designed contracts help translate abstract sustainability content into clear, navigable, and operational requirements and commitments that can actually be followed.

Together, plain language and information design reflect a broader implementation-oriented approach to contract design: designing contracts as tools for communication, coordination, and implementation.