Context

These instructional sheets are mailed to citizens summoned for jury duty in five regional divisions of the U.S. District Court. I was tasked with a complete redesign of both the summons notice and accompanying information.

The Problem

I consulted with court employees. The mailing they had been sending at the time confused many of the people who received it. Some were not aware that they were legally required to fill out a questionnaire, or that there was a deadline. Others had trouble finding the questionnaire online. Recipients were calling the court with questions that should have been answered by the sheet. In many cases, the answers were already contained in the sheet, but the information was disorganized and difficult to find.

The original sheet was a black and white Word document formatted into paragraphs. The court hoped that by setting a more intentional hierarchy of the information contained in the sheets, they could spend less time responding to juror questions and reduce the number of “second notice” mailings.

The Process

My first task was to read through the original documents and group related information. I scribbled notes on a printout and wrote out notes longhand. I moved immediate required actions to the first page in a section clearly labeled Instructions. To accommodate the paper and envelopes used by the court, variable data such as the recipient’s address and 9-digit participant number needed to remain at the top of the page, so I used a color block to draw the reader’s attention to the instructions at the bottom. The back was reserved for information that wouldn’t be relevant until the the summoned individual had instructions to appear in court.

I was able to further organize the information for both documents through the use of color, varying font weights, lists, images, a table, and maps to each of the five courthouses which I custom-created to match the colors and typefaces of the whole mailing.

While I designed the sheets in InDesign, I created an editable version in Microsoft Word, enabling courthouse employees to make edits in the future as needed.

Results

This was a meaningful project for me: I enjoyed using my design skills in the service of making a civic duty a little less confusing and intimidating for people. Nearly a decade later, these instructional sheets are still in use by the court.