From a UX perspective, I think the two most egregious
violators of good UX are restaurant websites and government forms. This example is for a subpoena I received, as
a plaintiff, to go to court. The proceeding
was a result of a drunk undergrad trying to get in our house in the wee hours
of the morning months ago. He was
out-of-his-mind drunk and woke up our entire house, broke our front door and we
had to call the cops to get rid of him.
Months later we received the subpoena.
For the love of god, how is one supposed to make sense of this document
or have faith that the local municipality knows what it is doing.
- Is this a Magistrate Court Subpoena or District Court Subpoena? What are all the xxxxxxxxxxxxx doing almost blocking something out, but not quite. Was this a fifth grade Junior Achievement project? Wait, it’s not the same style as other things they spent more time to have blacked out. Who was the winner that got a great deal on pre-printed forms?
- Oh wait, now we’re blacking things out. Check out the typing – are they using an IBM Selectric Typewriter? (Note: “The Drunk Undergrad” is my attempt to protect the guilty.)
- HEREOF FAIL NOT AT YOUR PERIL. WTF?! Now I think I’m in trouble. I was not familiar with the jargon, but a quick use of Google informed me that it means I’m at risk of contempt if I don’t show up. Now remember, I didn't press charges, I've just been assigned a court date as a plaintiff. So, The Drunk Undergrad continues to be a pain in the ass.
- OK, so who’s responsible for sending this? “Behold and witness the hand and seal” – that seems like Jules from Pulp Fiction is about to drop some serious shit on me…oh, wait it’s just the ramblings of an interim clerk. What a letdown. Not even a full-on clerk. But, we can see this is not the clerk that was at the helm when Johnson County received a great deal on pre-printed forms. What happened to that clerk. Enough of that mystery, I still have to figure out what’s going on with this form and who’s responsible for this mess. Barbara Bigelow, you’ll help me out.
- What’s up with your stamp Barbara J.? Is it in two parts? The Bigelow is second? Ok, you’ll help me out if I have a question, right? Wait, are you a designee for yourself. Confusion continues to rise. I’m still hoping Barbara will be my point of contact – especially if she is using a signature and a stamp, and a seal.
- Wait no, It’s Abigayle Grimm…or is it Intern Abilgayle Grimm. Intern is a weird name. Again, not a lot of confidence that the attorney is an intern, or named INTERN, and the clerk is an interim.
- The fine print starts. I begin to ignore as it has to deal with accessibility and does not apply to me. I’m happy that the county makes these accommodations, and I’m strangely intrigued now by the bold print
- Great, I better contact the disability coordinator about this HEREOF FAIL OR DIE A PAINDFUL DEATH statement. Oh, OK, disability coordinators cannot provide legal advice. Good to know, but I’m not confident that anyone listed on this subpoena, including me, can provide good advice.
- Holy crap, here’s the call to action. Buried under the fine print. At this point, I’m convinced that Intern is Ms. Grimm’s first name. Why are they shouting and using all caps? Is it because they put the call to action so far down that nobody follows up. Hmm, what if we bold it and put it in caps? Sounds great, just make sure you print thousands of them.
Needless to say, I was not filled with confidence about the
process.