“Before we begin to dissect the issue with the design, we have to understand the issue of what is being designed: the text itself. The inaccessibility of legal language is a pervasive LISI issue, yet I would argue the most addressed aspect. The focus on the language of legality has generated negligence to the impact that design has on accessibility and cognition. This thesis will illustrate that the design structure of information, as well as risk factors associated with information or interactions, changes the user’s ability to comprehend and rationalize decision-making. Those with the power to influence law and policy are not prioritizing the needs of the public to understand and correctly process information, resulting in multi-faceted consequences.”

“The truth of the matter is that there is no single answer. As a child of America, the ramifications of terrible LISI have been proven over and over again. Documents and bureaucracy are written to be truthful. But they are not designed to be human. We can see how varied the areas of conflict are, and therefore how varied the design solutions need to be.”

“In a ‘fantastically woozy 2002 interview with Diane Sawyer,’ Whitney Houston introduced the concept of ‘the receipt’ while demanding proof over claims that she had a $730,000 drug habit. Asking for “receipts” has now come to colloquially mean requesting cold, hard proof on which one has based an accusation. We need the proof. Societally, we have become skeptical for good reason. Nearly everything is held in opinion, from the frosty fake news pundits to debating which cryptid is a hear-me-out. Unfortunately, as much as we may believe in the fortitude of our own recollection, our memories are no more fact than our feelings on the best Beyonce album (it's B-Day. Fight me). Even the memory of what may have been the most earth-shattering moment of your life can't be relied upon. Even our trauma isn't etched into stone, it's etched into vinyl. As it turns out, vinyl scratches.

We need proof.”