Back in June 2024, I was a guest on the Complimentary podcast.
Anthony Hobday, one of the co-hosts, asked me if I had a working definition of form design.
“No,” I said.
Not ideal considering I was invited on as someone who cares deeply about form design. I tried to style it out a bit, then later managed to contribute these sage words:
“It’s the design of forms!”
I knew this was a circular (read: useless) definition, but in my defense, I didn’t prepare for this question and was a little nervous.
Needless to say, the question has plagued me ever since.
I can’t tell if that’s because I feel like I should have a working definition of what form design is, or if it’s because Anthony has found value in defining these things.
Perhaps it’s a bit of both.
So today, I’ll take a leaf out of Anthony’s book and try to define what form design is.
But before I do that, I’ll first define what a form is to make it easier:
What’s a form?
A form lets users input information to achieve an outcome.
Not a bad definition.
But there are a few things that bother me about it:
- Forms don’t just let you input information. They also let you select options using radio buttons, checkboxes, etc.
- A video lets you change volume – which is a form of input – so is a video a form?
- Some forms don’t have inputs, like this one:
Now you could say I’m splitting hairs because:
- Most people would say selecting an option is inputting information.
- A video is obviously not a form.
- A form without inputs is still ‘inputing information to achieve an outcome’. It’s just that in this case, the application being approved has been identified from the URL.
Without getting hung up, let’s look at this through the lens of paper forms because any definition should work for both.
Paper Forms
A paper form lets you:
- Fill in blanks
- Tick checkboxes
- Attach documents
So how about this definition:
A form lets users provide and submit information to achieve an outcome.
“Provide” covers all the different interactions, and “submit” works regardless of whether the form is sent digitally or by post.
Now Anthony’s question should be easier:
What is form design?
Form design is about making sure users can provide and submit information quickly and easily to achieve an outcome.
Was that worthwhile?
I’m not 100% sure, but I can tell you this:
Designing forms beats defining forms.
If you’d like to know how to do the former: