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Simpler Contracts by Design

Contracts are critical business instruments, and legal is but one stakeholder in the contracting process. And yet most contracts are written by lawyers for lawyers, in anticipation of litigation.

The wheels of change are turning. Business is increasingly understanding that contracts can be different. They can be written and designed to be easily read and understood by key stakeholders, other than lawyers – and still control risk!

Need some help to get started? Find out more about our Contract Design Workshops.

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Contractual complexity leads to additional risk and costs for organizations, as it:

makes negotiations longer and delays contract signature
can lead to decreased goodwill and trust, inefficiencies, and errors
increases the likelihood of costly claims and disputes.

Your contracts speak for you as an organization, because they:

represent your business and your intent
convey how easy you are to work with (or not)
determine the speed it takes people to understand and execute a contract
affect how you are perceived by your clients, partners, and employees.

We want to challenge the ongoing perception that contracts are purely ‘legal’ documents. Contracts are core business-critical economic instruments with a range of diverse purposes.

Case Studies

Visual Contracting Journey at Shell

Watch the video to find out how Shell rethought their General Terms for Marine Lubricants, and why they have been recognized as innovators of the commercial process.

Design: Rob Waller.

Contract Innovators at Airbus

The Contract Innovators initiative at Airbus Defence and Space aims at applying user-centered design to contracts to radically improve the relationships with their counterparties.

In their first pilot, Airbus created a user-friendly, visual NDA to foster collaboration and innovation with start-ups.

Coffin Mew Terms of Business

What if your law firm’s brand promise is to always communicate clearly and plainly with clients... but your terms look like everyone’s else?

Coffin Mew’s terms look different from the norm at first glance. This helps to communicate their values and get client relationships off to a positive start.

Design: Stefania Passera.

Comic Contracts

Comic contracts can be used in situations where users may have low levels of literacy, such as employment contracts for low or semi-skilled workers. They also work well for obtaining medical consent, and other types of consumer agreements.

Examples by Robert de Rooy / Creative Comics; Camilla Baasch Andersen and Aurecon.

How we can help

Contract Design and Simplification Projects

Simpler, well-designed contracts reduce negotiation time, minimize disputes, and boost your brand.

We can tailor projects of any size around your specific needs, in collaboration with world-class contract design experts.

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Contract Design Workshops

The best way to learn is to start experimenting hands-on.

Our Contract Design Workshops help you to get started on your simplification journey.

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Contract Design Pattern Library

Explore inspiring examples in our collection of contract design patterns – eﬀective, repeatable solutions to commonly occurring usability and understandability problems in contracts.

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Webinars

The Rise of the Contract Designer

Contracts should be usable and useful to the people in charge of implementing them. They can offer a competitive advantage in terms of transparency and trustworthiness. Clear easy to read contracts allow a deal to close faster.

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More webinars

Visual Contracts... Worth a Look? Contract Redesign. How to make contracts simpler and ready for digitalization

Research

MEMBERS

Contract Understanding and Usability Test

This study assessed whether utilizing visualisations in contracts would affect their understandability and usability.

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MEMBERS

The purpose of a contract

World Commerce & Contracting research revealed eleven distinct ‘purposes’ which were not mutually exclusive and most people see multiple purposes.

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MEMBERS

Cooperation through clarity: Designing simplified contracts

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MEMBERS

Exploring contract visualization: Clarification and framing strategies...

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MEMBERS

A graphic contract: Taking visualisation in contracting a step further

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Articles

Start your simplification journey with the Contract Design Pattern Library

Get started the design pattern approach, and learn how contract patterns help you organize and communicate contracts more clearly so that they are read, understood, and acted upon.

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Why are agreements so hard to understand?

A survey conducted by the International Association of Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM) shows that only 1 of 10 agreed that contracts are ‘easy to understand’. And only 17% were satisfied with the agreement process...

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Contract simplification: the why and the how

Now that new contract management technology is demanding clarity, structure and contracts that can actually be read, could the days of voluminous small print be over? Find out about Next Generation contracts, and how to get started.

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Case studies

Co-designing Indonesian government contracts for the digital age

A collaborative UK-Indonesia project, supported by World Commerce & Contracting and delivered virtually due to COVID-19, is showing how human-centred design and multidisciplinary approaches can help make government procurement simpler, clearer, faster, more accessible and inclusive.

Read the case study