The State of Utah’s “Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Laws” document represented a dry, declarative breakdown of Utah's laws and penalties. The content was not engaging or particularly helpful for adults or minors viewing this information. To rectify this, the document was redesigned to incorporate concepts of technical communication including “chunking” (i.e., breaking content down into small paragraphs to increase visual white space and increase short-term retention of material) content for effective scanning, creating a visual hierarchy (i.e., a pattern where some elements stand out more strongly, demonstrating importance), and highlighting key areas using typography changes.

 

The redesigning process began with thoroughly reviewing the content as-is to determine problem areas. High school students were the target audience which informed the font style and color scheme. The content was rearranged into sections for Alcohol, Tobacco, Other Drugs, and Driving Under the Influence with a visual hierarchy that would enhance document navigation. Navigational cues, flyouts with additional information, and definitions that were critical to users were also added. Finally, copy marking was employed to ensure that punctuation, grammar, and word usage were thoroughly vetted.