4 ms·

At GOV.UK we do a lot of user research, and find bullet points to be very successful in drawing affection to and clearly conveying lists of things. For example

At GOV.UK we do a lot of user research, and find bullet points to be very successful in drawing affection to and clearly conveying lists of things. For example requirements.

nathell 9y ago
Are the results of that research written up somewhere, or is this purely internal?
- mycelium 9y ago
  All of the gov.uk guidance (not sure about the research) is excellently written up. This is a great start: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/government-design-principles https://www.gov.uk/guidance/government-design-principles
- joelanman 9y ago
  Can't think of where that particular finding is written up, but you can find a lot of our research and guidance on our blogs and site: https://designnotes.blog.gov.uk/ https://designnotes.blog.gov.uk/ https://insidegovuk.blog.gov.uk/ https://insidegovuk.blog.gov.uk/ https://www.gov.uk/service-manual https://www.gov.uk/service-manual
  - nextos 9y ago
    I find all gov.uk web stuff really top notch compared to other EU govts. Keep up the good work.
Angostura 9y ago
Can I just say thank you, for the splendid work you do over there. I steal from your ideas liberally, whenever I want something clearly designed and written.
- joelanman 9y ago
  On behalf of everyone, thanks, always good to know :)
couchand 9y ago
I'm assuming from context that you're referring to lists of very specific, well-known things, such as documents someone might need to bring to an office (form 232, id card, etc.). That's a very specific use case where a checklist is actually the most appropriate device. Tufte's work is about conveying complex information. The proscription against bullet points is rooted in the fact that most information cannot be effectively written in that manner - only if there is already an unambiguous name for everything in the list will the bullet points be sufficient. The writing style that favors frequent use of bulleted lists instead of full-sentence descriptions to represent complex ideas leads to small thinking.

At GOV.UK we do a lot of user research, and find bullet points to be very successful in drawing affection to and clearly conveying lists of things. For example requirements.

nathell 9y ago

Are the results of that research written up somewhere, or is this purely internal?

mycelium 9y ago
All of the gov.uk guidance (not sure about the research) is excellently written up. This is a great start: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/government-design-principles https://www.gov.uk/guidance/government-design-principles
joelanman 9y ago
Can't think of where that particular finding is written up, but you can find a lot of our research and guidance on our blogs and site: https://designnotes.blog.gov.uk/ https://designnotes.blog.gov.uk/ https://insidegovuk.blog.gov.uk/ https://insidegovuk.blog.gov.uk/ https://www.gov.uk/service-manual https://www.gov.uk/service-manual
- nextos 9y ago
  I find all gov.uk web stuff really top notch compared to other EU govts. Keep up the good work.

Angostura 9y ago

Can I just say thank you, for the splendid work you do over there. I steal from your ideas liberally, whenever I want something clearly designed and written.

joelanman 9y ago
On behalf of everyone, thanks, always good to know :)

couchand 9y ago

I'm assuming from context that you're referring to lists of very specific, well-known things, such as documents someone might need to bring to an office (form 232, id card, etc.). That's a very specific use case where a checklist is actually the most appropriate device. Tufte's work is about conveying complex information. The proscription against bullet points is rooted in the fact that most information cannot be effectively written in that manner - only if there is already an unambiguous name for everything in the list will the bullet points be sufficient. The writing style that favors frequent use of bulleted lists instead of full-sentence descriptions to represent complex ideas leads to small thinking.