Visual Contracts and The Visual Contract Builder with Lieke Beelen

Visual contracts are legally binding agreements that are designed to be more accessible and user-friendly than traditional contracts. Legal consumers do not enjoy reading contracts. The primary purpose of a visual contract is to engage the user and entice them to read and understand the legal document. Users reading legal information digest information differently. Visual contracts put user needs first and present information in a way that moves the user through the document using flow charts, diagrams, illustrations, and other visual cues to make reading the document easier and empowering. 

Lieke Beelen is a designer, an innovator, and the founder of Visual Contracts. Lieke has a background in Industrial Design Engineering (MSc. Design for Interaction at Delft University of Technology) and has worked as a service/UX designer and researcher in many different contexts. Lieke shifted focus to the legal sector in 2015 to help users access law and justice by facilitating lawyers and designers to work together from a legal design perspective.

We’ll talk about visual contracts, their applications, and Lieke’s latest innovation – Visual Contract Builder!

Watch now and learn why visual contracts are essential and how AI will make a visual contract easy to make.

Key moments are listed below.

0:00 Introduction

3:25 Visual contracts

6:38 Explain what is a visual contract

9:26 Evolution of visual contracts

11:23 Why use visual contracts?

15:01 Limitations of visual contracts

18:20 The Visual Contract Builder

34:20 Advice

38:09 Connect with Lieke Beelen

Legal Design IRL. Episode 66

I’m Hannele Korhonen, founder of Lawyers Design School and host of Legal Design IRL. I’m dedicated to transforming legal practice through human-centered lawyering. Each week, I encourage lawyers to broaden their thinking about their legal work by inviting guests to share new perspectives and experiences in the law. We talk about Legal Design, design thinking, Contract Design, innovation, and the future of law. Most importantly, we cover how exploring new possibilities can help you be a happier, soulful, and innovative lawyer who delivers legal services your way.

If you enjoyed the talk, join me live every Wednesday at 8 am ET on LinkedIn. The chat is open for your questions. 

Lawyers Design School is a learning center for lawyers and legal teams ready to adopt the skills and mindset of legal design, explore new possibilities in law, break down the barriers to justice, and thrive in their careers. Through courses, workshops, and the free weekly Legal Design IRL interviews, I’ll show you real-life design thinking and innovation in action. If you’re a change-maker lawyer or a lawyer who knows they want to change but doesn’t know where to start – stick around.

Learn more about  Legal Design and Contract Design and how they can transform your work and career in the law. Courses are open now.

You can catch a replay of episode 66, Legal Design Thinking: IRL, or join me live next week and ask questions.

Want to know more about the future of Legal Design?

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Prefer email? Drop me an email at [email protected]. While you’re here, peek at the Lawyers Design School and check out other ways to use legal design thinking to grow your law firm and thrive in your business.

Watch all the Legal Design IRL Episodes episodes.