Textured Agreements: Re-envisioning Electronic ConsentTextured Agreements • March 4th, 2010
Research indicates that less than 2% of the population reads li- cense agreements during software installation [12]. To address this problem, we developed textured agreements, visually redesigned agreements that employ factoids, vignettes, and iconic symbols to accentuate information and highlight its personal relevance. Nota- bly, textured agreements accomplish these goals without requir- ing modification of the underlying text. A between-subjects ex- perimental study with 84 subjects indicates these agreements can significantly increase reading times. In our study, subjects spent approximately 37 seconds on agreement screens with textured agreements, compared to 7 seconds in the plain text control condi- tion. A follow-up study examined retention of agreement content, finding that median scores on a comprehension quiz increased by 4 out of 16 points for textured agreements. These results provide convincing evidence of the potential for textured agreements to positively impact softwar
Textured Agreements: Re-envisioning Electronic ConsentTextured Agreements • November 24th, 2008
Research indicates that less than 2% of the population reads license agreements during software installation [7]. To ad- dress this problem, we developed textured agreements, visu- ally redesigned agreements that employ information layering, vignettes, sensationalism, and visual variety to accentuate information and highlight its personal relevance. Notably, textured agreements accomplish these goals without requir- ing modification of the underlying text. A between-subjects experimental study with 84 subjects indicates these agree- ments can significantly increase reading times. In our study, subjects spent approximately 30 seconds longer on consent screens than the in control condition, where subjects spent only 7 seconds, on average. Furthermore, the study results indicate that the effects observed are not due to the novelty of the textured agreements’ visual appearance alone, but rather, particular features of the designs. These results provide con- vincing evidence of the potentia
