Wolters Kluwer infographics 'Groene Serie'

Wolters Kluwer infographics ‘Groene Serie’

Transforming legal literature with infographics

the brief

Wolters Kluwer is a major publishing house and leading in publishing legal content, such as books, journals, reference works, and online expert solutions. Wolters Kluwer approached us for designing a set of infographics for one of Dutch civil law’s primary reference works, known as the ‘Green Series’ (‘Groene Serie’). The ‘Groene Serie’ is one of Dutch civil law’s primary reference works with a long and rich history dating back as far as 1961. It’s like an encyclopedia that offers in-depth analysis and article-based commentaries by outstanding and prominent Dutch legal authors. The main readership of the Groene Serie are lawyers (private practice and in-house), law students and legal professionals. They consult the Groene Serie to answer specific questions in their or an adjacent area of law. In-depth legal research means the information needs to be studied and is not always easy to comprehend or retain. The Groene Serie helps users find the information they need, put in perspective by experienced scholars and legal practitioners, and navigate the interconnectedness of topics.

the goal

The infographics need to further help users make a legal analysis, answer their questions and help them communicate their answers. This means the infographics aim to help lawyers get the knowledge and understanding they seek easier and quicker.

the process

We formed a team that consisted of a senior legal publisher and two members of the editorial board of the Groene Serie. The editorial board members are prominent law professors and judges. We decided to pick three subjects from legal content they authored: two civil procedural law topics and one in contract law. We co-created the designs over several video calls per infographic, creating multiple design versions. The authors/editorial board members were actively involved in creating and iterating the designs. We tested each infographic with test panels, resulting in the final iterations and designs.

the result

The infographics are published in the key overview of the respective topics in the online Groene Serie. That means any user looking up one of the three mentioned topics in the Groene Serie will land on the infographics. (If you have a membership to the Groene Serie, find the infographics under article 22 and article 111 Dutch Civil Procedural Code (Kernoverzicht A11), and article 6:127 Dutch Civil Code (Kernoverzicht A11). The infographics offer readers insight at a glance and invite them to read further, going into all details in the text. The infographics save users time and effort and make them confident when studying these topics.

“The process to apply and introduce legal design in our content creation flows needs careful guidance and support to achieve great results. Anna clearly demonstrated to be of great value in taking the lead in the design process.” – Paul Bänziger, Senior Publisher, Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory The Netherlands

What our client says about this project

“We wanted to learn how to implement best legal design methods, way of working and thinking. Anna succeeded in making us learn about legal design and create great visualisations.”

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