Set of three preparatory layouts of forms for the French Ministry of Finance 

An administrative form, at first sight banal and off-putting, is a very complex item to design. It must have a unity of style and maximise legibility for the user as well as for the clerk who transcribes it. Boxes to tick, choice of fonts, white space, the way information is formulated, variations in the weight of type ― all these must be laid out to make the form as easy as possible to understand and use. This sort of work, which has not only a graphic dimension but also needs to analyse the data presentation, is a branch of graphic design in its own right - information design.

The three documents shown here were produced by the French designers José Mendoza y Almeida and François Weil for the French Ministry of Finance which, at the time was seeking to rationalise and harmonise official documentation.

The first document is a prelimenary study: the form has already been drawn up and an overlay has been used to identify different functional zones in the layout.

The two following documents are distinct but related, dealing with the annual declaration of salaries. If you look closely at them you will see that they are both entirely hand lettered, an extremely fastidious task. This was the speciality of José Mendoza who was also an accomplished type designer. (Pascal, Photina, ITC Mendoza Roman, Sully-Jonquières, among others.) 

(Micg inv 4758.5.3/4/5)