An investigation of the success of redesigned supplementary benefit documents

The research described in this article formed part of a larger project concerned with re-designing a number of Supplementary Benefit documents. Five forms and letters from the original sample are discussed here. These documents, at present in national use, are compared with five re-designed versions which were put into use for a limited period. A comparison between the 'old' and 'new' documents was carried out using both in-use and non use testing techniques. The results indicate the relative success of the different versions and highlight areas of concern f or future studies of a similar nature.