"Less taxing"

Karen Schriver’s redesign of the IRS 1040 form started out as a dare. Avrum D. Lank, a reporter from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, challenged her to redesign the document—retaining all the information and keeping it to two pages. With no budget and no contact with the IRS, she took it on, consulting occasionally with the journalist’s own tax lawyer.

Schriver is an expert in information design—a tight integration of textual and graphic design. It was not the first time she had tried to tame a tax form.

Schriver’s new design is more open, readable and friendly. The IRS was astonished by the result, double- and triple-checking to see if she had dropped any information. (She hadn’t.) Schriver’s changes have not yet been implemented, but officials say they are considering a redesign for the 2006 filing season.