UX Meets Justice: My Path Back to Purpose Through Legal Design
I can’t remember the first time I signed a non-disclosure agreement, but I will never forget the one that demanded my full attention. I had to read it several times, with shock and dread, consult a lawyer, and sign it with a heavy heart. I wish I could share everything that the agreement cost me — mentally and physically — but even referencing it is risky. Still, I’ve decided to take that risk to tell you about a pivotal shift — or better said, a course correction — in my career.
Over the past few years, my professional interests have evolved rapidly after leaving behind my life as an entrepreneur and consultant to focus on a single product. I moved from working on websites and software to AI-driven projects and improving the usability of physical devices, especially wearables. Along the way, I realized that many human-centered ideals that drew me to UX were challenging to maintain in hyper-competitive industries where consumption often trumps genuine use.
In various tech environments, I noticed a trend: work was increasingly about responding quickly to a market that saw people as numbers or KPIs. Over time, I stopped feeling aligned with that way of operating.
There were moments when, after conducting interviews or user observations, I was left frustrated. No matter how hard I worked to translate insights into clear frameworks for design and development teams, the impact I sought never quite materialized. I didn’t control the product, and it often went to market without validating whether the experience was truly effective or satisfying.
Last year, I paused what I had long considered my UX career to reevaluate what I wanted to build next, honestly. In doing so, I realized that a deeper sense of justice had always driven my passion for usability. For me, designing with a user-experience focus has never just been a technical exercise — it’s been a human one. It’s about advocating for fairness, well-being, and the betterment of society and the planet.
From Wearables to Words: My Path to Legal Design
Earlier this year, I met Santiago Jaramillo and Angelica Alarcón from Jaramillo Villamizar. When they spoke to me about their UX needs in Legal Design, I felt a renewed spark in my career. As a user researcher, I realized that I had already been indirectly working to improve legal processes and content — and that Legal Design, though new in name, was a familiar terrain.
In mid-2018, while studying in London, I was contacted by Usaria — the company I had led for seven years — to support a fascinating human factors research project with Bold Insights in the U.S. I moderated studies evaluating the Spanish-language instructions for an innovative ecosystem: a smart pill, a wearable patch, and a mobile app. Although FDA-approved, a system update required fresh approval, and we needed to ensure the new instructions were clear for Spanish speakers.
This was no easy task. Our participants were psychiatric patients, and in nearly two-hour sessions, I had to simulate the entire ecosystem experience — from onboarding to daily patch application. It involved using the product box and quick-start guide, placing the patch on simulated skin, configuring the app, and simulating taking the smart pill. It remains the most complex project I’ve ever tackled, made even more challenging by conducting sessions in Spanish while troubleshooting technical issues in English.
Ultimately, my bilingualism proved essential in resolving language-related issues that could compromise user safety or derail regulatory approval. Because yes , pharmaceutical instructions are not just informative, they are legal documents.
From this project, I learned:
- How to evaluate reading comprehension through probing techniques to confirm users interpreted information correctly — a method known in human factors as Root Cause Analysis (RCA).
- The impact of precise language. For instance, the literal Spanish translation of “take a shower” (“tomar una ducha”) doesn’t resonate with all Spanish speakers. Terms like “bañarse” or “ducharse” improved clarity significantly.
- The rigorous standards required in tech and scientific innovation when regulators are involved.
Legaltech and the Reinvention of the Legal Experience
When I returned to Colombia in 2019 after finishing my Master’s, my first project involved supporting a Bogotá agency in defining the user experience for Stavvy, a legaltech startup led by lawyers. They aimed to virtualize the real estate closing process in Massachusetts, which is traditionally a high-touch, paperwork-heavy experience involving at least four people in the same office.
To truly grasp the user journey, I traveled to Boston and observed couples and legal professionals during the closing of their new homes. I analyzed user behavior, document types, approval flows, and the legal context of what needed to be digitized. Real-world observation helped identify what could be translated into the digital realm, while journey mapping every signature moment allowed us to envision a virtual experience that retained legal integrity , just one year before the pandemic hit.
From this project, I learned:
- The complexity of legal documentation in home buying and its variation across states and property types.
- How to observe paper document usage and identify user concerns for a seamless digital transition.
- To apply generative research and Lean UX methods not only with end users but also with legal professionals.
- The emotional value of design in legal documents — areas often overlooked.
- How to create more readable journey maps with specific, actor-dependent actions.
Perhaps the most profound insight? That buying a home — a life-changing, emotional moment — is often marred by stress and confusion due to legalese meant to protect everyone, but understood by few.
That’s why I’m thrilled that Jaramillo Villamizar is working with construction firms to make this milestone clearer and more transparent. I’m even more excited that those same firms are proactively seeking this transformation as part of better customer service.
It’s equally exciting to see industries like mining, fintech, insurance, and risk management placing their trust in Jaramillo Villamizar — not only for legal expertise but for their commitment to transforming the client experience through clearer, more human legal documents. The fact that these sectors embrace Design Thinking and research within Legal Design is a powerful signal of change — and it deeply motivates me to contribute and grow alongside them.
As a UX strategist and researcher, my mission at the firm is to lead user research and experience-driven methodologies that support the ongoing improvement of legal documents and to help create a Legal Design model focused on delivering value to clients and end users.
Returning to My Roots: Content, Clarity, and Communication
One of the most exciting parts of working in Legal Design has been rediscovering a core passion: evaluating and structuring content.
My usability journey began in 2004 when, while writing content for my university’s website, I asked a key question in my undergraduate thesis: How do you write for people who don’t want to read? The result was a web writing guide that still lives on the university’s server (in Spanish, though). That question led me to conferences on cognitive processing of hypermedia texts and to discover Katherine Hayles, one of the few authors I met in person, who signed my copy of her brilliant book, where printed graphics and text became part of the narrative.
Thanks to Hayles, I connected communication science with human-centered design long before I knew that’s what it was. Though the legal field isn’t the same as journalism — my original discipline — its social function endures across audiences and formats.
As Cortázar said, “everything is about starting over…”
At first, I thought this career shift would feel like diving into the unknown. But it’s become clear that it’s not a detour — it’s a deep confirmation of my commitment to clarity, accessibility, and human impact. Legal Design doesn’t pull me away from usability; it expands it. It brings usability into a realm where legal language can be clear, compassionate, and genuinely useful.
Though often viewed as cold, complex, and corporate, the legal world has a vital social role. Legal Design brings life back into that space. It offers the chance to rebuild trust between people and institutions. And that is something the world urgently needs.
I’m convinced design can humanize the law. That clear language and experiences don’t just save time and money — they reduce fear, empower people, and strengthen the social fabric.
Want to learn more about Legal Design?
