Mad Libs Style Forms

So a few weeks ago Wiley (interaction designer at work) raved about a book she'd recently bought. A client then sent a link to us about the same topic. And just now one of our planners sent it to another project team. What's all the fuss? A small innovation in form design, with great impact. Read the article here, or buy the book for your own library. (Seeing as tax season is in full swing, my accountant would probably remind you that, if you're a professional in the field, this is a tax-deductible expense, so save your receipt.) 

Oddly enough, I designed a similar form for a back-end system while at Framfab London in 2005. It was a sentence with two drop down fields embedded within. It was the only way I could simplify the options and make the choices clearly understood to the user. My lead Interaction Designer loved it, the form got approved quickly by the client and, until now, it never occurred to me to do it again. 

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