Canberran formulates success

Born and bred Canberran Jessica Enders has been named as one of three finalists in the Emerging Entrepreneur category of the 2009 Canberra BusinessPoint Business Awards. As the principal of Formulate Information Design, Jessica aims to rid the world of poorly designed forms. In less than 2 years, the business has seen substantial growth, and Jessica’s just getting started.

Jessica founded Formulate in October 2007 after developing expertise in the design of forms, questionnaires and surveys over a period of 12 years. She had seen the negative effect bad forms can have on productivity and bottom-lines for government, business and non-profit organisations alike. In fact, she decided that such bad things come from badly designed forms that there was a need for a business aimed at improving the experience for everyone involved.

Working through a federal election and the financial crisis, Jessica dived in head first and built the business from the ground up. Formulate now has a large client base of organisations that have discovered the undeniable benefits of using forms that work.

The use of forms in business and government continues to grow with the rise of online data collection and changes to government processes. This makes it more important than ever to get it right. Poor forms design can lead to frustrated and alienated clients, error-filled data sets, wasted resources and lower profits, while effective use of forms can have a very positive effect on reputation, productivity and sales. Jessica has the knowledge and expertise to ensure success.

Jessica is one of only a handful of specialist forms designers in Australia, and she possess a unique set of skills, influencing both the language and graphic design aspects of a form. Jessica has worked in private and government sectors and has a strong understanding of how they both work. She has seen the effects of bad forms design first hand, and has achieved some fantastic results for her clients. Becoming a Canberra BusinessPoint Business Awards Finalist is an important milestone in her quest to save the world from poorly designed forms.