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Design a form

Design a form that finishes one job — only the fields you will use, labels that survive typing, and errors the user can still fix. Use when adding a form, rewriting a signup, or when a flow asks for data it does not act on.

---
name: design-a-form
category: design
description: >-
  Design a form that finishes one job — only the fields you will use,
  labels that survive typing, and errors the user can still fix. Use when
  adding a form, rewriting a signup, or when a flow asks for data it does
  not act on.
---

# Design a Form

A form is a conversation with a deadline. Every extra field is a chance
to quit, a lie waiting to happen, and a row you will not use. The method
is: **one job, the smallest honest questions, errors at the point of
fix.**

Pretty alignment will not save a form that asks for a fax number.

## One job, then the fields that job needs

Write the job in one sentence: "Create an account I can sign back into"
or "Send this invoice." If you have two sentences, you have two forms,
or a wizard with a reason for each step.

Then list fields. For each, one of:

- **We act on this immediately** (we will email this address).
- **We need it by law or for money** (and we can say so).
- **Cut it.**

"Might be useful for marketing" is the third one. Optional fields that
exist "in case" train people to skip everything, including the ones you
needed.

Ask for **data in the shape you store**, not a theatre of extra boxes.
One name field if you only ever display one name. Split given/family
when you have a real reason (passports, not aesthetics).

If a field is only for a subset of users, do not show it until you know
they are in that subset. Progressive disclosure is not a "Advanced ▾"
dump; it is a question whose answer reveals the next question.

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