Standard Envelope Format

center line

The address is typed to align with the end of the communicative name (for example, “GE Saudi Arabia”) and begin halfway below the top edge of the envelope.

g

GE Saudi Arabia

Saudi American General Electric Company Ltd.

Eastern Corporation Building, 4th Floor

Dhabab Street, P.O. Box 10211, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Addressee’s Name

Addressee’s Title

Business Title

Street Address

City, State (if applicable) Postal Code

Nation (if applicable)

Checks

Forms&

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GE Identity Program

These standards apply to all business forms and checks used by the Company and its

•components

•subcomponents

•licensed affiliates

These standards provide a plan for featuring graphic signatures consistently and prominently in business forms and checks. In addition, they help to

•simplify, clarify, and organize information by standardizing its presentation

•streamline and modernize forms and checks by instituting the use of grids and standard layout principles

•unify the forms and checks of all GE components and licensed affiliates so that each draws from and contributes to the strength of the GE identity

•provide flexibility to accommodate different kinds of information

•reduce preparation cost through the use of common design standards

•reduce waste and reproduction cost by avoiding redundancy

• Can an existing form

-supply part or all of the information I need?

-be altered to provide the additional information I need?

•Do my information needs justify the cost and time burdens that a form will place on my organization and my audience?

Once you decide a form is necessary to meet your information needs, think about your prospective audience:

•Will the members of your audience understand why you are soliciting information?

•Will they have the information?

•Do they face obstacles in responding to your form (for example, time and space limitations)?

Giving careful consideration to your audience and your information needs at the outset can make writing and designing your form simpler and more effective.

The Language of Business Forms

A business form performs two basic tasks: It

•communicates your message to a given audience

•permits that audience to respond

Thus, a business form must “talk” and “listen” at the same time. To help people hear your message and respond correctly, here are suggestions to create better forms “conversations”:

Talking:

•The title of your form should state its specific function. For example, “Quotation for Products and Services” tells the customer exactly what to expect; “Contractor Proposal Form” leaves room for guessing the form’s objective.

•Do not request the same information more than once. Your audience may be confused and decide to provide different answers to the same question.

•Make sure all the information on the form is necessary; unnecessary information wastes time and can confuse the audience.

•Determine whether your form has more than one function. If your form serves several functions (for example, collecting several types of information for different purposes), make sure that they are readily distinguishable.

•Logically group your statements and questions.

A statement or question may be clear when it stands alone but confusing when placed among dissimilar items.

•Present information in a logical sequence. If you jump inexplicably from one subject to another, you may lose your audience.

•Use abbreviations only when you know they will be understood. If abbreviations require explanation, they do not save time.

continued

•Speak in a language your audience understands.

Seldom will your audience be composed solely of accountants, lawyers, or engineers. As the following example* from a health benefits plan shows, specialized subject matter does not require specialized language:

Original: The benefits of the plan which covers the person on whose expenses claim is based as a dependent of a person whose date of birth, excluding year of birth, occurs earlier in a calendar year, shall be determined before the benefits of a plan which covers such a person as a dependent of a person whose date of birth, excluding year of birth, occurs late in a calendar year.

Simplified: When a husband and wife both have coverage, we use their birthdays to determine who pays for their dependents’ coverage. If the husband’s birthday falls earlier in the year, his plan will pay. If the wife’s birthday falls earlier, then her plan pays. For example, if the wife was born in March, and the

husband was born in July, the wife’s plan would pay.

•If legal or technical terminology cannot be avoided in a form used by a general audience, put such information at the bottom or on the back of the form and alert users to its whereabouts. This promotes a better forms conversation and can improve forms design.

Listening

To be a good forms conversationalist, a form must “listen” with consideration. Thus:

•Give your audience enough space to respond.

If you provide too little room for your readers’ responses, they may decide that you do not need the information and not respond fully.

•Use checklists to speed up the pace of the conversation whenever possible.

•Use clear, simple words and sentences and be specific. For example, “In what city and state did the accident occur?” makes it clear to your audience that only the city and state concern you; “Where did the accident occur?” may compel some respondents to draw road maps.

•If separate sections of your form are intended for different audiences or if some respondents are not required to fill out the form completely, clarify who

should fill out which sections:

-Identify and separate such sections by using a horizontal bar bearing a label such as “For use by [specified users] only” and, if

necessary, use a screen tint to differentiate one section from another.

-Write clear instructions and, if necessary, highlight them in red to help users avoid irrelevant sections. (See pages 13, 15, and 16.)

•If some questions are optional, identify them: - Group them in a section headed with a

horizontal bar bearing the label “Optional questions” and, if necessary, differentiate the entire section by using a screen tint.

- For further clarification, use instructions to explain which questions are optional.

- For a small number of optional questions, precede each question with “(Optional).”

•If your form has multiple copies, to differentiate copies, use labels that are easy to understand.

•If your audience must use code numbers, provide a legend for the code numbers on the back of the form.

•Test the form before it is reproduced.

Ask potential users to examine a proof or a tight sketch of the proposed form to determine whether they can understand exactly what

information is requested. Rewrite and reorganize the form in response to their needs.

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Predesign Planning

Before tackling the details of designing a form, consider the following issues:

• Redundancy

-Can you use an existing form?

-If a new form is required, can you consolidate any existing forms with the new form to create one that serves the needs of others, reduces waste, and avoids redundancy? (See page 12.)

•Processing

-How will the form be

·filled out (by hand, typewriter, or computer)?

·processed (faxed, photocopied, or mailed)?

·stored (punched at the left or top margin for a loose-leaf binder or clasp file folder, microfilmed, reentered as computer data)?

-What minimum margins are required on all sides of the form to avoid loss of information when using office machines to process the form throughout its life-cycle? (See page 16.)

•Distribution

Can the number of multiple copies be reduced to simplify distribution?

•Format and size

-Which format—vertical or horizontal—is best suited to collect, store, distribute, and retrieve the required information?

-Is a particular format or size required for manual or machine processing?

-Is an exceptional form size or a multi-page form required? (See pages 13 and 14.)

•Information priorities

Can your requests for information be categorized as essential, important, less important, and optional or dispensable? This classification will help the designer develop an appropriate layout.

•Emphasis and differentiation

-What information needs to be placed under a heading, reversed from a bar, or otherwise emphasized or subdued?

-Will some parts of the form require no response or be intended for internal use only?

(For examples of differentiation and emphasis, see page 16.)

•Response space

How much room will respondents need to supply the desired information?

•Review

Before printing, who should review the form design to ascertain its clarity, correctness, and completeness: users, processors, forms manager, legal counsel, others?