Legal disclaimer on search page

Question

I have a search screen I've created. I want the design to be very simplistic (google/amazon style) and I feel like I've achieved that.

The problem now is I've been asked to attach a visible disclaimer on the page (which is all the 'Note:lorem ipsum and down' text at the bottom of the presented screenshot. It must be visible, but it ruins the whole simplicity of the screen and makes it very busy and distracting to the eyes. Is there any recommended elegant ways of displaying this message, whether it be font color or a page layout change or anything to that nature that can help?

Screenshot here:

Here's an updated attempt:

I changed the background color of the 'Note' and added an icon to add some contrast. Not sure if it improves the overall flow or not. Still looking for some options.

Answer 1

This is a classic problem where different departments need to have their say on the deliverable. In this case Usability professional v/s Legal professional. There is the need for the user and there is a need for legal. Now legal department have the obligation to see too that the company implement government laws. From the question, I can't say if this is the case, but surely there must be some reason for the disclaimer to be present on the page. They didn't make this up by themselves, did they?

From a usability perspective the design suggested (probably from legal department) is truly awful. But this is our field, not legal. Legal only have a functional requirement saying "the disclaimer must be on this page". Not how, not where nor the design of the disclaimer. This is where we as professionals need to make the best of the situation and deal with the requirement.

We can always argue that the design suggestion from legal is bad, and prove it. It's what we do on a daily basis. As well as they can argue why this disclaimer needs to be on this page. The compromise, in this case, would be a disclaimer that is less prominent than those suggested above.

We can work with a sublime color, move the content further down on the page, make the font size smaller, draw a horizontal rule above the disclaimer and by this increase white space of what is important on this page: the textbox and the button. By this legal requirement are met and user experience is not all that bad.

^{download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups}

Answer 2

Like Oil and Water, UX and Legal are incompatible. Either your UX team has the power to influence how legal is implemented, or you don't.

Answer 3

I agree with Ben's comment. (not the baseball bat one lol...)

If he's really worried about liability, then he's better off putting that disclaimer on the top of search result page, instead of home page. (though i would still put the disclaimer link on the footer on the home page as per Xiaofu's comment)

By users simply loading the home page of your site, I fail to see how you are entering into a contract with them, unless you are collecting information from them without consent.