ACEing Four Horsemen

This week I focused on the ACE, PAT & CARP models for a more effective learning visual design process. After reading and researching I again applied what I learned to developing a lesson to teach my family on better relationships communication. My children are young and new to the world of psychology, so I am keeping it simple.

I created the graphic below to introduce the entire lesson to them, sort of like the cover to a book. Per the ACE process, I did not yet have a larger instructional design to inform this design so I went with what I felt would be a good general introduction. I think it will work because I've kept things fairly simple with minimal graphics - an explicit part of the "P" that Lohr (2008, p. 80) describes in Principles, and I'm not using any more "big words" than absolutely necessary. Yet I also think it's still interesting overall. I am in the love with the idea of CARP (contrast, alignment, repetition, proximity) (Lohr, 2008, p. 84) so I tried to incorporate it into the design: Black, white and red all contrast well (& the red calls out the urgency of the action verb/call-to-action "stop"); everything is lined up, or aligned; I repeated the horse motif as well as the same style of their accompanying descriptors, as I did the black words above and below the stop sign shape; and I maintained appropriate proximity of similar elements.

To evaluate, my wife suggested the whole stop sign shape that originally was not present in the graphic. This was as close to a usability testing as I will get at present. I will make further changes based on any additional feedback I receive.