CARP Project - EdTech 506

This week in EdTech 506 we concentrated on CARP, or Contrast, Alignment, Repetition, and Proximity. I chose to create an infographic on the significance of the HMS Dreadnought to complete this assignment. 

The intended users for this graphic are high school students taking an online U.S. History course. The students can read at or near grade level or are able to gain access to assistance for words they cannot comprehend. Since this is a web-based course, these students should be familiar with web navigation and basic computer skills. 

My goal for this infographic was for students to recognize the significance of the HMS Dreadnought prior to World War One. At its creation, the Dreadnought made every other battleship in the world obsolete with its use of steam turbines (first battleship to do so), speed (fastest battleship in the world at the time), and firepower (first battleship to incorporate a uniform main battery). This British creation would force all other navies in the world to improve their navies, sparking a naval arms race, most notably between the British Royal Navy and the German Imperial Navy. This buildup of naval ships is an example of Militarism, one of the components of the acronym M-A-I-N regarding the causes of World War One.

To get this message across, I first created the title and used Stencil type to give a military feel to it (tying the Dreadnought to Militarism). I then inserted two images, one of HMS Agamemnon, a pre-Dreadnought battleship, and to the right an image of HMS Dreadnought. This was done to actually let the students see what was being taught about and so they could also get a good contrast of the armament of the two ships through the visuals. I placed them far apart in regard to proximity to improve differentiation between the two images. (Lohr, 203) 

I also used color coding and font for contrast. (Lohr, 201) I typed the text referring to the pre-Dreadnought in a rust color, signifying the “out with the old” concept. I typed the text referring to the HMS Dreadnought in blue, signifying “in with the new” and tying in with a color of the British ensign. I used repetition of these colors in the descriptions of Speed, Propulsion, and Firepower for each ship (Lohr, 203). So to reinforce the data for each ship, and to provide contrast, students were provided color coding. 

Regarding alignment (Lohr, 201), I chose to align the images across from each other for ease of comparison. I also aligned all text correlating to each image centered on the image for attribution. I used dividing lines for clean alignments on the information regarding Speed, Propulsion, and Firepower. At the bottom I used anchor images for bullets regarding the key information section on HMS Dreadnought. I also colored the anchors blue to associate the Dreadnought with that information being presented. Each bullet of information was aligned with an anchor. 

My wife assisted in the user-test and was she able to determine the significance of the HMS Dreadnought through the graphic without any problems at all. She could not think of any ways to really improve the graphic and that it was very effective in what it was meant to do. 

The only changes I can see making at this point would be to blow up the images more or link them to larger images on the finished website. I know students can zoom in but I think it might be easier to really contrast the ships if they were already enlarged.  

Works Cited 

Lohr, L. (2008). Creating graphics for learning and performance: lessons in visual literacy (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Merrill/Prentice Hall.

 CARP Project Graphic