Instructional design/CARP/Design Principle Descriptions

Part 3 - Design Principle Descriptions

Contrast:
If two items are different, make them look very different:

The left side is a non-example, because the font color and gray value is too similar to the background making it hard to read. The example on the right successfully uses contrast, allowing the text to stand out clearly.

Alignment:
Creates organization on a page by connecting items:

The left side is a poor example. It does use two columns as well as center justification, however center justification should be avoided when possible. The right side is a better example of alignment because the text in each column is left justified.

Repetition:
Identical types of items should be repeated consistently throughout a piece. This means for instance, that all titles will have the same font size, color, style, and alignment since they are all titles, even though the text of the titles is not identical:

The four different jerseys all use repetition of the colors orange and black, as well as have the same socks, shoes, and belts throughout. The font used for the team names is consistent as well. Despite the fact that the jerseys are not identical, they all share many repeated attributes that tie them together and identify them all as belonging to the same (identical) baseball team.

Proximity:
Related items should be grouped together:

The left side is a non-example because all items are grouped together so no items can be distinguished as distinctly similar to each other yet different from the rest. The right side is a good example, because items are grouped distinctly using spacing. There are clearly three groups, and we can surmise that items within each group are related to each other.

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