Organization

This week, my task was to create an image with organization in mind.  I found this graphic to be one of the central themes that I want students to walk away knowing when they are finished with this unit.  Knowing that there would be lots of information I needed to address, chunking the information would reduce the cognitive load for students.  According to Lohr, 2008, it's important to keep fewer, rather than more, chunks if we want the learner to process the information, and that chunk sizes vary (p 125).  I've kept the information within each chunk between 5 and 7 bullet points.
The first thing I wanted my learners to notice when they looked at this graphic was the colorful title. Therefore, I decided to list the headings for the major and minor nutrients at the bottom of the chunk so the eye wasn't distracted by them.  I used blue for major and purple for the minor nutrients then repeated that with the headings below to show which were major or minor nutrients.
In addition to the color matching, I've matched the way I organized the information within each of the boxes of chunked information.  Starting with how they are divided, examples, calories, and use. Creating an organization structure is one technique Lohr discusses to show that reading order is important in instruction design messages. (p 133)
My original image did not have colors in the title that matched the headings for the major and minor nutrients.  My reviewer felt it would help the learner understand better which were major nutrients and which were minor nutrients.

Lohr, L.L. (2008).  Creating graphics for learning and performance: Lessons in visual literacy (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle, NJ:Pearson