This week we created a project on organization and hierarchy principles. I posted a Twitter feed that demonstrates the concept more clearly. Overall, there are several concepts in hierarchy as a principle where various actions (CARP) and tools (type, color, shape, etcetera) can be used to achieve hierarchy.

The image below is a good example of visual hierarchy being created.

Hierarchy is the idea of visual cues that enables learners to more efficiently process graphical or textual information on a page. Hierarchy allows for chunking of information. Lines, arrows, depth, shape, and space can also be manipulated to show relationships between images and elements. White space is a big factor that allows similar elements to be grouped together and create chunks of information and help learners organize it more efficiently.

I found a great You Tube video on visual hierarchy that overviews this concept well. Any person in visual arts (now including teachers) is to help guide the end user (learners) eye to the piece. All elements are to be placed in a certain way to guide the viewers eye to a certain aspect of the image very quickly. Many people do not need to spend time to decipher what is being seen (this should be instantaneously). Take a look here.

Reference – Lohr, L. (2008). Creating graphics for learning and performance (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education ISBN:0-­‐13-­‐219158-­‐X