Chip Flemmer	Unit Five Visual Activity
Create your own activity this unit. Look at the Unit 5 Visual Activities List for ideas	I decided to create my own chart that expressed hierarchy. My school district has a new high school opening up in the fall of 2009 and I wanted to create a chart for the boys’ basketball program showing the varsity team with the highest status and working your way on down to the feeder programs at the middle school level. One of the coaches I work with likes to say “one team, one heartbeat” all the time so I decided to use that as a motto (half serious and half joking). I think this would be a nice homepage for a basketball website and you could use each team as a link to more detailed information pertaining to that team (i.e. schedules, rosters, etc.).
This is my first version of my visual solution.
Describe your usability test.	I sent my partner my unit five rough draft. The following is the message I sent her… Since it says to "Create your own activity this unit. Look at the Unit 5 Visual Activities List for ideas," I decided to make a hierarchy chart for the boys basketball program for our new high school that will open up in 2009.  The jobs haven't been assigned so this is just a mock representation.  I want to know if the banners on top and bottom distract or are effective.   I feel that there is too much stuff going on, but I am submitting this as my first draft so I can get some ideas on how to make it better.  Your guidance and direction is sought.  Thank you. Chip Her response to me was… Chip, I found that extremely easy to understand. Everyone's position in the ranks is very clear.  I'll have to assume anyone reading that knows what "Roach M.S." and everything means, but even though I don't, I could assume it's a leadership position ranking under the coaches but equal to the Wester one.  I don't think the banners are distracting, since they obviously create a sort of border.  Perhaps completing the border on the sides with a thin black line would unify the whole thing.  My only criticism would be that the slogan at the bottom is a little tough to read since the letters are so wide.  I know it was done to match the length of the image, but perhaps they could be made a little narrower and just have more black space on the side.  Nice work!
Final Draft
Justification Describe how you applied information from Chapter 6	Chapter six was very helpful in my unit five visual. I like things to be well-organized. I wanted to create my image in such a way that it is very easy to understand and more likely to be remembered.  I decided to chunk information in a hierarchy that represented the basketball program for our new high school which will be opening in the fall.  The info is fictional, but the design is something that I would like to use in the future as a link to each team's webpage.  I arranged my image with vertical alignment in mind. Page 128 says that people see items at the top of a vertical plane as having more power. That was my goal in showing the varsity position as the top of the chain and working your way down to the middle school positions. Chunking information (each team) was also applied.
Describe how you applied information the Resources section	I found page 284 of the resources chapter to have applied to my process in creating the image. It says "What software program should I use?"  I decided to go with PowerPoint and kick it up with some Cool Text that would make my information stand out for the viewer. Page 303 also applied in the use of alignment in creating an image.
Describe what you learned from usability testing.	I think that a key factor for me to know that I learned something is when I find myself using the concept a day or even a week later. I found myself looking at an image and thinking that the hierarchy was messed-up about 3-4 days after beginning this lesson. I found out through the usability testing that my image would look better if I added side borders to complete the look. When I added the side borders I realized that was something that was missing and it added to a more complete look in what I was creating. Anytime you have someone critique your work you fear the worst, but I have found that another set of eyes is essential if you want to produce consistent quality work. I guess you could say that I have really learned to trust my usability partner and value her opinion.
Self Assessment	Visual – 3/3 Usability Testing – 3/3 Justification – 4/4