Conceptual Framework Poster

Our poster demonstrates the eleven competencies of professional educators here at JMU.  Our first challenge involved creating meaningful icons.  We looked for components that best represented each competency.  By using Photoshop, we took simple designs and contrasted them with black and white for emphasis.  Then we decided to place them in cogs that shows the connectedness of each competency and its importance to teaching.  Next came placement.  We liked the random alignment that gives the perception that they are working together. Of course, we chose JMU's colors since the poster will be used on campus for students.  After placement of our cogs, we worked to summarize each concept.  At first, we tried making the key words white and the other text gold; however this was too stark and took away from the white icons. By taking the gold text, and giving it a brighter saturation of yellow, and then enlarging key words, we gave emphasis to the main point of each competency.   

Our toughest challenge was determining an effective chunking method to enable quick memorization.  After much experimentation and debate, we decided to add a grid image background (hard to see on the screen grab) and create two black lines to act as dividers.  We left the competencies in their original numerical order.  Though each competency and icon are not categorized they are divided into three separate groups:  4 on top, 4 in the middle, and 3 below with the idea that if you learn several at one time, then you can add additional groups.  Finally, we stretched our title "Professional Educators Demonstrate," which also preludes each competency, across the top of the poster.  We tried echoing the exact color of the cogs and the bottom frame with the title, but the title was too dark.  Therefore, we re-created our title with a lighter shade of the purple and added a white shadow.  This definitely allowed the title to become more legible.  Overall, the poster process entails a lot of pre-planning and layout work.  

Evaluating Components:  Connotation, Attributes, and Placement

Our strengths of the poster include the cogs, simplistic white on black icons, and our highlighted font, in a larger size. These connect the teaching competency theme. I like how we incorporated two varying sizes, and color-connected font giving emphasis to the highlighted text.   With that said, the fonts are probably too small to be read from a great distance.  Additionally, our colors could have been adjusted.  For instance, a lighter purple would have added more contrast between the cogs and the background. Of course, we chose the JMU purple and gold to represent the school.  Maybe we should have opted for blue cogs and white font to represent the education department's colors which also may have created a better contrast.  Moreover the thickness of our dividing horizontal black lines, intended to separate the cogs, may not effectively demonstrate our concept or generate effective chunking for memorization of skills.    The cogs and smaller text certainly play supporting roles while the icons and highlighted text are central.  Overall, I think a few color and placement adjustments may improve our poster.