explanation graph

While searching online for either an explanation or information graphic, I remembered a specific one from back in the day. This one happened to be an explanation graphic of how to perform CPR. I came across a black and white one with tiny lettering, bad organization, and barely any open space. It was very busy and in my perspective I felt that if someone is in dire need of having CPR performed on them, they need to be looking at a map that can quickly tell them what to do without feeling confused. CPR is a serious matter and can often times save someone’s life, so why does this original poster have no color to direct attention on specific directions and little pictures were you can barely make out what is happening?
The first step I did to give this poster a makeover was to put the main, bold directions in a larger font with bright red and black outlined font. Red is a very bright color that catches our attention and possesses a hazardous/stop quality. With having this color, the person can tell that it’s important and should probably read it. Also by putting the directions in a larger font, the person has the ability to quickly glance and read what it says. Before I was squinting at the picture and trying to make out what each step was asking me to do. When you’re saving a life, you don’t have time to thoroughly read something or stare at for a great amount of time. Also, I put the direction font all in capital lettering besides were the first step was larger due to the importance of the step. I wanted the reader to know its important, and having capital lettering achieves this.
Next I focused on duplicating the same picture from the original poster but putting it in color. By giving a picture color, it makes something clearer and easier to understand. For instance, when it was black and white, you couldn’t tell if the woman’s shirt was connected to the boy or where her hands were directly placed. Pictures are important in an explanation graph because sometimes they can speak a million words and represent more than what the directions have to say.
My third approach to making this CPR poster more useful was eliminating the descriptive (tiny) directions from underneath the bold lettering. I removed this because I felt the bold directions were quick and to the point, where the descriptive paragraph was wordy and time consuming. However, I did not eliminate this from the entire poster, for I put it on the back side incase the person performing CPR was further confused.
After that, I focused on the organization of how it was read. On the original poster, the numbered steps were not placed in a clear and concise way. Step one was at the top right and step two was on the right. In my personal experience reading explanation graphs, one would expect to see the first step closer to the left hand side, just like reading a book, we always start from the left and work right.
Lastly by giving the final poster more space, it was more readable and easier to understand when the person might be in a hurry to perform CPR. Negative space can be good because when you don’t have proper space, the image becomes cluttered and busy and the reader might get lost in which step to perform first.