Back to blogging after a short break.  Today I’m taking a look at the CARP design principles, which is just as often referred to as the CRAP design principles.  Probably because it’s easier to remember, and not a reflection of the opinions of some designers.

The CARP principles (Contrast, Alignment, Repetition, and Proximity) help me determine good design practices that will make my work seem both professional and well thought out.  Ignoring the principles is an indication that the designer doesn’t really care about the quality of their work enough to investigate and use the most basic design principles.

As a designer, I want the people viewing my work to be thinking about the product or message that I am promoting, and not about the quality of my design work.  If they are thinking about the design quality, it makes it much more difficult to engage them in the message that I am presenting.  There is a lot of competition for people’s attention, and most people won’t spend much time on a presentation that they find annoying, boring, or difficult to view.  It is so easy to leave a bad presentation that if the design principles are not being used properly, then the message will not be seen.

I believe that Repetition is the most important principle when designing for webinars.  Each webinar should be focused on a specific topic, and by using repetition in the webinar it will emphasis and strengthen the message that is being delivered.  Repeating the main theme of the message will make it more likely that the person attending the webinar will remember the content for a longer period of time after the webinar is over.

So keep a look out for those quality web pages, presentations, webinars, etc.  Most likely, you’ll also be seeing a good example of the CARP principles in practice.