The Road to Admission

Master of Science in Medical Sciences

4
Once received and reviewed,
staff will send an email
indicating that your
application is complete. Your
decision should follow

3
Complete the secondary shortly!
application and mail required
documents as outlined on
the webpage. Click the
transcript icon for more info.

2
Complete the primary online
graduate admission

Start Here! application via VZ. Click on

the graphic below to take

1
Review admission deadlines you to the webpage.
and minimum requirements
for MSMS program. Click on ADMISSION
magnifying glass for more
info! AHEAD
IN 4 STEPS
Courtney Campbell
EME 6215
Dr. Jung Lim
July 19, 2017
Final Project

Visual Design Analysis

Learning Topic/Content:
Process for applying for admission to the Master of Science in Medical Sciences
program at University of South Florida

Instructional Goals:
To clarify the murky admissions process for prospective MS in Medical Sciences
students

Context:
§ Learner Profile:
Acceptance to medical school remains very competitive. Even students with
competitive GPAs and MCAT scores aren’t always accepted into their schools
of choice or at all. These students are attracted to the University of South
Florida’s Master of Science in Medical Sciences Pre-Professional Program,
which was designed to be completed within one academic year and prepares
students for the rigor of medical school.

Prospective students are between the ages of 22-35, with slightly more male
applicants than female applicants. Applicants are proficient English speakers
and are of varying racial/ethnic backgrounds, though the majority of
applicants are white males.

This generation of applicants relies heavily on hand-held technology and

computers. This generation also has the expectation that answers are readily
available and found easily.

The applicants are very likely to be familiar with the application process for
undergraduate admission and may even be familiar with graduate admission
procedures (especially if they applied to another program, but may not have
been admitted). Therefore the process is not completely foreign, but it is likely
to vary slightly from other processes at other institutions.

§ Learning Environment:
The learning environment will vary from student to student as the graphic
will be available online.

§ Delivery Platform:
The graphic will be delivered on USF’s Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs
website under the topic of Admission.

§ Pragmatic Issues:
 The department has a limited budget for marketing, but luckily there is
already access to the needed Adobe creative tools (e.g. Photoshop,
Illustrator). In addition, there is an established website for Graduate and
Postdoctoral Affairs, maintained by IT.

Because the graphic will be placed on the Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs
website, prior approval from the Senior Associate and Associate Deans is
needed. Once approved, the office contact for the website must request that IT
upload the graphic to the Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs website.

Visual Approach Plan:

a. Determine the images: The images are bright and attractive, which seems
to be consistent with the graphics used to attract younger students at USF.
There is subtle branding in the graphic (e.g., the bull symbol on the road
sign and the branding on the computer screens if one zooms all the way in)
b. Conduct preliminary assessment of the graphic requirements of the
content: Because the graphic will be on a website, it must be interactive.
When students click on the computer screens, they can learn more about
the different steps of the admissions process.
c. Design treatment: The graphic will be more visual dominant rather than
text dominant. From years of experience in higher education, students
don’t tend to read very text-heavy documents. Students will be able to click
on the computer screens to dive more heavily into the content on the
website.

Communication function needed to match content type

The communication function appears the match the content type. When teaching
about processes, it is important to use simpler visuals to promote understanding.
For the most part, line art is used rather than pictures. In addition, the mental
load is managed by providing an overview of the admissions process. To further
pursue the steps, the students must press on an icon to go to the appropriate
webpage. Also, interpretive visuals are used. For instance, the magnifying glass
is used to represent reviewing admissions requirements and deadlines.

Application of principles of psychological instructional events for graphic in

terms of:
a. Directing attention- Use of red star and text, “Start here” are included to
direct attention to the starting point of the process.
b. Activating prior knowledge- Juxtaposition of undergraduate admissions
process and graduate admissions process.
c. Minimizing mental load- Only line art is used in the graphic. No
photographs are used to assist in managing mental load. Also limited text
is used in the graphic, but there is the option to click on the computers to
find out more information about the admissions process.
d. Helping learners build mental models- The road is an organizational
graphic that shows the progression of different steps from step 1 to step 4
in the admissions process.
e. Motivation and learning- The graphic is bright and attractive, which will
motivate prospective student interest in learning about the process. Of
course, prospective students are likely already interested in applying if
they have landed on the admissions webpage.
 f. Leveraging individual differences- It is assumed that most prospective
students have applied to at least an undergraduate program, so most will
have prior knowledge of an admissions process. Additional graphics to
support learning is not likely needed. It may be helpful to add some
auditory aspect for learners who learn this way, but it is not currently
supported in this graphic. If the document is downloaded in pdf format, it
may be possible for it to be read with a screen reader.

List of Sources
a. Software used in project: (Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Canva)
This project largely used Adobe Illustrator for the background and layout.
However, elements from Canva were also used.
b. Image sources:
• Coral car (www.canva.com)
Deleted background in Photoshop using Magic Wand tool
• Check mark in green circle (www.canva.com)
Deleted background in Photoshop using Magic Wand tool
• Computer screen (www.canva.com)
Placed actual VZ app website on screen after screen grabbing it and
then removed background in Photoshop using Magic Wand tool.
• Black medical symbol (www.canva.com)
Deleted background in Photoshop using Magic Wand tool
• Green magnifying glass (www.canva.com)
Changed color from yellow to green and deleted background in
Photoshop using Magic Wand tool
• Report card (www.canva.com)
Deleted background in Photoshop using Magic Wand tool
• Road with yellow dashed line-created in Illustrator
• Sun with orange rays-created in Illustrator
• Trees-created in Illustrator
• Clouds-created in Illustrator
• Sky-created in Illustrator
• Grass-created in Illustrator
• Road sign-created in Illustrator
• Rounded rectangles with text-created in Illustrator