O n f e r e n c e

Joachim Castellano 
New York University, New York, United States of America 
[e-mail] 
Creating Materials: Does Visual Design Matter? 
Bio Data 
Joachim Castellano
is a faculty member and the CALL Coordinator at New York 
University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies American Language Institute 
Tokyo Center. He specializes in media education and production for language learning. In 
2013 he was selected as an Apple Distinguished Educator. He has worked previously at 
Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy, the JET Programme, 
Apple Computer, and Teachers College Columbia University’s EdLab research unit.
Abstract
CALL practitioners are content remixers: they create tasks by combining technology, 
hardware and software, with lessons and tasks they have used before. These customized 
lessons are often organized and executed through a document such as a g allows 
teachers to create content relevant to the immediate and particular needs of their 
students.
However, while much time and CALL research has been dedicated to the conception of 
self-published educational materials, less attention has focused specifically on the visual 
design of these materials. Perhaps this is because teachers have had little or no design 
background, and visually appealing content was limited to professional producers. 
Presently, however, consumer desktop publishing software and delivery mechanisms 
afford its creators the opportunity to create visually appealing materials at low cost. For 
example, digital textbooks made for iPads through iBooks Author software can be filled 
with pages of rich photos and graphics with the ease of dragging and droppingWord or 
Google Doc. For years, instead of relying solely on commercial texts, CALL practitioners 
have adopted self-publishing precisely because self-publishin and without concern about 
printing expenses. Despite these developments, CALL practitioners may still debate 
whether or not it is justifiable for a teacher to dedicate extra time to create visually-rich 
and well-designed materials.
This paper will explore the question whether good visual design is important when 
creating self-published classroom materials and handouts. Research on the possible 
educational benefits of well-designed materials will be reported. The paper will also 
explore ways that fundamental aspects of visual literacy such as layout and text may or 
may not affect comprehension. The presenter will share a variety of examples to show 
how even simple design choices might improve materials. 

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-77- 
2014 CALL Conference 
LINGUAPOLIS
www.antwerpcall.be