June 15, 2017

From emojis to TED talks, visuals are increasingly central to sharing information. Whether your task is preparing a slideshow for a conference, illustrating a blog post, or posting to social media, having the right visual illustrations will help make your message more persuasive and memorable.

At Chicago-Kent, I am regularly asked to help find and create visual assets to support faculty research and communication, set up websites, and manage social media accounts. My background as an art major, librarian, and event photographer makes me well suited to these tasks. Still, many of the tools and strategies I use don’t require a lot of specialized training. In this presentation, I’ll showcase tools that can help even novice designers look like an expert.

I’ll start with visual strategies that help determine which types of visuals are the best match for your content and audience, from charts to maps to photos.

I’ll describe the free search tools and resources I rely on to find images and illustrations and licensing works with for free images.

I’ll also share the tools I use for design and editing files, including a variety of free tools that don’t require installation or extensive training.

Will you be sharing your image research or designs with others? I’ll also highlight the collaborative or sharing options built into each tool as I go.