7 Opportunities For Using Pictures in Your Content

If your presentations and online learning courses are filled with too much text, there is a good chance you will lose your audience. Graphics are often superior to words because they attract attention and help communicate your message. People are naturally aligned with graphics because more of our brain is dedicated to visual processing than any other sense. Here are 7 opportunities for you to supplement or replace your words with a graphic. 1. Use Visual Metaphors Help your audience understand a difficult concept by comparing it with a familiar object or idea. Metaphors offer an excellent opportunity for using visuals, because they'll help your audience comprehend and remember new information. For example, you can define what a database is by using a picture of a file cabinet. 2. Make Abstract Ideas Concrete Diagrams and graphs help people comprehend abstract concepts by using visual language to show meaning. For example, in diagrams the connecting lines between elements help learners understand relationships. Bar graphs make it easy to compare data; line graphs help learners understand trends. So, make abstract information concrete with a corresponding visual when possible. 3. Show the Parts of an Object Use labeled illustrations when your audience need to understand specific components of an object. This is particularly useful when there are many components or when the parts are microscopic, hidden or invisible. 4. Depict Motion and Paths Visuals are a potent way to show the movement of one or more objects. You can depict motion along a path with dotted lines or depict motion with arrows, such as when showing the moving parts of a machine. 5. Bring Stories to Life We often use stories in presentations and courses. To bring a storyline to life, find stock photos of how you picture the characters of your story. These can add emotional depth to the story and ensure the audience gets the message. If you're using an audio voice over, move across the photo or zoom in to add a sense of action. 6. Make the Most of Maps You already know that maps are great for showing location and geography, but did you know they can be used for other purposes? Newspapers and magazines often use maps to show quantities, like variations in population, crime rates, cell phone use or political affiliations by city, state, province or country. People quickly perceive and understand map information because it's a very common format. 7. Eye Candy is OK Lighten up a dull course or presentation with some eye candy. These are visuals that are there for decoration. They might not help with comprehension, but they lighten the visual appeal of a dense screen. Be careful that what you select for a nonessential visual doesn't distract from the most important content, but does make the screen more aesthetically pleasing. If you want to ensure you communicate your message most effectively, add visuals to your content using a few of these approaches.