Tell Your Visual Story: Online Graphic & Infographic Tools for Non-Designers

46
Tell Your Visual Story: Online Graphic and Infographic Tools for Non- Designers Evelyn McCormack Mack Digital Communications INSPRA 2017

Transcript of Tell Your Visual Story: Online Graphic & Infographic Tools for Non-Designers

Tell Your Visual Story:Online Graphic and Infographic Tools for Non-Designers

Evelyn McCormackMack Digital CommunicationsINSPRA 2017

Where You Can Find This Presentation www.slideshare.net/evelynmccormackGoogle Drive

Hello, Non-Designers No Adobe IllustratorNo CorelDrawNo PhotoshopNo vector imagesNo designing from scratch

I write well and take mediocre photographs. Im not a designer.

Infographic Tools: Canva, Piktochart, Easel.ly, VenngageAll allow users to create infographics using range of templates. Free versions available on Piktochart and Easel.ly, but limited in scope.Pro Piktochart: $40 a year for individual education accounts.Easel.ly Pro account is $3 a month, but have 50% education plan you can apply for. Free accounts offer handful of templates, but paid versions offer more.Theres always Canva!Today, were using Piktochart and CanvaWell also take a look at using Adobe Spark Page and Spark Post for simple graphics and storytelling awesomeness.

Why Infographics?They go viral, taking awareness of the creators website or FB page with them. Should be share-worthy & presented as simply as possible. Useful information at a glance, instead of forcing busy people to comb through a lot oftext.People find infographics hard toresist.Complement modern socialmedia.

Infographic TipsInclude hook (primary take-away). Give most important information the most visual weight, so viewers know what to take away. At beginning of infographic, introduce problem or thesis. Then back up with data. Finally, end infographic with conclusion.

Have your story and facts laid out in advance. Create a Word Doc or Google Doc with points you want to make.Ask yourself: Whats the context? Choose colors carefully and start by using suggested color schemes.Set up structure, tell story, design infographic.Can use maps, diagrams, charts. Have fun with it.

NSPRA infographic based on results of a membership survey regarding social media use.Made with Canva.Attribution at top

About CanvaTwo versions Free version, but charge to purchase individual graphics to dress up design. $1 eachCan upload your own photos & use thoseCanva for Work: Free for 2 months, then $9.95 a month if paid annually, $12.95 per month if paid monthly.

Canva for Work

-- $9.99 a month if paid annually

Up to 50 team members can useAccess to 8,000+ templatesResizes your designsCan upload custom fontsFolders to organize uploaded foldersPriority support

Lets Use Canva! Go to Canva.comCreate a FREE account. Youll need your email address and a password.Follow along with me once youre there.

Choose Click on a DesignChoose Social MediaClick on Text in left margin Add a little bit of body textCopy and paste text in Word document: Key Demographics of Westchester & PutnamCopy your title and insert it by clicking on Add Subhead. Create your title.Use the editing bar at the top to change font size, orientation. Use handles on box to move text around on page.

Find Some Photos or IconsClick on Elements in left marginChoose Free Photos, Illustrations, or IconsBegin your search for elements that will help illustrate your graphicChoose elements and insert on page. Dont worry about paid items. You wont be charged unless you try and download or share. Resize by clicking on corners. Move object by clicking and dragging that object.

When Youre Done with Your Canva Design

Lets Go to Piktochart!

Create an account using Google or FacebookYoull see a new page like this one.

Piktochart Tutorial

What It All Means

Choose Infographic in left margin.Go to the free template, How to Create Your Own Infographic.Click on use template

Copy and paste from Word document. Changes to the SAT and PSAT Double click on the title block and paste in new title.Double click on the subtitle and come up with your own (or mine).Pay attention to your choices in left margin and the toolbar across the top. Mess around with typefaces and sizes.

Toolbar on left lets you move blocks up and down, delete blocks, reorder blocks.

Toolbar at top permits you to change font, change font sizes, align your font, embed a hyperlink behind your font, etc.

The Share and Download Buttons on Piktochart

You cant share a link with anyone unless you have the Pro account.You can, however, download it as a PNG and then share it on social media, etc.You can also download it as blocks in a ZIP file.

Digital Storytelling ToolsAdobe Spark PageAdobe Spark PostCanvaPageflow

Made with Pageflow

Pageflow Pricing

$10.34 per month

Twitter with images = 28% more retweets & 36% more favoritesFacebook images receive 120% more engagement than text-only postsInstagram, Pinterest: communicate almost solely with images.

PhotosVideosPhotos with TextText-Only GraphicsTipsAnnouncementsQuotesChecklistsInfographics

What Works on Social Media

Northfield Mount Hermon30

Social Media Graphics ToolsCanva (free & paid versions)Adobe Spark Post, Spark Page, Spark Video (free, some branding by Adobe)Assorted mobile apps I love

Facebook Posts with Canva

Classic 1990s flyer Canva social media post

Here, Ive taken a 20th century flyer and turned it into a post for Facebook. Modernized, used copyright free image, etc.33

Twitter Posts

West put for their publication, but also working on a number of graphics for a districts enewsletter. Can just cute and paste right into an enewsletter.34

Use alone or save as JPGs to use in publications, e-newsletters, etc.Share directly to social media.(Numbers are effective)

Adobe Spark Post, Spark Video, Spark Page

iOS apps (still free) and web-based for visual storytelling. On iPhones and iPads standalone apps. (Not available on Android yet).Projects stored in cloud & sync between computer and Apple devices. Spark Post: creates single-image graphics with text overlays. Can change type style, colors, layouts and page size, through presets or manually.

Spark Page: single-page scrolling Web pages. Combine text, photos, video. Can upload videos from YouTube, Vimeo.Spark Video: Use still images or graphics, add narration and music track, then export as video file. Direct uploads to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. Can also download.Can't access project files without going through apps. Can only export in non-editable formats.Only mobile apps allow you to animate photo posts. Adobe brands end of videos and pages. Branding can be deleted from posts.

Heres the Difference

Spark Pages

Spark Video

Lets Use Adobe SparkGo to https://spark.adobe.com/loginLog in with Facebook or Google ID.Give access to offline files.

Mobile Apps I LoveOver (free)Allows you to superimpose text on any photo.Automatically post photo to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. Email these to myself so I can use on websites, print materials.FREE

Thank You!

[email protected]://www.facebook.com/mackdigitalcom@evelynmccormack