Images & Illustrations
Explore how you can use images and illustrations to keep learners engaged with your content.
Why use visuals?
A picture is worth a thousand words. You can practically present a complex concept through an image that may take several pages of text to explain. Images and illustrations help learners imbibe and retain information efficiently.
You can use graphics and diagrams, infographics, charts and flowcharts, photos, and even GIFs to make your content visually appealing and break walls of text.
The drawing widget
The drawing widget allows you to create UML diagrams, Venn diagrams, flowcharts, and cartoon images. However, its use is not restricted to just these four types. It gives you the freedom to draw as you please!
The widget also imports images from the web/desktop.
Add the widget, and click the “Edit” button; this is what it looks like:
What do I need to know?
On the left side, you have different options for adding assets and diagrams. For example:
Educative
General
Misc
Advanced
Basic
Arrows
Flowchart
Entity Relation
UML (Unified Modelling Language)
You can also use the “Scratchpad” feature to import/export your customized images from a website or local machines. You can search for shapes in the search bar at the top left or click the “More Shapes” button at the bottom left corner.
On the right side, you have options for styling and arranging the added assets.
On the top, you have general options such as Undo, Zoom in, and Zoom out.
You can add mathematical expressions. Please refer to this link.
To copy a drawing across multiple lessons, use keyboard shortcut keys.
How can I upload images?
Go to “File” and click the “Import from” option. You’ll further see three options: “Browser…”, “Device…”, and “URL…” as shown below.
The URL can be a web image. A link created through the “Course Assets” functionality can be used.
Educative Illustration Repository
For your convenience, Educative has a large repository of ready-made illustrations that can be used in the Drawing widget. We update the repository regularly. Feel free to use these illustrations at your leisure. Check out the full repository here!
Our design team can create images on your request as well.
How to create a slideshow?
Slideshows enable you to present information sequentially, which can help break down complex topics into simpler parts. To create a slideshow, check the “Convert To Slides” box and then click the “Edit” button.
At the bottom, you have a tab, “Page-1”, like an Excel sheet. To create slides, you can add multiple pages in the widget.
To add a caption to each slide, replace the Page-<x> with the required caption.
More options
You can check out the detailed Author guide for more options to add visuals, charts, graphs, etc.
Illustration repository
For your convenience, Educative has a large repository of ready-made illustrations that can be used in the Drawing widget. We update the repository regularly. Feel free to use these illustrations at your leisure. You can request your author success coordinator for access to the repository.
Visual design guidelines
Make your visuals impactful by following these guidelines:
- Ensure that the images are not blurry. An example is given below.
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Avoid using images with colored backgrounds. These can be harsh on the eyes, especially in dark mode.
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Images and diagrams should be center-aligned. We recommend that you use the drawing widget to upload images.
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The image size should be adjusted according to functionality. Decorative images to break walls of text shouldn’t be too large.
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Explanatory diagrams that explain concepts could be larger but there should be a few lines of text visible in the same frame.
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Images should be high-quality and high-resolution to avoid blurriness.
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Always give descriptive captions to your images.
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Images with pale or white backgrounds should always have a border.
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Keep the color scheme consistent throughout the course.
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If using bold or italicized text in the image, keep it consistent.
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The font used in the images should be consistent throughout the course. Avoid using comic sans and handwritten fonts.
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Keep the font size consistent.
Click here for more detailed guidelines.
In the next lesson, we’ll explore widgets that will make our course interactive.