Stock imagery is ok really, but the problem is everyone is using it. (You know the thing, pictures of attractive young people wearing suits who don’t really look all that realistic!)
Using stock imagery is easy, right? (And getting quite expensive by the way).
However, you can make your training materials stand out a bit in all kinds of ways and in my case when a client asks me for “something a bit different”, I often suggest using a cartoon or two.
If the company culture involved can accept it, cartoons are a great way of communicating a message in training materials or in a presentation. Especially if you can do the drawing yourself or you happen to know a cartoonist who wants to make a few quick pound notes.
Here’s an example – an e-learning course I once did to educate people about a coaching programme. The client wanted a bespoke look so I was able to use a simple stick man character that featured throughout all of the Adobe Captivate assets I produced.
They can even be used as small graphics that can help create a look and feel that’s fun and attractive.
Cartoons have also now started to appear in corporate “whiteboard videos” (TruScribe, among others, good exponents of this)
In these videos they are being used as a great way to illustrate the speakers message just at the point the information is being delivered. The reinforcement value is fantastic.
I’ve also been to loads of events and conferences now where a freelance cartoonist is employed to create relevant cartoon artworks of the proceedings – then it becomes a piece of theatre as well as a great takeaway message.
Cartoons are great in presentations as well, and help you to create interest at the start or you can use them to illustrate slightly-less-than-exciting bits of content…
All in all, using cartoons in a training or business context just gives you something that’s a bit different, so why not find a cartoonist today and ask them to help you bring your ideas to life?
By the way, if you need a cartoonist you could try this guy.
