The following post is a submission by our fantastic intern, Katherine Kalis.
Information today moves at lighting speed and consumers are inundated by messages vying for their attention. With time and attention running low, visuals are increasingly important.
As a millennial, I’m a digital native. I’ve never known a world devoid of social sharing, so when I read an article in The Hub recently about 12 free and low cost visual tools, I was intrigued and I set up accounts to test them out. I broke the tools into two categories: photographs and infographics. Here’s what I learned…
Photographs
The photograph tools allow users to create a photo with a message superimposed on it – useful fodder for channels like Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram. The list:
The verdict? Canva is my favorite. It allows you to create pictures for any type of social media presence from a Twitter cover photo to a Google+ background, to a basic profile picture on Facebook. It lets you select which medium the picture is going to, and pre-crops the photograph based on that medium. Highly recommend!
Infographics
The infographics websites help even the non-designers among us develop compelling data-based visuals. They include:
I like PiktoChart best because it allows you to create infographics from numerous pre-fab backgrounds. You can even start with a blank canvas and create an infographic using an unlimited supply of icons given. For someone with little experience in creating infographics, I found it very easy to use.
PR has gone far beyond the written word and savvy practitioners are embracing these new visual tools to enhance their ability to tell a compelling story.
If you’re interested in trying the tools for yourself, click here, and if you’ve already tried them, let us know what your favorite is!