ACME Staff Selfies
Simple interaction where you can click on different managers to learn about them. For the pop out effect I decided to go with a selfie of each person and then used a morph transition to the information slide. I used use AI to generate the images and background and I used AI Assistant to generate the placeholder text. See the demo here. About Me I love helping people learn to use the Articulate software to meet their needs at work. I especially like to help those new instructional designers who are trying their best to get a handle on things. I regularly contribute to the training team's blog where we assemble all sorts of tips and tricks. Follow it to stay up to date. I post every Wednesday to Articulate's company blogwhere I share more general instructional design tips. I used to write the Rapid E-learning Blog. Still lots of good tips & tricks in there. Connect with me on LinkedIn and follow my YouTube for more tips & tricks.Cropped Shadow with Pop Out Character
I like the look of the avatars in this dribble account and the way the shadows were inside the box while the character popped out. See the example here. About Me I love helping people learn to use the Articulate software to meet their needs at work. I especially like to help those new instructional designers who are trying their best to get a handle on things. I regularly contribute to the training team's blog where we assemble all sorts of tips and tricks. Follow it to stay up to date. I post every Wednesday to Articulate's company blogwhere I share more general instructional design tips. I used to write the Rapid E-learning Blog. Still lots of good tips & tricks in there. Connect with me on LinkedIn and follow my YouTube for more tips & tricks.Find the Dog
Taking a breather after some intense experimenting with the morph transition! Here’s a simplified version of the classic shell game (I think that’s what it’s called?). I remember watching it as a kid — older guys would play it on the street, trying to earn a bit of extra cash. They’d use matchboxes, shuffle them around with a hidden object underneath. If you guessed right, you’d win a few coins. If not... well, better luck next time! I called it "Find a dog" for the purpose of this challenge. Find the DogHow to Fill Text with an Image in PowerPoint
Have you ever seen a text with an image fill, like this one, and said to yourself, “I wish I could do that”? Well, I have some good news. If you have PowerPoint, you can! Just follow the six simple steps below. 1. Add Combine Shapes Tool to Your PowerPoint Ribbon If you haven’t already, the first thing you’ll need to do is add the Combine Shapes tool to your PowerPoint ribbon. Check out this tutorial to see how to do that. 2. Insert a Background Image The next thing you’ll need to do is find and insert the image you want to use as the fill for your text. For this kind of project, it’s best to choose an image that’s easily recognizable. 3. Insert & Format Your Text The third step is to insert your text. Once your text is inserted, you’ll need to choose a font. I recommend using a bold font so that more of the image is visible. Then, increase the size and boldness of the font as desired. Finally, position your text on the part of the image you want to appear as the fill. In this example, I’m going to move the text over a little so that no green shows through. 4. Insert a Rectangle Next, insert a rectangle that’s the same size as the image. In my case, the rectangle covers the whole slide. Then, right-click on the rectangle, select Send to Back, and choose Send Backward. Your text should now appear on top of the rectangle. 5. Combine Your Rectangle and Your Text Now select your text, followed by your rectangle, click on Merge Shapes, and select Combine. At this point, your rectangle should have taken on the color of your text, and the place where the text was should be transparent. If you try and move your text, you’ll notice that the rectangle is still independent of the image, like in the screenshot below. If you don’t like the part of the image that’s showing through, move the rectangle around until you’re satisfied with the result. If you don’t need the image and the text to be a single object, then you can stop here. If you do, then move on to step 6. 6. Subtract the Image from the Text Select both the image and the rectangle, and then click on Merge Shapes and select Subtract. The image and text should now be combined in one object, like in the screenshot below. If you’re following these steps and the result doesn’t look quite right, try selecting your objects in the reverse order. Now you can go ahead and add any other text or images around it to finish off the look you’re going for. And you’re all set! Want to learn more tips and tricks for creating graphics in PowerPoint? Check out the tutorials below: Guide to Creating Illustrations in PowerPoint for People Who Don’t Know How to Draw Creating Custom Shapes in PowerPoint How I Created These Handy People Icons in PowerPoint And if you’re on the lookout for beautiful images, be sure to check out Content Library 360, the library of 10.3+ million assets that comes with an Articulate 360 subscription. Click here to start your 30-day free trial. Like this article? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest e-learning inspiration and insights directly in your inbox. You can also find us on LinkedIn and X (Formerly Twitter).Everything You Need to Know About Image Usage Rights
It’s tricky to find appropriate, usable images for e-learning projects. And sometimes after you’ve found the right photo, it’s unclear whether you can legally use it. Images are protected by copyright. So you can’t add any photo you find online to your e-learning project. But trying to do the right thing can raise more questions than answers: What if I just link to their website? Should I reach out to this person? Wait, I don’t see who owns this image! Usually images you’ll find on photo sites fall into one of a few categories. Here are some of the different usage terms you’ll find. Copyright Copyright law protects original works, including images. In most cases, you can’t copy or distribute a copyrighted image without permission from the person who created it. You should assume that any image you find online is protected by copyright. If possible, contact the copyright holder for permission to use their work. When you buy a stock photo, you’re buying the right to use that copyrighted image. Depending on which site you use, the image may be royalty-free or rights-managed. Royalty-free means that you’re not responsible for royalty payments. You’re usually able to use the image as you’d like. Rights-managed means there are restrictions on how you can use the image—so be sure to read your license agreement closely! Fair Use The fair use doctrine provides opportunities for using copyrighted images without permission. For instance, you can legally use a copyrighted image for personal and educational use, or for the public good. Most e-learning is commercial. As a course creator, you should assume that using copyrighted images in your work doesn’t qualify as fair use. But fair use also allows you to transform copyrighted images into something new. If you turn a copyrighted image into a completely new work, you can use that image freely. Creative Commons The Creative Commons non-profit provides free copyright licenses for creators. The copyright holder can determine several things with these licenses: Whether you need to credit them for their image Whether you can use their image for commercial purposes Whether you can modify their image What license you must use if you modify their image When using Creative Commons images, be sure to read the license carefully and use the image appropriately. Pro tip: Some photo sharing sites, such as Flickr, allow you to filter search results by specific Creative Commons licenses. Public Domain Typically an image becomes part of the public domain in one of two ways. The creator either gives up copyright willingly, or the copyright expires. These images aren’t protected by copyright, so you’re free to use them any way you’d like. Pro tip: WikiMedia Commons has a large database of images in the public domain. A Helpful Alternative Of course, the easiest way to source freely available images is by finding e-learning solutions that provide stock assets. Articulate 360 includes Content Library 360, an ever-growing library of visual assets that you can access right from within Rise and Storyline 360. These assets are made available through third parties, including Unsplash, Noun Project, Pexels, and Pixabay, and you can use them in your content without additional charge. However, as noted in our Terms of Service, the use of these images, including any attribution requirements, is subject to these third parties’ terms. See what’s available in Content Library 360 when you start a free, 30-day trial of Articulate 360. You’ll also get access to award-winning authoring apps Storyline 360 and Rise, a project review app, and access to live online training led by industry experts. New to e-learning? Sign up for our E-Learning 101 email course, a series of expertly-curated articles that'll get you up to speed with course development.GIFs 101: How to Use, Find, and Make Them
Aside from—you know—the ability to access any information you need in seconds, GIFs are the best thing about the internet. In this post, we’ll talk about what GIFs are, when to use them in your e-learning, where to find them, and how to create your own. You’ll learn everything you need to know about GIFs. (Except for how to pronounce it. We’re staying out of that debate!) What are GIFs? Basically, GIFs are image files that include animation. GIF stands for Graphic Interface Format. And, unlike JPEGs and PNGs, GIF files support animated images. Early GIFs were super basic. They were composed of just a couple of alternating frames, for example: In the 30 years that GIFs have been around, the art form has evolved. Now it’s super easy to find high-quality clips from TV shows and movies, quick clips of cats doing funny things, fun custom artwork, and much more! How can I use GIFs in my e-learning courses? GIFs are also great for your e-learning projects. They offer an easy way to delight your learners with some unexpected movement. And you don’t have to embed a full video or build an animation into your course. Making your learners laugh or expressing an emotion with a GIF can make your e-learning more relatable and more fun. Plus, they’re handy for demonstrating a process or system. Instead of having learners click from one slide to the next to see how a process works, you can use a GIF to give learners that helpful context. GIFs look particularly at home in Rise courses, which are web-based. Check out this example on hurricane preparedness and this one on cardiology observations to see what we mean. Where can I find GIFs? GIFs are abundant online. Some popular places to find great ones include: GIPHY, the most popular search engine for GIFs, allows you to browse for images by category or search to find exactly what you need. Educational GIFs, though it hasn’t been updated recently, has a ton of GIFs on processes, history, how-tos, and more. Imgur is a place for people to share images. A lot of these images are GIFs, and a lot of the GIFs are great. Social media sites such as Twitter are great places to find GIFs. How do I make my own GIFs? There are a couple of ways to make an animated GIF, depending on how involved you want to get. The old-school way provides you with the most control over the process. Here’s a tutorial that shows you how to put together a GIF from several static panels in Photoshop. There are also several widgets that can help you make GIFs quickly and easily. You build them from video snippets using GIPHY’s own GIF Maker App. You can create a GIF from images on GIFMaker.org. Or you can make and style your own reaction GIFs on sites like And I Was Like and GifCam. Get your GIF on! You now have all the knowledge and tools you need to find and use GIFs in your projects. If you have any other questions about when and how to use GIFs in your e-learning (or if you’re just looking for the perfect one for your project), let us know in the comments. And be sure to follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning.Storyline 360: Adding Media from Content Library 360
Content Library 360 has more than 100,000 combinations of photographic and illustrated characters, expressions, and poses plus 22+ million high-resolution photos, illustrations, icons, and videos. You can access them right from Storyline 360, and they’re all available to use in your content for no additional charge. To add Content Library 360 media to a course, go to the Insert tab on the Storyline ribbon and click Characters, Photos, Illustrations, Icons, or Videos. See the articles below for details on each media type. Storyline 360: Adding Content Library 360 Characters Storyline 360: Adding Content Library 360 Photos Storyline 360: Adding Content Library 360 Illustrations Storyline 360: Adding Content Library 360 Icons Storyline 360: Adding Content Library 360 VideosStoryline 360: Adding Content Library 360 Icons
Content Library 360 has 22+ million high-resolution photos, illustrations, icons, and videos. You can access them right from Storyline 360, and they’re all available to use in your content without additional charge. In this article, you’ll learn how to add eye-catching Content Library icons to your courses and how to customize them with your own colors and effects. Adding Content Library 360 Icons to Your Course Customizing Content Library 360 Icons Making Icons Accessible Adding Content Library 360 Icons to Your Course Go to the Insert tab on the ribbon and click Icons in the Content Library 360 group. Type a search term in the field at the top of the media browser and press Enter. Tip: The media browser remembers your last search term, previous search results, and the last asset you selected. Zoom in and out while you’re browsing for icons by holding down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and scrolling your mouse wheel. If you want to look for a different type of media after opening the browser, use the drop-down list in the upper right corner to switch to another type: photos, illustrations, icons, or videos. Select the icon you want to use and click Insert to add it to your slide. Tip: You can select multiple icons at the same time using Ctrl+Click or Shift+Click, then insert them all at once. Customizing Content Library 360 Icons After importing a Content Library 360 icon into your course, you can customize its colors to match your course design. Just select the icon on the slide, go to the Format tab on the ribbon, and use the style galleries to edit the fill color, outline color, and effects. For example, here’s the same icon with different styles. And if an icon is composed of more than one shape, you can ungroup it and format each shape individually. Just right-click the icon, scroll to Group, and click Ungroup to see all the components that make up the icon. Here's an example of an ungrouped icon. You can tell if an icon is one shape or many by right-clicking it. If the Group option is grayed-out, it’s a single shape. If the Group option is active, it’s composed of multiple shapes. Here’s an example of a multi-shape icon. The original icon on the left has no formatting. The same icon in the middle has been recolored all at once (without ungrouping it). And the same icon again, but this time ungrouped, with specific formatting for each component is on the right. Making Icons Accessible When icons are designed with accessibility in mind, they are more likely to be intuitive and user-friendly for everyone, not just those with disabilities. Here’s how to make your icons accessible: Meet color contrast guidelines. You can use a web-based contrast checker or download a contrast checker tool to test the contrast ratio of your icons (1.4.11 Non-text Contrast). Reduce ambiguity. Use icons that communicate their functions clearly and are widely understood across different cultures and demographics. If you use an icon as a button, provide a text label that matches the icon’s function (2.5.3 Label in Name). Size appropriately. Adjust the size of any interactive icon to at least 44 pixels wide and 44 pixels tall. This ensures your icons are large enough for learners to interact with without error (2.5.5 Target Size). Offer multiple ways to navigate. Icons must be navigable by assistive technologies like screen readers to ensure an inclusive browsing experience (2.1.1 Keyboard). Stay consistent. Reuse the same icon to signify the same meaning. This lets learners know what to expect from each icon (3.2.4 Consistent Identification). Rely on text—not icons—to convey important details. Offer text-based options and make sure each icon has alternative text (alt text) descriptions. Icons that are purely decorative don’t need alt text. Hide them from accessibility tools to prevent unnecessary announcements (1.1.1 Non-text Content). You Might Also Want to Explore: Formatting Shapes, Captions, Text Boxes, and Content Library 360 Icons Ordering, Grouping, Sizing, and Positioning Objects
