How to Create Multimedia Images to Add to Your Articles

Adding images to an article is almost always a good idea. Whether they're snapshots you took personally to illustrate your topic or photos from the Creative Commons or public domain, images tend to add value to written content and make it more visually appealing to readers.  

If you love graphics and want to up your image game, consider creating digital multimedia images to add to your articles. You can do this any number of ways. Adobe's creative suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc.) offers some of the most popular image-alteration tools around, but if you're looking for a free program that you don't have to download, Canva is a great web-based alternative. Canva's online image creation and editing platform allows users to build custom graphics from scratch, modify existing templates, or upload images from elsewhere then modify them with text, lines, shapes, filters, and effects.

Whether you go with a high-end tool from the Adobe suite, use Canva's free online design platform, or opt for something else entirely, there may be a bit of a learning curve, but luckily, messing around with graphics tools can be a lot of fun. If you have questions or struggle with a particular tool or feature, check out the help center for the tool you're using. You can also find a variety of tutorials and demos for most common design platforms on YouTube. 

Once you get the hang of whatever tool you prefer, consider creating social-media-friendly top images with text overlay for each of your articles so that they look more eye-catching when shared on your social media channels. Alternatively, you could consider creating infographics for any articles whose content might be enhanced by a graphic list, map, flowchart, or diagram. 

Have fun creating!

Image Credit: Sebastian Leonhardt via Unsplash; Canva

Spacing Tip for Lists

If your article includes a relatively long list, and each list item is relatively short, your list may take up a lot of vertical space (but very little horizontal space) on the page. To avoid an excess of white space on the right side of your page, consider condensing your list into a table (perhaps three or four cells wide) if appropriate. 

Trudy Last

Trudy is a writer, knitter, tennis player, and retired medical transcriptionist who splits her time between Massachusetts and Maine. Check out her original knitted dishcloth pattern and her article about hiking in Acadia National Park on FeltMagnet and SkyAboveUs, respectively. 

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