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The right picture paints a thousand words
Most of us like pretty pictures, but is adding imagery and moving pictures to your learning all just for show? When it comes to visual information design, there is much more to it than that!
Infographics
Infographics can take a variety of forms, such as a flowchart, diagram, timeline or illustration. They are popular as both print-based and digital informational tools. We use static infographics to illustrate e-learning or make posters and slides. Animated infographics can illustrate process directions or informational relationships, while interactive infographics allow learners to explore and uncover information step by step.
Whatever the presentational style, we think that a well-designed infographic has several key learning benefits:

Audience interest
Infographics are designed to be attractive to look at and grab learner attention. We live in a visual age and the popularity of infographics reflects its interest to modern audiences. Infographics are an appealing way to present information, especially if the audience may otherwise find the topic conceptually difficult, complex, or they lack motivation to engage with it.
Clarity
An infographic will use compelling visual illustrations to show how information is linked, structured and ordered in a way that text-only explanations cannot; making information being delivered to a wide audience, easier to understand and retain.
Efficient communication
Instead of lengthy text-based explanations, infographics get straight to the heart of a topic. Designed to be scanned quickly, they give learners a fast overview of the essential information without wasting any time.
Memorability
By linking important information to striking iconography, fonts, colours and lines, infographics give learners a compelling picture of key learning points that they are more likely to remember.
Animations
Animated illustration can include a range of graphical techniques, from fully animated videos and cartoons to simpler forms of dynamic transitions between photographic images. Here are the key benefits of animation from our experience of using it as a learning tool.
Delight your audience
At Aleido, we use animations to inject attention-grabbing creativity and variety into the presentation of information. By combining colourful visuals and text with engaging music and narration, it’s possible to create lively animated sequences that appeal to learning audiences.
Depending on the style chosen, animations can also add humour or a light-hearted touch to a topic, or evoke powerful emotional responses.

Simplify complex topics
Animations are not only an effective engagement tool but can also enhance learner understanding. Creating dynamic visual explanations helps to simplify complex topics, using illustration and movement to highlight key points and demonstrate the relationships between different ideas.
Short, microlearning animations are perfect as an introduction to a new concept. They also make a great standalone learning resource to deliver one or more objectives.

Demonstrate real-world impacts
We often include animated characters and scenes in interactive case studies to tie together key learning points and demonstrate their practical relevance. These can include digitally animated, immersive scenarios that allow the learner to apply their knowledge in a virtual environment.

Tackle sensitive issues
Illustration-based animations are useful to portray scenarios and characters when photography or video may be difficult or inappropriate. This approach can be particularly relevant to dealing with emotionally challenging or sensitive topics where faces should not be identifiable.
These are just a few reasons why we think that well-designed graphics are an essential component of good learning materials. We hope you’ll consider including them in your next learning project!

How can we help?
To discuss how we can help you to harness the power of infographics, animations and video in your organisation, you can reach us here.
Contact

Jess Rust
Team & Project Lead
Aleido Learning UK
+44 (0) 1926 642935
- at https://form.apsis.one/ELa7XnMAiK