Time Saving Office Tips Series from the Continuous Improvement Committee

 

Tip 3:  Tools to add variety and dimension to your Communications

From Brandi Van Ormer

Every day, we write hundreds, sometimes thousands, of words.  Words are powerful, and they're our go-to way of communicating.  Words are wonderful . . . but you may sometimes feel the need to break up the sea of written words with something that will catch your audience's attention and give them meaning through another medium.

To that end, I offer you these three free-to-inexpensive tools that can make your communications life easier, get your work more views and interest, and allow you to break up with Word and PowerPoint.*

First things first.  Things to know about these tools:

• All three tools work beautifully together
• Your Snipping Tool in companion with these tools is a match made in heaven
• All three have beautiful, useful stock images PLUS the capability to upload your own stuff
• All three have the option to “play” for free, and various tiers of affordable paid plans
• All three tools can help you make great use of the brand.virginia.edu resources

And here are the tools, with a little explanation attached.  Check them out, but feel free to contact Brandi Van Ormer if you want more info or a demo of how they can be used.  

1. Canva.com: the most widely known. 

a. Plays well with InDesign
b. Exports in a variety of formats
c. Build your brand resources on it: Colors, images, logos
d. Templates for specific channels/uses that really will speed up your work
e. Use it as a great source of stock imagery if nothing else

2. Infogram.com: Data visualization heaven.

a. It’s like Canva but with a back end for loading your data, plus icons in addition to stock images
b. Upload a spreadsheet or plug in your #s
c. See immediately how the data presents most usefully
d. Do infographics instead of fact sheets

3. Animoto.com: Easy, short video like a boss!

a. Like Canva but for video: stock stills, stock music, and stock video clips (and you can upload your own of each content type)
b. Storyboarding format that makes it easy to plan the video

c. Great option to break up your written content: make a quick video, or even have stills with a voiceover

 * because they don't love you anyway