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You are here: Home / Developing eLearning / Graphics / 21 Ways To Get Visual Ideas

21 Ways To Get Visual Ideas

by Connie Malamed

21 Ways to Get Visual Ideas

When you’re stuck, in a rut or brain drained, it’s hard to be creative on demand. Here are some resources that may give you visual inspiration and visual ideas.

You may find inspiration for designing an entire course, a title screen, a job aid or a way to make an abstract concept concrete. Please share your favorite inspiration resources in the Comments section below.

1. Graphic Design Portfolios

Look through the portfolios of designers and artists at these sites, which serve as platforms to showcase creative work and collections. They can give you visual inspiration for layout, color palette and overall design.

  • Behance
  • Dribbble
  • DeviantArt

2. Magazines

Browse online and print magazines to observe the layout, typography and ideas used in advertisements. These can provide visual ideas for using a magazine layout for eLearning and for print materials, such as job aids and newsletters.

  • Print
  • Rue Magazine
  • Design Week
  • Creative Boom
  • Matchbook

3. Design Museums

Museums are places for visual inspiration. Although we rarely design environments, walking through museums in person or online may be the catalyst you need.

  • Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum
  • Design Museum
  • Design Museum of Denmark
  • Museum of Arts and Design
  • Design Museum Holon

4. Advertising

These sites may help you with web design if you’re creating a learning portal. Or they may present visual ideas that you can use in web page style eLearning, similar to the pages in Articulate Rise.

  • Webby Awards
  • Ads of the World
  • Clio Awards

5. Retro Design

Certain audiences and content lend themselves to a retro or vintage look. Study examples at these sites to see the attributes you can use for a retro look.

  • Emergence of Advertising in America Collection
  • Old Posters from Library of Congress
  • Vintage European Travel Posters
  • 50 Retro and Vintage Web Designs
  • Vintage and Retro Typography Showcase
  • Celebration of Vintage and Retro Design

6. Information Graphics and Visualizations

Real infographics (not infoposters) could be used more frequently to facilitate learning. Perhaps you’ll find a solution to your problem by viewing the wonderful variety found at these sites.

  • Information is Beautiful
  • The Information is Beautiful Awards
  • Visual Complexity
  • Flowing Data
  • 30 Examples of Creative Infography
  • Chart Porn

7. Animation

Even if you don’t plan on creating motion graphics, animations can show effective ways to visualize concepts.

  • Vimeo Animation and Motion Graphics
  • 4mations
  • 20 Inspiring Animated Infographics
  • 14 Animated Infographics

visual-ideas38. Poster Design

  • 59 Poster Examples
  • Eye-catching Posters
  • 50+ Inspiring Poster Designs
  • Minimalist Poster Designs
  • Hollywood Posters on Pinterest

9. Stock Photo Sites

Search stock photo sites and image galleries for concepts that have you stumped. You don’t necessarily need to buy or use an image. This is a way you can see how others are visualizing a concept in ways you hadn’t imagined. It’s a good starting point for ideas to flourish. See my critical look at stock photos: 21 Reasons Stock Photos Make Me Cry. And also read about some ways to improve stock photos.

  • My Favorite Stock Photo and Illustration Sites
  • Google Images (search for a concept, see how it’s visualized)
  • Flickr
  • Wikimedia Commons

10. Typography

There’s so much to learn about type. Before you use it as a dominant graphical element, check these sites for inspiration. In addition, see What Font Should I Use? for the basics of typography. If you must manage a lot of text, see Designing Text-based Information.

  • Typeinspire
  • Typographica
  • Typography Served
  • We Love Typography
  • Typographic Posters

11. Graphic Design Around the World

  • African Graphics
  • African Graphic Design
  • Middle Eastern Graphic Design
  • Middle Eastern Design Themes
  • Polynesia Design Themes

11. “Best Designed” Websites

  • The Best Designs
  • Web Design Ledger (best of 2012)
  • Awwwards
  • American Design Awards

12. Visual Design Books

Start a collection of visual design books that have lots of examples for inspiration. Buying used books through online stores reduces costs.

  • See my list of 10 Books of Visual Ideas for starters.

visual-ideas413. Photography

  • National Geographic
  • National Archives Digital Photography
  • 1000 Words Photography
  • British Journal of Photography
  • 50 Cool Photography Websites

14. Comics

Most people appreciate that storytelling through comics appeals to many learners. It’s also a more complex style than meets the eye. Here are some sites to check out the visual language and storytelling features of comics. Also see this interview for some insight into creating comics: Using a Comic Book Style for Learning.

  • Wired’s The Best Comic Books of 2013
  • Comixology
  • Public Domain Super Heroes
  • Comics Worth Reading

15. Interactive Graphics

  • Interactive Media Awards
  • Interactive News Graphics Collection
  • Interactive Infographics on Pinterest
  • Fun Things to Do Online When Bored

16. PowerPoint & Keynote Slide Decks

  • Note and Point
  • Duarte Design

visual-ideas217. Album and CD Covers

  • Pinterest CD Cover Pinboards
  • Pinterest Album Cover Pinboards
  • 99 Examples
  • Hip-Hop inspired Covers
  • 100 Obscure and Remarkable CD Covers

18. Label Design and Packaging

  • Lovely Package
  • Package Design
  • Packaging of the World Creative
  • 50 Exquisite Wine Label Designs

19. Book Cover Designs

  • Book Cover Archive
  • 86 Beautiful Book Covers
  • Book Cover Design Ideas for Pinterest
  • Best Book Cover Designs of 2020
  • 30 Awesome Book Cover Design Ideas

20. Children’s Books

  • Childrens Books for Design Snobs
  • Childrens Books Pinboards on Pinterest
  • Childrens Book Covers on Pinterest

21. Playing Card Design

Some learning games lend themselves to playing card activities (physical or digital). Here are ideas for designing the cards.

  • Quirky and Creative Playing Card Designs
  • 22 Playing Card Designs

Comments

  1. Connie Malamed says

    February 18, 2025 at 11:05 am

    Hi Thomas,
    What you’re doing is a great example of how we can learn from the design all around us. It sure makes watching commercials more interesting! Try it with the sound down too.
    Connie

  2. Thomas says

    February 17, 2025 at 11:10 am

    Connie, thanks so much for this list. Since landing a full-time position as an instructional designer, I find myself even more enthralled these days with tv commercials. The colors, typography, camera angles, voiceovers or none, etc. The way images enter and exit the screen, how the commercial opens and closes, star-power or none. The medium definitely informs the modules I build for my company’s customer service eLearning content.

  3. Claudia Medina says

    July 25, 2017 at 10:08 pm

    Gracias, muy útil.
    Saludos 🙂

  4. Ravi Pratap Singh says

    April 26, 2014 at 11:30 am

    Awesome list, Connie. Thanks so much for the share!

  5. Connie Malamed says

    May 31, 2013 at 7:31 am

    Great! Glad this is helpful and welcome back to the world of eLearning, Gayle.
    Connie

  6. Gayle Stone says

    May 27, 2013 at 10:43 pm

    Thank you for this information Connie! I am returning to elearning after a few years, and my main concern is about presentation and graphic design. So this is just what I wanted!

    Cheers for this

  7. Connie Malamed says

    May 15, 2013 at 8:59 pm

    Thanks, Jenny. It’s nice to have one article be a repository for many people’s ideas. I love it!
    Connie

  8. Jenny S. says

    May 15, 2013 at 8:54 pm

    Awesome list Connie! I can’t wait to share this with my team.

    I appreciate everyone else’s additional sites and ideas for inspiration.

  9. Connie Malamed says

    May 15, 2013 at 1:55 pm

    Great addition, Vince! I used to frequent Zen Garden back in the day, but haven’t been there in a long time. Can’t wait to check it out. Thanks for sharing.
    Connie

  10. Connie Malamed says

    May 15, 2013 at 1:54 pm

    Hi Joe,
    Yes I think Google Images is great for ideas. Thanks for letting us know about Wylio. Will check it out.
    Best,
    Connie

  11. Joe Kirby says

    May 15, 2013 at 12:24 pm

    Connie,

    Good newsletter.

    I use google images all the time as an aid to visualization. It is a great way to get ideas, and saves me a lot of time.

    For stock photos with rights for use, Wylio is my go to site.

  12. Vince Sutherland says

    May 15, 2013 at 12:02 pm

    One of my all time favorites for design concepts has been The Zen Garden (http://www.csszengarden.com/), which started out as a competition to see how to effectively use CSS in web design. The creativity is astounding and has so many good ideas / concepts.

  13. Connie Malamed says

    May 13, 2013 at 11:45 am

    Awesome! Thanks for the additions, Jane!

  14. Jane Bozarth says

    May 13, 2013 at 9:32 am

    A couple more:
    Good stuff, Connie! Thanks. Here are a couple more ideas:

    1. A friend recently sent around an online quiz that was basically free-association, with the provision that answers be only nouns: “What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word idea…motivate…safety…, etc.” Afterward she said she was using the results to get ideas for visuals for an eLearning program.
    2. I know you (Connie) share my interest in sketchnoting I’ve been working on teaching myself to sketchnote and find looking at other’s work to be really useful. It’s helping me to expand my “visual vocabulary” particularly in thinking of images to represent concepts. Google will get you lots of good examples; I especially like the entries for the “Sketchnotes Challenge”.

  15. Leslie says

    May 6, 2013 at 3:09 am

    Hi, Connie

    Thank you for putting together this AWESOME list of resources! I’ll definitely be digging through these over the next few weeks.

    Re: Google Docs / clipping / Evernote … I’m a HUGE fan of OneNote (which most people have on their computers and never use!)

    All the best,
    Leslie

  16. Connie Malamed says

    April 29, 2013 at 7:35 pm

    Great idea, Jennifer. Seems like a clipping tool, like Evernote, would be good for this too. Thanks.

    Connie

  17. Jennifer Kennedy says

    April 29, 2013 at 12:18 pm

    Great ideas! I’ve recently started a Google Doc where I keep all of my inspiration. So, if I’m searching around the net, I take a quick screenshot and add to the doc — just for future reference.

    And, you can take design ideas from loads of different places — I was just inspired by the Loews Hotel website to add text to my photos!

    Thanks for sharing.

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