It’s cliché as f*ck, but it’s true — a picture is worth a thousand words.
Incorporating images into your content can add heaps of value, while also cutting down on your word count. Win/win, right?
But when should you use them? How should you use them?
Remember, they’re taking up valuable real estate on the page, so they should be used with intention. Nothing makes people’s eyes roll harder than a cringy stock photo (or, its AI-generated equivalent).
🤢 🤮 👇
I asked ChatGPT to recreate a cringy office stock photo. Nailed it.
Today we’ll go over the four use cases for images. And none of them include the shit you see above. 🙄
-Kristin 🍷
🍻 In today’s issue:
✏️ Sentence School: The four buckets for your images.
🥃 The Writer’s Pour: Test your GIF language.
🤖 Robot Pals: I’ve used this tool every day for 10 years.
🎙️ Drunk Talk: Shhh… a big announcement is coming!
Stick it in a bucket, or kick it to the curb.
There are four reasons to pair images with your written content:
To visualize data
To visualize concepts
To paint a picture of your narrative
To amplify emotion
That’s it. If the image you want to feature doesn’t fall into one of those for buckets, you should probably cut it.
Let’s discuss how to do this effectively.
1. Visualizing data
If there’s a way to chart the data you’re discussing in your story, this can be a great way to help it cling to the brains of your readers. (This works much in the same way as humanizing data through comparisons, which we discussed here.)
And charts don’t have to be boring.
The Hustle (my all-time favorite newsletter) does an absolutely killer job of creating graphs and charts that don’t just illustrate data — they stylistically tie that data back to the topic. Let this be your north star for visualizing data. 👇
A series of badass charts from recent issues of The Hustle. Source: The Hustle
2. Visualizing concepts
We see this shit on LinkedIn all the time, usually posted as engagement bait, without any context attached to it. That’s a mistake.
But if you can pair a visualization of the point your story makes –with the story itself– it will elevate your reader’s comprehension and connection to your takeaways.
These are simple and attractive illustrations of personal growth concepts. Source: You guessed it… LinkedIn
Political cartoons, illustrated parables, and even memes can be used effectively to visualize concepts.
3. Painting a picture of your narrative
This is where photographs come in.
👉 Telling a story about the summer you backpacked through Europe? Include a photo.
👉 Discussing how your first office was nothing but a card table, a rolodex, and a rotary phone? A photo of that would be 🔥.
(Also, it’s a good education for the youngins’ who don’t know what a rolodex and a rotary phone actually look like.)
Don’t bombard the reader with too many of these — they don’t need to see your family photo album. But a few strategically placed personal photographs that visually show the situations you’re describing are a fantastic way to build trust with your audience, and paint a vivid picture of your narrative.
I often share these photos from my childhood figure skating days when I tell stories about that era of my life.
4. Amplifying emotion
This is where GIFs come in, and lord you know Drunk Business Advice is peppered with ‘em.
But here’s the thing — I don’t include them because they’re funny (although they often are). I include them because they amplify the emotions in my story, which both cuts down on the words I need to use, and heightens the stakes.
Universal truth: facial expressions are far more impactful than words.
Nothing conveys:
Disgust better than Dorothy
Anxiety better than Chidi
Over-it-ness better than Michael Scott
Or “let’s f*cking go!!!!” better than Cotton Candy Girl
Just some of my all-time favorite GIFs. Source: Giphy
Don’t just use GIFs because they’re funny. Use them to help your audience feel what you want them to feel.
And I must give a disclaimer here —
I’m not a lawyer, so this is not legal advice, but if you’re using images that you don’t own, cite your sources.
Generally, citing a source is enough for editorial, personal blogs, and personal social media, but it gets really hairy when you’re promoting something, and it may not be wise to use images you don’t own or haven’t legally licensed. So be sure to check with an attorney if you’re unsure. 🙏
Dive into some exercises to put what you’ve just learned about writing with vulnerability into practice. 👇️
Exercise #1 - Short ⏱
Write a single paragraph about a recent experience you had where you felt annoyed.
Then go to Giphy or Tenor and find a GIF with a facial expression that best represents the feelings you had during that experience. Drop in your word processor under your paragraph.
Finally, go back and delete no less than 20 words from your paragraph. See how you don’t need so many words when you add a visual?
Here’s an example:
ORIGINAL STORY:
I posted a story on LinkedIn that I was pretty damn proud of — vulnerable, honest, funny — and some dude commented, “Actually, this isn’t new. Simon Sinek said this years ago.” Congratulations, Chad, for missing the point and proving it simultaneously. Do these people get a dopamine hit from condescension? Like, are they sitting there, shirtless at 11pm, hunched over a ring light whispering, “gotcha” to the void? I didn’t write a dissertation, I wrote a personal story. But apparently, no thought is valid unless it’s been TED-Talked-to-death by a man in a blazer.
GIF:
TRIMMED STORY:
I posted a story on LinkedIn I was damn proud of — vulnerable, honest, funny — and some dude commented, “Actually, this isn’t new. Simon Sinek said this years ago.” Congratulations, Chad, for missing the point and proving it simultaneously. I didn’t write a dissertation; I wrote a story. But apparently, no thought is valid unless it’s been TED-Talked-to-death by a man in a blazer.
Exercise #2 – Long ⏳
Pick out some data or a concept from something you recently wrote, or from something you recently read, and create a visualization for it. My favorite tool for this is Canva (more info on that in a minute) but use whatever tool you’re most comfortable with.
Here’s an example of DATA VISUALIZATION from a newsletter I produced for a client (certainly not at the level of The Hustle, but hey, I tried):
And here’s an example of CONCEPT VISUALIZATION from a different issue of that same newsletter:
Exercise #3 – Reflective 🧠
Go back through your last 5 posts or newsletters that include images. For each of the images, identify which category it belongs to:
-Visualizing data
-Visualizing concepts
-Painting a picture of your narrative
-Amplifying emotion
If it doesn’t fit into one of those categories, question whether it’s needed.
If it does fit into one of those categories, ask yourself if it does the best job possible. If not, what other kind of image would do it better?
I built this GIF… wait for it… on CANVA.
Canva is my favorite tool. Possibly ever.
I’ve used Canva (almost) every damn day since 2016.
It is hands-down the most useful platform I pay for (which at $12/month is an absolute steal). I use it to create visuals across every medium.
It’s one of those rare platforms that’s evolved with me. When I first started using it, the only other option was Adobe Illustrator (which is a bitch to learn if you’re not a professional designer).
Now Canva has plenty of competitors, but I’m loyal as f*ck. It’s my visual second-brain. I’d be lost without it.
And it helps me create badass GIFs like this one:
So if you don’t already have a platform you love for visualizations, check out Canva.
I swear they didn’t pay me to say that.
Lawd I’m excited
I’ll cut this segment short because this issue has gone way too long, and it’s packed with images, so I’m crossing my fingers that it’s not too big for my ESP to send. 🤞
So I’ll just say one last thing:
I have a huge announcement coming your way in next week’s issue. And it has me feelin’:
Last one. I swear. Source: Giphy
I don’t take my place in your inbox for granted.
It’s an honor to be welcomed into your world, and I know I have to work to continue to earn it, week after week. So if you have feedback, or if there’s a topic you want me to cover, just hit reply and tell me!
And if you love Drunk Writing Advice, consider sharing it with a friend. 🥰