(that is a joke)

This week, we looked at simple graphic design using websites like Microsoft Designer and Canva. These tools are incredibly useful as they allow you to create a variety of graphics for free and very accessible to even a beginner. I am quite familiar with Canva and have used it many times for other courses and jobs, so to create the banner you see above I used Microsoft Designer, a tool that I had no prior knowledge of going into this class. This tool is very similar to Canva, however it uses AI to generate the design you want, and can include AI generated images that you prompt. For this banner for example, I gave multiple prompts for images about art supplies, and chose my favourite images to include in the graphic. Next I typed into the prompt “Create a WordPress blog header for my art blog” into the prompt for the graphic design, and the site then generated multiple graphics for me to choose from. Some of the designs included a title or subtitle on the graphic, however I chose one that just included the images.

I also created a more “fun” graphic advertising for a nightclub based in the Starwars universe. For this one, I asked the site to generate images of Darth Vader indulging in various activities seen that can be done in a nightclub, and included the prompt “Create an infographic for the best nightclub in a galaxy far far away.”

This is a really interesting tool that is useful in a classroom setting. As a teacher, we don’t always have the time to create awe-inspiring graphics each day for class, but with tools like this, we can do something equally as interesting, but in half the time. One downside, however, is that this tool is incredibly distracting, as you can see from my Darth Vader graphic that is oh so obviously on topic.