The right image can turn a blah message into a memorable, meaningful experience. But how can you find stock images that aren’t, well, stock?

Last fall I did a quick overview of how to find good stock photos. Here are more in-depth tips that will help you use stock photos to reach your learners’ hearts as well as their minds.

Aim for the evocative

In a previous life as a marketer, I learned the difference between functional and evocative company names. For example, compare the names of two computer companies:

• Digital Equipment (functional–it simply describes the product)
• Apple (evocative–involves our senses, suggests simplicity)

The same concepts apply to images.

For example, more courses than I ever want to see use sterile images of bland business people because the courses are about business, and “everyone knows” that business involves people in suits talking at meetings or shaking hands. That’s the functional mindset, and it has spawned thousands of lifeless photos.

But our courses aren’t really about stiff, overdressed people whose souls have already departed. They’re about problems that need to be fixed or changes that will improve our lives. To communicate that, we need emotionally evocative images.

Quick guide to finding evocative images

Let’s say your course discusses the importance of building trust in others. How can you quickly find good images about such an abstract concept? (more…)