I really like what Microsoft’s done with the new Office Online.  It’s a much better user experience.  There’s a quick screencast below, but here’s a high level overview:

• Better sorting of media types
• Selections of image sizes
• See similar images

I like the ability to quickly scan the images of similar type.

View Tutorial

Here’s a quick tutorial that I did for a friend who wanted to know how to customize clip art characters.

Basically steps

• Select the character
• Ungroup the clip art
• Customize it
• Select all and group to make a single image
• If you like, save the character as a distinct graphic file. EMF = keeps it vector so you can scale.  If you’re using gradient colors, you might want to save as a .PNG.

Clip Art PowerPoint Tutorial

Click here to view the tutorial.

In the tutorial he covers how to save the assets you create and use in your PowerPoint slides.  One of the benefits of creating your graphics in PowerPoint is that you can easily share the development files.

He also discusses three image formats and how they work in the slides.

PowerPoint Tutorial

Click here to view the tutorial.

While there are a lot of complaints about clip art, the reality is that we still use quite a bit of it.  In previous posts, I’ve shared how to create your own clip art and how to use the same clip art styles to maintain a consistent look.

In today’s post, we’ll explore ways to quickly find clip art using the Microsoft Office online site.   You’ll learn how to:

• Customize how many images you see and how large they are
• Use the clip art properties
• Find images of a similar style
• Search via keywords

Clip Art Tutorial

Click here to view the tutorial.

On the Rapid E-Learning Blog, I wrote a post about What You Need to Know When Working with Grouped Clip Art.

The post covers:

• difference between bitmap and vector images
• clip art anatomy 101
• great tutorial that walks you through the steps

Here’s what you’ll learn in the tutorial:

• Quickly select, duplicate, and scale your images
• Use the grid and guide options to align objects
• Work with duplicate slides and a scrub area to avoid messing up your real slides
• How to work with all of the ungrouped objects
• Save your creations as bitmap or vector images

To view the post and tutorial, visit the Rapid E-Learning Blog.

The Rapid E-Learning Blog offers 10 Sure-Fire Tips for Creating Your Own Stock Photos.  In the post, you’ll learn these ten tips:

• Use enough light
• Better focus
• Capture at the highest quality
• Rule of thirds
• Take multiple shots
• Create visual interest
• Use real employees
• Don’t use real employees
• Get signed releases
• Share your photos

These are ten essential tips for those who want to shoot their own photos.  Check them out.

I’ve gotten quite a few emails asking for some tips and tricks when doing this.  So here’s a quick tutorial that shows you how I work with the ungrouped clip art images.

Working with Ungrouped Clip Art Tutorial

Click here to view the tutorial.

So there you have it, an insider’s peek into working with ungrouped clip art.

The reason that these books recommend not using clip art is because a lot of the clip art is dated, and many presentations mix and match the clip art used.  So you end up with amateurish slides that are neither consistent nor visually interesting. 

That doesn’t have to be the case. 

First, the Microsoft Office Online site is updated daily with all sorts of new clip art (and pictures).  They look really good and will definitely enhance your slides.  Second, much of the clip art follows a similar style.  By using the same style, you can get away from the amateurish look and create really nice presentations that look great and are consistent.

So the trick is to locate the clip art that follows the same style.  That’s what we’ll cover in this quick tutorial.  Basically, you’ll:

• search for the clip art you like
• click on the properties
• locate the style to see similar images

Clip Art Styles Tutorial

Click here to view the tutorial.

I have noticed that a lot of the newer clip art doesn’t have a style listed in the properties.  You can see an example of this at the beginning of the tutorial.  In those cases, you can fine tune the search via the keywords until you see all of the similar images together.

If you regularly modify the free clip art you get via the Microsoft Office site, then you want to keep these 15 clip art styles close at hand.  You can learn more in this post 15 Interesting Clip Art Styles for Your E-Learning Courses via the Rapid E-Learning Blog.

So you end us stuck with using the clip art that comes with Microsoft Office.  The good news is that you can easily customize the clip art that’s available to you.  All you need to do is ungroup it and then start to make your own edits.

Check out this tutorial to learn more.

Click here to view the clip art tutorial.

Here are some posts from the Rapid E-Learning Blog where you can learn more about how to do that:

• Little Known Ways to Create Your Own Graphics Using PowerPoint
• See How Easily You Can Design a Consistent Look for Your E-Learning Courses
• 3 Sure-Fire Ways to Make Your E-Learning Graphics Sizzle
• Create Custom Characters for Your E-Learning Scenarios