Anyone who follows blogger Susie Cambria on social (mainly Facebook) will see her comments on AI flyers. They are usually "please stop." Organizations disagree, and that is their right.
But I’m going to try again by pointing to Why I Think We Need to Stop Letting AI Design Our Event Flyers. The author puts into words what I believe:
Not every event flyer should be created entirely by AI.
Because events are emotional. They’re experiential. They’re deeply human.
The best event marketing doesn’t just look polished, it makes people feel something before they ever walk through the door.
Right now, too many AI-generated event flyers feel interchangeable:
* over-designed
* visually loud
* trend-driven
* emotionally disconnected
Stop Using AI Flyers and Graphics - They’re Hurting Your Brand by creative professional Renée Mudd adds specifics to Varner’s broad strokes. Things like use real photos, draw or paint and then scan, use free online services like Canva or Snappa, and commission artists, especially for logos, word marks, and the like.
Art and app options
SVG SILH is your source for free SVG images and icons, and modified Pixabay images. All are released under Creative Commons CC0. Categories include animals, symbols, men, letters, computers, and women. An added bonus is that you can recolor the image in one of 20 colors, as was done in our example to the right. All images come with a transparent background.
Images of Empowerment is “a free library of images celebrating women’s lives and their work in 13 countries around the world.” Images are free for non-commercial use under CreativeCommons licensing (CC-BY-NC-4.0).
Open Culture catalogues in one place information about free books, music, movies, and more. The site provides access to free art and images from The Tate, British Library, Museum of New Zealand, and many others. Perhaps the coolest OC page is the one for coloring books. Some of the links at OC are broken so a little extra digging turned up these #ColorOurCollections pages:
- National Portrait Gallery ― Imagine having camp kids color their favorite portraits. . . Belva Ann Lockwood, Billie Jean King, Frederick Douglass, George Washington, or Pocahontas (among many others).
- New York Botanical Garden ― Imagine engaging people in gardening. Coloring can help. One example is Black Foodways featuring turnips, fish peppers, and onions. Pair that exercise with talking about family recipes, your favorite meal as a child, and the like.
- South Street Seaport Museum ― Get a feel for the ins and outs of this important NYC landmark by coloring in Ships & the River: A South Street Coloring Book Guide.
The Public Domain Review’s Public Domain Image Archive is a “hand-picked collection of 11,082 out-of-copyright works, free for all to browse, download, and reuse. This is a living database with new images added every week.” The images range from insects to books, from nature to collage, from people to games. While there is not an image for every need, the site offers up an interesting selection.
The final word: Alt-text
No matter which image type you use, even if it is, sigh, AI, please use Alt-text. As long-time, highly skilled, and accessibility champion Colleen Gratzer writes in Ultimate Alt-text Guide,
Alt-text is short for “alternative text,” which provides a text alternative of an image to people who use assistive technology such as a screen reader. A screen reader may be used by individuals with blindness, low vision or a learning or cognitive disability. Assistive devices and software don’t actually see the content of an image. They rely on Alt-text to tell them what an image contains.
Accessibility is also a vital aspect of your branding and marketing. It really helps maximize your impact.
I say this as someone who’s been working with nonprofits for almost 30 years. I also speak and provide training on accessibility.
And in social media, consider adding the contents of the flyer or other art to the post OR in the first comment (with a note that more info can be found in the first comment).