Gemini Goes Bananas: The Ultimate Guide to AI Infographics

Recently Gemini released a big update to their image generation feature (code named Nano Banana Pro). This new version is more powerful and capable than ever, allowing Gemini to make images that are more detailed, realistic, and accurate.

One of the most interesting use cases I have seen for the new image model is generating infographics. In the past this was not possible as infographics typically have a lot of technical details that have to be presented properly for the result to have any real value.

You can get away with having a few errors in a photo of a landscape, but not in a timeline where the details are essential.

With Nano Banana Pro we now have:

• Legible Text Rendering: Words are spelled correctly without the dreaded "AI gibberish" text.
• Search Grounding: Because Gemini uses Google Search, the content in the infographics is up-to-date and accurate.
• Spatial Reasoning: Because this model understands layout, the structure and flow of the infographic aligns with the content being communicated.

I have been playing around with this new feature for a while now and am excited to share some infographic examples it has created, as well as some helpful tips and tricks to get the best results. See below for all the details and be sure to share your creations and suggestions with me.

Free Media Resources for Projects

When creating a project, such as a presentation, video, poster, podcast, or more, one challenge is finding media elements for your project that are free to use.

Thankfully there are many resources online that provide free, high-quality multimedia content that you and your students are able to use for free in any of your creations.

These include:

🖼️ Free Photos

✂️ Free Clipart and Icons

🏃 Free Animated GIFs

🅰️ Free Fonts and Text

🔊 Free Sound Effects

🎵 Free Music

▶️ Free Videos

🔱 Free Design Templates

In this blog post we will explore lists of free resources for each of these categories. If you have other sites that you use for free media, please let me know so I can add them to these lists.

And although the media elements provided through these sites are free, be sure to check for any attribution requirements to make sure you provide proper credit when using any content.

Background Removal Tools and Activities

Last year I shared a post on finding, creating, and using transparent images in education, such as having students cut themselves out of a picture and them put themselves into a new image.

Since then, we have seen lots of new tools pop up that make the process so much easier for removing the background of an image. So I figured it was time to revisit this topic, explore the new tools, and expand on the ideas for how students can use these in school.

The big reason for these new tools is the growth and improvement in artificial intelligence. In the past, if you wanted to remove the background from an image, it was a very manual process where you would select and delete portions of the image bit by bit. Now with machine learning, most or all of the heavy lifting can be done by the computer as it is getting so much better at identifying separate items in an image. It's like "green screen" without the actual green screen.

In this post we will look at some new tools, as well as review some classic options that still have their place, and then explore fun and engaging projects students can do. As we look at the tools we will start with the most easy to use and then move to those that require more input from the user, but also give more control.

Making Learning Transparent - Finding, Making, and Using Transparent Images for Learning

As educators and students we use images all of the time in the projects we create. Most of the time any picture will do, but sometimes we're looking for an image with a special quality… transparency.

A transparent image is a picture where some part of the image is see-through, like the image has been cut out. This is useful because transparent images look much better when combined with other images, allowing you see the background or other items behind the picture.

Pictures with transparency can be used in lots of fun educational activities. In this post we will take a look at ways to find as well as create your own transparent images. We will also look at practical uses for these images in student projects.

Free Image Sites and Tools for Schools

A picture is worth a thousand words, but it might also be worth a thousand dollars if your school gets hit with a copyright violation claim. This happens to schools every year as students or teachers inappropriately use an image that they do not have the rights to.

Thankfully this does not have to be the case as there are loads of high quality pictures that can be used in school projects without any licensing concerns. These can include images that are released under creative commons, or are in the public domain, or simply are copyright-free. Of course depending on the license, it may still be necessary to cite where the image came from to provide proper attribution (and it can be a good practice to do even if not required).

There are many sites and tools that can help educators and students find free photos, clipart, icons, and more. See below for a list of many of these, and be sure to share your suggestions for other resources to add to this collection.