Creating blog post graphics

Having kept a blog running since 1999 - amazingly - one thing that has always taken me way too much time is creating an image to go alongside a post. Sometimes it is easy because there is a flow chart, table, bullet point list or something similar that simplifies the process. However, most of the time it is a lot more complicated than that.

I used to use an old clunky piece of Microsoft kit called Publisher - a poor-man's version of Adobe Illustrator. It wasn't good, but it was adequate, it was cheap, and best of all, I had it available for my use. Then I realised saw the quality of images that a colleague created with half the fuss and twice the impact in PowerPoint - and dumped Publisher like the waspy apple it was. I have used PowerPoint ever since (probably since 2014).

In addition, I will: take my own photos; borrow photos where I have permission (or email to get permission if I find an image that fits the bill); use Creative Commons images; use composite online image creators (such as Adzing, or free online AI image generators such as DeepAI, DeepImg, or Perchance). When I use anything created by someone else, I cite the original author and list a reference (or a URL on the image itself). That is because if it is not my skull sweat, then I need to acknowledge whose skull sweat it is.

That is not to say that I don't still have to do a fair bit of tweaking even with some graphical assistance. But it helps to trim the time down. Trimming the time is important because, while it takes me roughly two hours to write a blog post, it probably takes me another hour to create an image for it. I post three times a week. That is over one full day per week to keep my blog going (not counting scheduling posts to a distribution platform and replying to comments). A not inconsiderable investment. 

However, the main point of this post is to explain that - thanks to a colleague - I have a new piece of kit which is helping me to create better quality images for my blog posts. This is NotebookLM, a Google tool, which we can find here: https://notebooklm.google.com/

How I have been using NotebookLM is as follows. I first write my post, then copy my draft text into NotebookLM, and ask the algorithms for an infographic. Sometimes I might only copy a bulleted list from my post. Then NotebookLM creates some graphics for me. Sometimes they really miss the point, and I have to trim what I upload. But in other instances, the AI has highlighted some aspects, or arranged some items in ways that I would not have previously considered. It has acted my 2IC and provided an alternative and valid take on the material I wrote.

Helpful.

And because I limit NotebookLM to my own writing for each image, I am in control of whether the results have hit the right tone or not. Even if I don't use an image, it may inspire something else that I can create on my own; or I may use components that the AI has created and simplify what remains. If I have one criticism it is that the graphics contain WAY too much text. Even when I select "concise".

Less is more, people! Google obviously haven't heard of Tufte's 40 word rule (2003; read more here). 

While for now this is free, I am sure that Google will want to monetise this in the future. At that point NotebookLM and I may part ways (depending on how money-tising the monetisation is, really). But for now we are learning how best to work together.

So if you see the footnote on a blog post "NotebookLM was used to create the claymation images in the graphic accompanying this post", or "NotebookLM was used to create the image accompanying this post", you will know what that means, and why it is there :-)

Sam

Reference:

Notebook LM. (2026). Home. https://notebooklm.google.com/

Tufte, E. R. (2003). The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within. Graphics Press LLC.

 * NotebookLM was used to create the image accompanying this post