Most of us in L&D have had plenty of practice in using words to communicate clearly.
We know how to structure content. How to explain ideas. How to sequence information logically. How to write learning objectives, facilitator notes, e-learning copy and assessment questions.
But visual communication? That’s different.
Despite working in a profession that relies heavily on visuals — slides, graphics, scenarios, video, interfaces, layouts and e-learning interactions — very few of us have ever been taught how visual communication actually works.
And yet we instinctively know when something visual feels right.
We recognise strong visual storytelling immediately in films, television, photography, comics and advertising. We can usually tell when a slide deck looks polished or amateurish. We notice when an e-learning course feels visually polished and engaging versus visually flat.
The strange thing is this: most of us consume visual language fluently every day… while feeling far less confident about creating it ourselves.
Why This Matters for L&D
If you’ve ever:
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struggled to make slides feel visually engaging
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created visuals for scenario-based e-learning that felt a bit unnatural, or
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found yourself thinking, “I know the look I want, but don't seem able to achieve it”
then you’ve already experienced this gap.
And historically, there’s been a practical problem sitting behind it. Even if someone in L&D developed stronger visual instincts, actually bringing ideas to life often required access to:
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graphic designers
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illustrators
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photographers, or
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video specialists.
Most small L&D teams simply didn’t have those resources available.
Why AI Changes the Equation
That resource barrier is suddenly much lower than it used to be. AI image generation tools now allow L&D professionals to create visuals that would previously have required specialist design support.
But there’s an important catch. The quality of the output depends heavily on how clearly you can describe what you want visually. And this is where many people hit frustration.
A prompt might feel perfectly logical in everyday language but still produce disappointing results because AI image tools “think” more like photographers, directors and visual storytellers than instructional designers.
They respond much more effectively when prompts include things like: framing, composition, camera angle, lighting, perspective and visual focus.
In other words, the more fluent you become in visual language, the better your AI-generated visuals are likely to become.
Learning the Vocabulary of Visual Communication
The good news is that this visual “grammar” is surprisingly learnable. You don’t need to become a professional film-maker or illustrator. Even a small amount of familiarity with visual storytelling principles can significantly improve your ability to:
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direct AI tools more effectively
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create stronger learning visuals
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design more authentic scenarios, and
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communicate ideas more clearly.
Two resources I’ve personally found useful are: Making Comics by Scott McCloud and The 5 C’s of Cinematography by Joseph V. Mascelli.
Neither was written specifically for L&D, yet both contain extremely practical ideas about visual storytelling, framing, composition and sequencing that transfer remarkably well into learning design and AI prompting.
And importantly, they help develop something many of us were never formally taught: the ability to think visually — not just verbally.
A Final Thought
For years, many of us in L&D have quietly accepted that visual design was something best left to specialists. AI is beginning to change that.
But making the most of these tools will require more than simply learning how to write prompts. It may also require us to become more fluent in the language of visual communication itself. And that feels like a genuinely useful new skill for modern L&D professionals to develop.
A fuller exploration of these ideas — including the connections between AI prompting, cinematography and visual storytelling — can be found in the original Learning Re-Framed article on Substack.
