Flyers for All:
Using Google Slides
Do you use flyers to publicize events and activities? This page provides practical and accessible strategies for creating visually appealing and accessible digital flyers that effectively convey your message to a broad audience. Explore tools for layout and design while maintaining accessibility of your document.
Workshop Recording & Slides
Please see the recording of our workshop and the slides with speaker notes, or review the step by step guidance below.
Creating Flyer with Google Slides
CODL has created a flyer template for you to get started. Make a copy of the Basic STCC Flyer Template, or start from a blank Google Slides presentation. The STCC Flyer template is optimized for printing, includes the STCC logo, and has easy to use placeholders for images and text.
Add Images to Flyer
Images are a great way to enhance your communication.
Prepare your image
Remember copyright and privacy considerations for choosing your image.
Ensure that your image has sufficient contrast. Use the contrast checker to check your foreground and background color combination.
Do not use your image to deliver text information. A logo or banner with a small amount of text is ok.
Add image to flyer (when using the template)
Select the image placeholder. Note that the template has a placeholder for a central image as well as a placeholder for a QR code or additional logo in the lower right corner.
Select your image source. We recommend locating and saving images to your computer, and then selecting the Upload from computer option.
Delete any image placeholders you do not plan to use.
Add image to flyer (when starting from a blank presentation)
Select the Insert Image button.
Select your source. We recommend locating and saving images to your computer, and then selecting the Upload from computer option.
Add Alt text to your image
Alt text, or alternative text, is presented to someone using a screen reader, and allows them to hear a description of an image. Alt text may also be displayed on the screen if the image fails to load due to a slow connection or other technical difficulty. Alt text should be kept short, but informative, so that your readers who cannot see your image can still understand the information it conveys. Alt text is context specific and relates to the meaning that the image presents in your specific flyer. Alternative text for graphics, such as cartoons or charts, needs to include any text presented in the graphic while describing the overall meaning. See more on adding Alt text in Google Slides. To add Alt text:
Right-click on your image, and select Alt Text from the menu.
Add a short phrase in the Description box. You do not need to say “image of” as part of your description. Only use words like “photograph of” or “painting of” if the type of image is important to the context.
Add Text to Flyer
Use text to convey all necessary information and details (don't put text information into images).
Add text to flyer (when using the template)
The STCC Flyer Template includes a placeholder for title text, information text, and a label for a QR code of logo image. The text boxes are adjusted to use an accessible font, text size, and color. Click into the placeholder text boxes to add the information that you need.
Add text to flyer (when starting from a blank presentation)
Select a slide layout. Slide layouts will provide text placeholders with high contrast, accessible text.
Make text that is easy to read
If using a watermark or additional images, avoid overlapping text with graphics.
If adjusting text color or adding a background color, use the contrast checker to check your foreground and background color combination.
For flyers printed on Letter size paper, keep font size to 24 points or larger.
For flyers distributed digitally, 12 points is the absolute minimum. Digital flyers are often viewed on the small screens of mobile devices. Fonts 18 points or larger will ensure your text is easy to read.
Set the reading order
When looking at a flyer visually, the images, text, and additional notes of a flyer are all visible at once. Someone viewing your flyer decides which content to focus on first based on text size, bolded text, or brightly colored images. Auditory information is presented linearly. A screen reader user will hear information from the flyer, like the text and Alt Text for an image, in the specific order determined by the reading order of your flyer. Check and adjust the reading order:
Click off of your Google Slide so that none of the slide components are selected.
Tap your Tab key. This will select the component that is first in your reading order.
Continue to tap the Tab key. Components of your slide will be selected in reading order sequence.
If something is out of order, right-click on the component, and select Order.
Slide components are read last to first. Select Send Backward to move the component earlier in the reading order. Select Bring forward to move the component later in the reading order.
Review the reading order again by tapping the Tab key.
Distributing Flyer
Export to a PDF
A PDF document preserves the layout and design of your flyer while maintaining accessibility. Grackle, a Google chrome extension licensed for STCC use, creates an accessible PDF from your Google slide. To export to a PDF using Grackle:
From the Extensions menu select Grackle.
Click Launch.
If this is your first time suing Grackle, follow the prompts to allow Grackle access to your Google Slides.
On the Grackle Slides menu, select Export to PDF.
In the Progress Monitor window, select Start.
Once the PDF is processed, you will have the option to View or Download. The PDF document is also saved in your Google Drive. You can see the folder location by expanding the Options menu.
The PDF of your flyer can be shared as an email attachment or printed. STCC has a Copy Center that can help you with printing needs.
Share a web link
You may choose to share a weblink to your Google Slide flyer. This option allows for easy updates to the flyer and may work better on mobile devices. To share as a Google Slides weblink:
Select the Share button.
Under General access, change the dropdown from "Restricted" to "Anyone with the link".
Click Done.
In the web address bar of your browser, place your curser at the end of the web address for your flyer.
Tap backspace to delete the word "edit" and everything that follows it.
Type the word "preview" and tap the Return key.
Copy the full web address URL to share with your recipients.
See more on Sharing a Google Presentation.
