Each year we talk with our clients about the different media types they’ve found particularly useful. So many new tools pop up that it’s hard to keep track. As such, we pooled what we learned and organized the results for you into different categories, from video and visual to audio and SCORM. Sift through the list for new tools to help take your team’s learning content up a notch in 2019.

Video

Renderforest is an cloud-based software that lets you create broadcast quality videos and animations. It has more than 400 customizable video templates to help you get going. Subscriptions start at $168 annually, but there is a free version.

Vyond, formerly GoAnimate, is a SaaS video creation company. It has a library of templates for hundreds of industries and occupations, and exports to the platform of your choice. A subscription for a small team run $159 per month.

HapYak is interactive video software on a SaaS platform. Features include overlays, “choose-your-own-adventure” format, quizzes, and calls to action. Pricing details are not directly available.

Visuals

Unsplash is a collection of over 500,000 photos from the world’s most generous photographers. Find inspiration by browsing galleries or use the handy search functionality to find the perfect photo. The best part, it’s all free.

Fancycrave publishes high-end stock imagery. Two new photos are available each day under the Creative Commons Zero license, which means you can use the photos for commercial projects.

Snappa is a graphic design tool that allows you to create images for social media, the web, or wherever. It has a library of visual assets and templates to work from. Pricing starts at $120 per year.

Google Maps is a great free tool you can use to create a responsive map. Once the map’s layers and details are all in place, you can embed the map. BBC News used the mapping tool to create an interactive weather map.

Music and Audio

Spotify is one of the most widely used music streaming services out there. Chances are you already know about it and/or have an account. But Spotify is a great resource for creating and sharing playlists among locations or departments, and coordinating music for fitness classes.

Gray V is a sound design firm that creates curated playlists tailored to fit your brand, among other services. The firm works with a range of businesses, from restaurants and bars to conferences and art galleries. Also, the Gray V site has an array of great music available for listening.

SoundCloud offers a simple way to launch a podcast. SoundCloud is embeddable, you can submit the feed to other media networks like Stitcher or iTunes, and for a subscription you can get deeper analytics.

Presentation

FlipBuilder is a digital publishing platform that lets you turn PDF files into interactive eBooks, complete with embedded video, audio, and Flash, among other features. Pricing starts at $99.

Sway is a tool inside Microsoft’s Office 365 that lets you create interactive, engaging presentations, newsletters, and messaging.

Prezi posits itself as a presentation resource, because it’s software is somewhat hard to describe. It allows you to create a presentation on single screen, which zooms and moves along with the presentation, more so like a touchscreen than a slideshow. The software is optimized for mobile as well as desktop and provides analytics for your presentations. Subscriptions start at $1,800 annually for three users.

Screen Captures

Snagit is screen capture and recording software. It allows you to edit and annotate images and screen recordings, which is great for tutorials or walking people through workflows. Pricing starts at $50.

Skitch is a screen capture and editing app from Evernote. As such, Skitch integrates with Evernote. The screen grab app allows you to edit screenshots and is free, though you need an Evernote account to use its cloud storage.

Recordit is a sort of bare bones screen capture app. It’s available for free, but a one-time $29 fee lets you place a password around your recording and the manipulate the video’s frames-per-second.

SCORM

Adobe Captivate is an authoring tool that added several new features for 2019, including virtual reality as well as 360-degree images and videos. Captivate is also available for a perpetual licensing agreement, which goes for $1,299.

Articulate is an authoring tool that gives users access to several other authoring apps within it. Users also have access to a library with millions of course assets like templates, photos, and icons, among others. Annual subscriptions start at $1,299 per user.

Photography and Design

CANVA makes it possible to design anything and publish anywhere. With its user-friendly drag and drop tool and thousands of customizable templates get ready to design everything from marketing materials to presentations to logos.

Pexels offers free stock photos for creators to use in whatever work they choose, whether personal or commercial.

Gimp is a free and open source image editor. The name is an acronym that stands for Gnu Image Manipulation Program.

Pixlr is photo editing software that works on the web and on mobile, with a user interface similar to Photoshop. A free version exists, but Pixlr Pro is available for a monthly subscription.

Design Wizard is a graphic design tool that allows you to create images and videos from its extensive commercial content library. Its free tier offers a brand color palette, font library, and resize feature. Features expand with a subscription, which starts at $9.99.