A picture carries proof · Code with Martin

A photo or a drawing on a slide must prove the sentence, not only decorate empty space.

If a picture does not prove the sentence, it is a sticker. A sticker does not belong here.

Assembler left the slide body empty. Into empty space does not belong a random meme from chat. There belongs a picture that proves the title-sentence.

Imagine a slide “Without bees there are fewer apples”. A shop honey photo and a smiley look done on a laptop. The teacher asks what a pot proves about pollination. You shrug. The class remembers the pot. The sentence dies.

Rule: before you insert, say the title sentence and add “this proves that…”. If the add-on will not go in one breath, the picture off. Empty is better than a lie in a drawing.

In Slides Insert → Image. One main picture per slide. Two already compete. A gallery is an album, not proof. A parent or the school holds the account. No child’s email. Pretty does not belong at the start as an advert. It belongs with proof. A pretty slide does not belong at the top only because it is pretty. It belongs where the idea is. This lesson is a free preview: you will see the course is not Canva. A parent or the school holds the account. One picture per slide. A one-breath test. If the test falls, leave empty.

Ema put on a slide about bees a shop honey photo and a smiley. Adam put a photo of a flower with pollen from a textbook the school may use, and a caption in one sentence. The teacher asked what honey in a pot proves about pollination. Ema shrugged. The class remembered the pot. Adam showed pollen. Title and picture sat. Even from the back it was clear the slide is not a joke, but proof. After the lesson Ema deleted the pot and left empty until she finds an honest picture. Mum held the account. She did not sign in with email herself. The pot did not carry the sentence. Today before every insert you say the proof in one breath. If the breath fails, the picture must not go on the wall. An empty body is more honest than shop honey.

💡

Before you insert, say the title sentence and add “this proves that…”. If the add-on will not go, do not hunt a prettier photo. Hunt a different proof, or leave the slide with no picture.

A picture has a job: show what the sentence claims

At school a picture has a job: it shows what the sentence claims, so the class does not have to believe only your voice. A picture that talks about something else confuses. A meme confuses, clipart “for mood”, a photo of you at a report about a river, a chat screenshot.

In Slides Insert → Image → Upload from computer, or search (watch rights, next time). Click the picture, move it under the title, do not let it overflow into the sentence. Size so from the back you can tell what it is, not a stamp in a corner.

One main picture per slide. Two already compete. If proof is not visual, the slide may stay text. Empty space is not a mistake. A mistake is padding it with a cat.

Illustrator is not a duty to decorate everything. It is a duty that a picture, when there is one, carries proof. That is why this lesson is free: you should see that payment is not for effects, but for an honest picture.

Wrong: a slide “A river changes a town” and a palm photo from holiday, because it was pretty. The class thinks of the sea. The river sentence drowns. Equally wrong a meme screenshot a classmate sent yesterday. Chat is not a source and is not proof.

Right: the same sentence and a flow diagram, or a photo of the bank you talk about, with you being allowed to use the picture. Adam’s flower and pollen. Ema after the fix: no pot, either an honest picture, or a clean sentence. The teacher praises a sentence-picture pair, not the number of inserted files.

An example from a hobby: a bike and a chain in mud proves maintenance. A shiny shop catalogue proves an advert. An advert does not belong here.

⚠️

Do not insert home photos where mess is visible, siblings without consent, or an address. A school wall is more public than an album on a parent’s phone. You pick a picture as proof, not as a diary.

Four things you will build in this course

The course has four small projects. You do not have to do them all at once. Today you add only this:

🎯 A hobby in 5 slides

Five slides about something you like doing. One sentence about what it is. No paragraphs from your notebook.

Hobby: one photo of a scene, not a shop album.

📚 A report

Eight slides for school: a start, three proofs, an end. The title on every slide is a sentence, not “Slide 3”.

Report: a picture with proof, not clipart on the topic.

📊 Survey results

A chart from a table (not a screenshot from chat) and under it where the numbers come from.

Survey: when a chart — it still must sit on the sentence, not decoration.

⚖️ A defence

You say one sentence, show proof, answer “and what if…”. If you do not know, you say I don’t know.

Defence: a panel believes what they see. What they see should be proof.

Insert a picture that can carry a teacher’s question

You pick one slide with a sentence. You insert one picture. A one-breath test. If the test falls, delete the picture. Leave empty.

Open a report presentation or a practice Illustrator-proof and a name under a parent’s account. Pick one slide with a title-sentence. Body with no paragraph for now. In Slides Insert → Image. Download nothing from a shady advert under an article.
Pick a file you may: your own photo of a scene, or a picture school allows. Not a chat screenshot. Not another child. Insert. Grab a corner and shrink so the title stays readable size 36 plus. The picture must not cover the sentence. Move it under the title strip, not into a corner as a stamp.
In PowerPoint almost the same: Insert → Pictures → This Device. Click outside, step back, say out loud: the title plus “this proves that…”. The add-on must go in one breath. If it will not, select the picture and Delete. An empty body is now the right state. It is not a loss. It is a filter.
If the test passed, check contrast: light text across a light photo vanishes. Either the picture down under the text, or a darker area under the title. Slide → Change background not to a photo under letters. A photo is proof in a box, not wallpaper under a sentence.
Present (F5), step back. Can you tell from the back what the picture is? If it is a smear, make it bigger, or off. On the slide one picture, not three. Delete three to one. Drive a tick. No email in a caption. The workshop ends with a sentence-picture pair, or honest empty.

Proof, or a sticker

Go through slides with eyes from the door. Every picture must carry a teacher’s question: what does this prove?

At every inserted picture say the proof in one breath. Will not go? Delete.
Delete a meme and a chat screenshot, even if it is funny.
Leave at least one slide with no picture on purpose. So the body knows empty is allowed.

Now you 💪

Every picture on a slide I can defend as proof of the sentence.
There is no meme, chat or wallpaper under letters.
The title stayed readable, the picture does not cover it.

✅

Done when: I have on a slide a picture that proves the sentence, or honest empty. The sticker is gone.

What to take from this lesson

A picture must prove the title, not decorate.
One main picture per slide.
Empty is better than fake proof.
A meme and chat do not belong here.
Insert → Image, then a one-breath test.
Names in the examples (Ema, Adam) are made up. Do not put your number, email or photo on a slide.