AI Mini Series: Napkin AI

This post is the third post in my AI Mini Series which features some of the tools from my workshop titled “My AI Leadership Toolkit” from the 2025 BSME Teaching and Learning Conference last term. Read posts two here and one here.

Enter Napkin AI! A big shout out to EdTech Playbook co-author Mark Anderson for sharing this one with me.

As an educator I have spent years telling learners that a picture is worth a thousand words. Yet many of us still wrestle with clunky diagram tools or default PowerPoint shapes. Enter Napkin AI, a platform that converts plain text into polished visuals, mind-maps, flowcharts, infographics, even quick sketches, at the click of a button. The potential is simply amazing because it lets ideas breathe by removing the design roadblock.

From words to visuals in moments

Paste a lesson outline, a policy draft, notes from/for revision, or a set of exam feedback points into Napkin AI and the tool suggests visual treatments that can be tweaked with intuitive controls for icons, connectors, fonts and colours. You can even use it for social media posts, blogs, or documents. Plus the option to select from over 60 different languages thanks to the visuals matching the language of your input text.

But what about the exports?

There are a range of possibilities when it comes to exporting your content:

• Export your selected visual as PowerPoint, PNG, SVG, or PDF files (there’s no JPEG option because PNG is higher quality).
• Export the entire document into a PDF.
• Share a link to your Napkin so your audience can see your text and graphics integrated together.

Why it matters for teaching and learning

1. Dual coding made tangible
   Paivio’s dual coding theory reminds us that pairing text with visuals strengthens retention. When complex processes, say, meiosis or the water cycle, are auto-diagrammed, students are more likely to grasp the narrative more quickly and are better able to recall it later.

2. Reducing extraneous load
   Cognitive load (Sweller) is often ballooned by poor design alongside overloaded slides/documents. Napkin AI applies consistent visual hierarchy so working memory is reserved for content rather than deciphering messy slides.

3. Speed without compromise
   In a world where assemblies shift at short notice and departmental briefings appear in the diary overnight, generating a clear diagram in under a minute keeps professionalism intact while safeguarding your workload. You can also adapt a lesson in the moment where an old visual of yours doesn’t quite hit the mark or in my case, when I was helping a Year 13 student with field dynamics, you can create a quick visual to summarize the key learning (see that at the bottom of this post).

2 use case examples

What about student use?

Students could make use of Napkin AI to take ownership of their learning by summarizing key learning and using that information to create a flowchart or visual. Starting a conversation with students on when it is, and is not, good to use visualizations (for example, the oversimplification of nuanced content). This could be further extended by asking them to justify why they chose the visual they did and the edits they made to it; this not inly support metacognition but it also starts the conversation around student-led AI integration.

Naturally this conversation would likely require a discussion with students on how Napkin AI works, which is from natural language to visual logic. Again bringing AI literacy, responsible use, and digital citizenship to the fore; which is always useful. Using it with students is also a good opportunity to model AI literacy and responsible (digital)  behaviours. By exploring when to use visual tools critically, we help students become more discerning users of technology, nurturing their digital citizenship and equipping them to navigate an AI-driven world with 2 of the 5 C’s of Digital Cognition; confidence and cognisance.

You can read more on the 5 C’s of Digital Cognition in The EdTech Playbook, all links are at the bottom of this blog.

What about as a department?

Napkin AI has the potential to support short, medium and long-term planning by helping you to map progress through a scheme of learning, clarifying thematic links over an interdisciplinary curricula or even outlining the assessment journey across a key stage.

A quick challenge

Pick one topic you’ll teach in the first week back after the summer holiday, paste the lesson notes into Napkin AI and see what visuals emerge. Share it with a colleague and discuss how the diagram could scaffold student thinking.

How does their pricing structure work?

The free account currently (July 2025) allows 500 AI credits per week, unlimited visuals editing, unlimited file import and exports, standard icons and built-in styles and fonts. The only downside? The Napkin branding appears on all visuals but I can live with that. Napkin AI states that “AI credits are used to generate visuals, with approx. 1 credit charged per word selected for generation. This may change in the future for more complex outputs or advanced features.” You can see their paid for tiers here.

Final thoughts

As you can see, Napkin helps us to transform text content into visuals (such as diagrams, charts, images and more). It’s also like I have a personal design expert at my finger tips ready to translate text or ideas into easily accessible and codified content to get my message across.

Napkin AI will not replace our expertise in structuring learning, but it can remove the friction of illustration and nudging elements around a PowerPoint, Keynote or Google Slides! In doing so it grants us more time to focus on what truly matters: questioning, feedback, and the human connection at the heart of teaching. Give it a spin; your next diagram might only be one prompt away.

From Planning to Practice: Snapshots of Napkin AI in Action

In the interest of sharing, you can see some examples of my Napkin AI work from last term below:

• My Goblin Tools infographic (you may recognize it from my first post in this series!).
  
• Auditing your digital ecosystem flow from a planning meeting.
  
• Gravitational Forces Characteristics and visualizing Force Field Dynamics from Year 13 Physics.
  

Want to explore further?

Dive into The EdTech Playbook—a practical, evidence-informed guide designed for educators, school leaders, and digital leads who are serious about embedding meaningful, sustainable use of technology in their schools.

Whether you’re just beginning your digital journey or looking to refine an established strategy, the Playbook offers insights, frameworks, and real-world examples to help you make it work in your context.

📘 Grab your copy here:
🇬🇧 bit.ly/EdTechPlaybook
🇦🇪 https://lnkd.in/d7Z2C4-T

🔗 Stay up to date with the latest thinking, resources, and updates by following the #EdTechPlaybook page on LinkedIn: EdTech Playbook