creating-visuals

name	creating-visuals
description	Add the right picture to a lesson: a Mermaid diagram for structure/flow, or a real online photo for intuition. Use in the Learning Room to make an idea visible rather than only described.
platforms	["linux","macos","windows"]
version	1.0.0
category	teaching
metadata	{"hermes":{"tags":["teaching","learning-room","diagram","image","visual"]}}

Creating Visuals

A playbook for the render_diagram and fetch_image tools.

When to Use

• Structure, flow, hierarchy, sequence, or relationships → render_diagram (Mermaid).
• "What does it actually look like?" / real-world intuition → fetch_image.

Procedure

1. Choose the form. Diagram for how-parts-relate; photo for what-it-looks-like. Don't add a visual that doesn't teach.
2. Diagram: write minimal Mermaid — the fewest nodes that carry the idea. Prefer graph TD/LR, sequenceDiagram, or flowchart. Label edges with the relationship. Call render_diagram with the code and a short title.
3. Photo: call fetch_image with a concrete query (e.g. "monarch butterfly life cycle"). It returns a license-clean image with attribution.
4. Caption and connect. In one line, point to what in the visual matters and why, then continue teaching. The image/diagram is a downloadable artifact for the learner.

Verification

• The visual is the simplest one that conveys the point (no clutter).
• You told the learner what to look at in it.
• You used a diagram for relationships and a photo for appearance — not the reverse.