5 Design Tips to Make Better Social Media Posts
You are working on marketing on social media, but despite having the right idea, something just seems to be missing? Even if you are not a graphic designer, there are some quick, basic things you can try out and improve the look of your posts massively. As most of the blogs would say - ‘you will be amazed with the result’. You really will. :)
Decide which color palette to use
Before starting to work on creative for social media posts, online ads or artwork for your blog - plan your colors. Determine the dominant color you would like to use and start googling color palettes containing that color. The result will give you an amazing inspiration and even more importantly, it will give you the option to decide on the look and feel for your work even before commencing the ‘drawing process’. It will spare you a lot of revision-time, and trust me, you will know when you stumble upon ‘the right’ color combination.
You can look up the palettes and apply the color codes to your work. Here is an example of how to do it in Videobolt.net editor, but the principle would be the same for almost any graphic design tool or platform.
Know the power of contrasting colors
This is not to say you should necessarily use contrasting colors, but to become aware of their power and use them correctly when the right idea comes along. Like a person moving against the crowd, a color that stands out grabs our attention immediately.
Here are few examples of how contrasting colors are used to draw your attention:
Know, but beware of the color scheme:
This famous Warhol’s art piece is the great example of contrasting colors. While the art has the luxury to exaggerate in this sense, you should think twice whether to use this color combo in branded social posts as it can make your customers feel slightly uncomfortable after a while (if that is the idea - go for it).
Blur the image to make the text stand out
If you are going to write something over the image, make sure it's readable. By applying the perfect amount of ‘blur’, you can shift the focus to the text and make the creative seem more ‘balanced’ and easy to read. If you combine that with the previous advice on color palettes and contrasting - you are on the right track my friend.
Know the emotional effect of colors
To a certain extent, the way colors make us feel represents a subjective impression, but on the other hand, we are used to having colors tell us what is important, and there are colors which are used across the world with the same meaning, like in traffic for example. That is why it is important (and fun) to know the psychology of colors:
• Red - love, power, strength, friendliness, affection, survival, fear, terror, and aggression.
• Orange - friendliness, fun, motivation, freedom, positive attitude, and enthusiasm.
• Yellow - joy, happiness, cheerfulness, optimism, inspiration, and motivation.
• Green - balance, harmony, sense of right, life, peace, growth, health, rest, and stress relief.
• Blue - trust, dependability, reliability, responsibility, and calmness. Blue is mentally soothing and makes us feel less stressed.
• Purple - imagination, creativity, spirituality, balance between the physical and spiritual, luxury, loyalty, courage, mystery, and magic.
• Pink - compassion, hope, empathy, unconditional love, care, sensitivity, understanding, and nurture.
• Brown - structure, security, protection, and support.
• Gold - charm, confidence, luxury, treasure, friendliness, abundance, and prosperity.
• Black - sophistication, seriousness, control, independence, but also evil, mystery, depression, and even death.
• White - completeness, purity, innocence, cleanliness, and peace, new beginnings, simplicity, cleanliness, and idea creation.
A lot of brands are aware of the subtle communication potential of colors:
Establish brand consistency
Make your brand recognizable. Be consistent in colors, color palettes, fonts and typography. This doesn’t mean that, from time to time, you shouldn’t play around with brand image elements, but make sure that they are tied together just enough to show that it's the same brand’s communication.
Extremely high level of brand consistency is exactly why some brands can ‘simplify’ their creatives to the core level without worrying about not being recognized.
Congrats you curious creative soul - you made it to the end! Hope this was useful for improving your basic design skills. :)