Creating social media graphics for your business
In recent years more and more apps and tools have popped up to make life easier for everybody, across a plethora of industries, not just design. Take photography for example, with a little assistance from an app on your phone, you can take even the most mediocre image and turn it into a Pulitzer Prize winning snap, if you have the patience…
This brings me neatly to a website I keep hearing about lately – called Canva.
Canva’s not new, it’s been around for a good while now and it’s established itself as the go to graphic maker because it’s easy to use and intuitive. It comes with a bucket load of examples, free images, free shapes and plenty of other tools to help you make marketing materials that are consistent with your visual identity branding.
From social media posts and email headers to posters and book covers, Canva allows you to create all sorts of materials. It integrates with free stock image libraries, Pexels and Pixabay which Canva own, meaning you can source images from within the browser window that Canva operates through. It has a Brand Kit option to allow you to add your brand colour, fonts and logos keeping your creations on point. The really handy Design School covers a lot of graphic design basics, that those who are perhaps tight on budget or keen to learn design for themselves can explore to further their knowledge and rationalise why we designers do things the way we do.
What I’ve found as a designer is that there are certain tasks that clients like to be involved in, typically this seems to be social media posts, and this is where Canva really can become the ally a designer needs for their client.
Because you can pre-set the visual brand elements like colour and fonts it gives the client a really good starting point to create whatever they want whilst remaining ‘on brand’. I have set up numerous template files that clients use as a starting point to create their posts from – and this is important because it allows the client to put out consistently designed materials that build on brand familiarity, whilst giving them the freedom to create without it costing each time they want a graphic for a post. The client is not restricted to the designer’s timeline either and in terms of social media, where getting a post out in minutes can, at times, be crucial, makes Canva an invaluable asset to have.
In turn, clients seem to appreciate the skill set we utilise more, because even being as simple as it is, Canva still takes time and patience to get things looking ‘just so’ for those not in the know, or those perhaps with a lesser trained eye. If you’re prepared to put the time in, and learn the software, and take the advice in the lessons available on their platform, then I would say Canva is an essential piece of software to add into your marketing mix.
A few tips to finish
Canva and tools like it are great for creating materials for your business but you should still:
Always try to stick to the rule of three’s – maximum 3 fonts, 3 colours.
If you’re adding your logo, leave space around it, don’t cram it into a corner.
Less is always more. always. Don’t forget your post can be supported with text and that you don’t have to write everything on the graphic itself. The purpose of making these graphics is to grab attention, inform, excite and build awareness to whatever you’re promoting, not to deliver an entire keynote on something the size of a post-it note.
Is it time your branding had a refresh?
If the answer is yes, we’d love to hear from you! Call 01732 920 236
Let’s have a conversation to find out what you would like to achieve and how we can fulfil that requirement for you.
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Mivvy Creative is a boutique design agency.
We believe collaboration is key so work closely with you, integrating into your workflow and acting as an extension to your team.
