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Whether it’s a brand promotion, video, news update or even a meme, visual content rules the social media landscape. What has become so important is effectively conveying your brand on social media through images and video.
In this quick-scroll world of social media, the visual face of your brand is often times the first thing your audience sees and possibly the one thing they remember. It’s hard to cut and paste an image and reuse it across all of your social networks unless you have a tool like Landscape.
Sprout Social’s very own tool is free to use to resize, crop and scale social media image sizes. And along with our resizing tool, we’ve provided all the specific dimensions and a few quick tips to help you decide which image best fits each position....
Good typography may be hard work, but designers shouldn’t forget to have some fun with it! While crafting fonts and typographic characters can sometimes feel stiff and overly mathematical, we want you to help you find the joy in creating more expressive and playful typography.
Of course, this approach is great for children-oriented design projects—but let’s not limit ourselves. After all… not every coffee shop, ice cream store and logo needs to look posh. Let’s find the more creative side of typography and get goofy!
In this article, we’ll spotlight some examples of playful typography and show you how to join in the fun with your own work....
Typeface selection plays a critical role in the readability of your content. Although it may be one of the overlooked aspects when it comes to designing websites. One of the main finding of Nielsen Norman Group Eye-tracking Study of Web Readers was “Text Attracts Attention Before Graphics”. The study revealed:
“Of users’ first three eye-fixations on a page, only 22% were on graphics; 78% were on text”.
As a web designer, you need to pay more attention to typography.To make your design more effective and impactful we have compiled a huge list of typography tools and resources available on the Internet. If you are serious about web design and want to improve your skills, Take time to work your way through this resources.…
Picture quotes are one of the most pinned images on Pinterest.
The more visually striking your picture and quote combination is, the more shareable it will be. People can use them on social media, turn them into printable wall quotes, or download them as desktop wallpaper — that’s maximum visibility for you or your brand.
So whether you want to take your graphics to the next level or create your own for the first time, let’s go through some ways you can do the same for your quotes using some of the most eye-catching examples on the web....
When you are browsing different social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, you are likely to see images with text on them – these can be inspirational, informative, or just plain fun. Having your message on a colourful image will catch your customer’s eye more effectively than just using text alone.
However, if you are a small business owner, you probably don’t have the budget to hire a a graphic designer. Luckily, there are plenty of options on the market today to help you create the graphic yourself for minimal time and effort....
So, while I wouldn’t say I’m naturally artistic, I have learned how to create compelling visual content. And so can you.
While there are many tools out there to help even the most inartistic of us to create compelling visuals, some parts of graphic design take a little more background knowledge.
Take picking the right colors, for instance. It's something that might seem easy at first, but when you're staring down a color wheel, you're going to wish you had some information on what you're looking at. Well, consider this your introductory course to color theory. Read on to learn about the terms, tools, and tips you should know to pick the best colors for your designs....
Typography is an important but often under-represented part of a website's layout. With so much focus being placed on the presentational aspects of CSS and the use of large images and media that choke bandwidth restraints; it’s nice to occasionally remember that textual content can also make an impact on users and their experience. Content remains king, and a few good fonts can make even the simplest of sites look smart - though not so many that you have to wait for ages for the text to be visible.
Because of this, I’m going to show you a few handpicked examples of sites that make their content look terrific, and why you should consider following their example in your own work. We’re going to take a journey of how elegant typography can make a site shine; looking at the bold, creative, navigational, simplistic and interactive content that makes the designer's voice speak volumes - so let’s get started!...
A look at the psychology and research behind shareable social media images, and how to create your own.But, how much do you know about actually creating scientifically shareable images?
Turns out, there’s tons of actionable, research-backed advice on how to create social media images that get shared—the ideal colors, fonts, text, and more, all leveraging what we know about design, psychology and the Internet to get more shares and engagement.
By the end of this article you’re going to be fully aware of how to make images that your readers can’t help but share. All backed by science....
While you might have shied away from image creation in the past, new tools have emerged putting the power of visual marketing in the palm of your hands.
In this article, I’m going to share seven of the best visual marketing tools and mobile apps that offer a simpler, leaner approach to creating compelling visual content....
A text without visuals feels like a cracker without cheese – it’s dry and uninviting. But, by adding to a text a nice piece of high-quality visual content, you can create a yummy “sandwich”. Incorporating compelling visual elements into your content is a proven way of increasing audience engagement, making your content more shareable and boosting your success!
We’ve drawn up a list of the most useful free tools that will help you create stunning images or engaging videos quickly and easily, even if you’re not a designer....
I’d go even a step further and say that the fastest and most effective way of learning is to copy what other people have done. It’s the ultimate “standing on the shoulders of giants” — instead of spending years developing a skill, you can gain it by simply following in the footsteps of professional designers. This is why step-by-step tutorials work so well for learning design.
The problem is that as a beginner, you don’t yet know what good design looks like. That’s why I included the top inspiration sites where you can learn to “see” what good design looks like.
Weli, I hope this resource comes in handy. If you need a printable, offline .pdf version of this list to tick off all read materials, download it free here:...
How times have changed!Just a few years ago you needed a laptop to create even the simplest images for the web. Today, you can do it on the fly… with your smartphone! You don’t even need a computer anymore. Wait… you don’t know how to do this with your phone??...
As a designer, we thrive on staying informed on what are the latest and coolest sites to learn trends and take inspiration from. Last year, I shared with you my 2014 picks for the must-bookmark websites for designers. And so far, my most used websites from the list that I find really helpful are 0 to 255 and Adobe Kuler. c Here I am again giving you my top list which I think every designer or non-designers must bookmark this 2015:...
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Typographic characters don’t always need to come from font files. Many of today’s brilliant designs manifest typographic characters through drawing, squiggling and doodling.
Meet Shigeo Fukuda, a master of manipulating lines into playful concepts. In the example to the left, Fukuda creates the words, “The Sun”, from a playful and winding doodle of a power cord emerging from behind a minimal rendition of the sun.
How would you create playful typography from an illustration or drawing? Think about ideas like creating words like “health” from illustrations of vegetables. Or create a rendering of a word like “summer” out of illustrations of melting ice cubes.
Get playful!...
Why typography? Turns out that while the importance of typography is often overlooked, it plays a critical role in strengthening your brand, creating interest in your product, and highlighting your central message. Knowing that, I decided to sign up for a typography course at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Couldn't hurt to learn how to identify a good font from a bad one, right? I learned a lot more than that. I realized that paying attention to even the littlest details of type can make all the difference in the world when you're laying out an email, ebook, or image for social media. This is why I wanted to write this post: to share the most important learnings and resources with my fellow marketers. ...
Color blocking is nothing new. It’s long been designers’ go-to trick for chopping up large pieces of content, crafting call-outs and adding visual interest to an otherwise plain page. But in today’s design world, color blocking has evolved into a stunning minimalist trend that’s a perfect fit for spring.
Gone are the convoluted colors and clunky squares that too often transform quality design into an eyesore. Now it’s all about airy white space, pastel hues and clean lines. The results are beautiful and soft, confident and more modern – ideal for boutiques, chic websites and stylish brochures.
Curious how to put this update into action? We’ve gathered 18 inspiring designs from 99designs and beyond that prove how compelling this contemporary style can be....
As Buffer writes, over 90% of our assessment of a product is made on color alone, so it makes sense that color should be considered with care for every design decision, particularly on websites. Chances are, if we don’t like the color palette, we’re not going to stay on the site for very long.
To get you started on your own palette, we’ve gathered 50 beautiful websites with versatile color schemes you can take inspiration from. So without further ado, let’s get knee-deep in some beautiful colors.
As we mentioned last week, picking the right colors is the single most important decision you can make when designing an infographic. Most designers realize this, and for years they’ve been trying to answer one question: is there a science to picking colors that work well together or is it just subjective? Why do some colors match, while others look strange?
The internet has been debating this for a while without much consensus, but I believe the real answer is both: it’s an art and a science. Every design decision is heavily influenced by a designer’s intuition and sense of aesthetics, but there is also a strong scientific component that conveys if a color works well with another.
Expert designers use it to validate their intuition, but we are going to learn how to use color theory to pair beautiful colors together....
9 Designer Tools Everyone Should Know About
It's of importance as people become more mobile and the need to make things more compact arises.
Understanding Icons What are these icons for? Well, icons actually have a pretty wide scope, depending on how you look at it.
See those little boxes on your smartphone that represent different applications? Those are icons. Did you notice those little boxes on your favorite website, that, when clicked, would trigger a new action such as open a new email window or identify a link being promoted, such as a Twitter or a Facebook profile? These are all icons....
At the beginning of my journey, I sought advice from graphic designer friends. They were telling me the same thing over and over: "Learn Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign;" "Read a book about basic design principles." As much as these tips helped, there were still holes in my knowledge that couldn't be filled by software lessons or books. Anyone who's tried to teach themselves creative concepts understands the pain points associated with trying to balance learning fundamentals, navigating new tools, and developing a personal style.
The following tips are pieces of advice I wish I had been given at the onset of my DIY graphic design journey. I hope they help you smooth some bumps in the road. (And for more great tips, resources, and inspiratoin, be sure to subscribe to HubSpot's Design Blog.)...
You probably know why: Posts with better graphics are easier to read and get more shares....
The good news is that you can learn to create your own blog post graphics fairly quickly. A handful of dollars in stock graphics, a few hours in Photoshop, and you will be on your way to making your blog look better in no time.
In this post, I’ll share with you the exact strategies I use to create visuals for my posts, right from start to finish....
Engagement-grabbing social media images might be the closest thing we have to a magic wand on social media. And to make it even easier to design these images in a snap, we’ve whipped up a new, free tool we’d love to share with you.
Meet Pablo, the easiest way to create engaging social media images....
Let’s be honest, is there anything better than free stuff? Not much. As an inbound marketer, there is nothing I like more than useful tools that are simple, easy to use, and help me reach my end goal.
There are many different aspects of campaigns that we need to check and re-check to make sure we’re hitting our marks, creating great content, and achieving goals for our clients. Since we are tech-savvy, internet lovers, what better way to do this than free online tools? It would be silly of you not to take advantage of these 10 free marketing tools to boost your inbound marketing campaigns....
White backgrounds are frequently used for clean, minimalist website designs, but sometimes a little bit of grey or subtle color looks better! That’s when subtle patterns come in handy!
In this massive list we selected over 450+ free minimalist subtle patterns you can use for your clean website design projects. These awesome free minimalist subtle patterns also come as .pat files. You’ll find both light and dark subtle patterns in this list.
Download the ones you like most and add them to your web design freebies collection for future use!...
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Sprint Social has an excellent guide and tool to help you create the perfect social media size visuals.