Design Tips for Social Media Graphics

It’s not always feasible for a library to have a full-time graphic designer on staff, but with a little guidance, anyone can whip up a graphic for social media. Using free design tools like Canva is a great first step as there are templates available and each one is already sized to the correct social media format. Beyond the basics, we’ve gathered some creative tips for making your designs stand out on social media.

Use Texture

Textures can add a tactile quality to your designs and create a sense of depth. Visual texture is achieved through lines, shading, and use of color. Pre-set background options available through templates can create a paper, fabric, or metal look to your graphics and make them more interesting. Texture can also create a specific mood or feeling. There are many different ways to incorporate texture into a design that can be eye-catching to followers as they scroll their feeds.

The Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds is a principle that divides a canvas into three even rows and three even columns. Used in photography and art, this rule creates a balanced design by placing important elements at the four central intersecting points. These are the “hot spots” where a person’s attention immediately lands. Here are some great examples of the rule of thirds used properly in designs.

Gradients

Using a gradient is a great way to jazz up a basic social media graphic. Having a subtle change in the hue of a background color can give an image depth without being overpowering. This could be a nice option for a graphic with a lot of text, to make it more visually interesting. On the other hand, gradients can also be used in a bold way, with bright colors, when you’re trying to make a statement.

Use Templates

Depending on the type of social media posts that you’re creating, if you’ve found one style that works best, there’s nothing wrong with reusing it multiple times. Look at it like you view your branding colors or guidelines, it can add a uniform element to your posting or tie themes together. You can also make small tweaks to the posts through images or coloring but keep the overall template the same. Not every post has to be a completely unique design and templates can be recycled if they’ve performed well.

Experiment

Using templates can make creating a graphic more efficient, especially when something needs to be posted on the fly, but don’t be afraid to try new designs in moments when you have more time to create. Test out different layouts, colors, and styles to see what resonates the most with your social media followers. We recently created graphics fit for Instagram Stories to promote the NJ State Library sessions at NJLA’s annual conference. Each session covered a different topic, so I used Canva to play around with different design elements to make each one unique. The examples of my designs below show that you don’t need to be a graphic designer to create pieces that will get the information you need out there in a visually pleasing way.