Photos and images are a critical part of social media management and some other aspects of your online marketing. While we, of course, recommend working with professionals, we also know a lot of Raleigh business owners need to DIY sometimes.
The right colors, fonts, pictures, and setup can attract customers, set a tone for a site, and can aid in the development of your brand. Studies show images on social media and blog posts increase clicks and engagement. When people hear information, they’re likely to remember only 10% of that information three days later. However, if a relevant image is paired with that same information, people retained 65% of the information three days later. (Source.)
General Notes about Image Design
Without a design background, you are probably guessing what looks good. Keep in mind the current design trend is simple, clean, minimalistic and earthy tones. You want your designs to catch a user’s attention. Avoid any bright colors, small and messy fonts (ick Comic Sans!), irrelevant pictures, and misleading graphics. The design you create reflects on your company; incorporate your mission and vision into the design to achieve the right aesthetic.
5 Tools for DIY Design
Here are five tools to help you create appealing and informative images for your social media and blog posts:
- Canva – Canva is a simple online photo editor tool that helps users create and edit graphics. Canva provides hundreds of free templates for Instagram story posts, Facebook header, logos, posters, fliers, brochures, report cards, invitations, ads and more. The online app contains free and paid options for photos, texts, elements, backgrounds, and graphics. The stock photos, images, and icons are easy to use, adjustable, resizable and are able to change colors. It used mostly by organizations. It also has multiple options to download and share.
- Pexels – Pexels is a free photo site that contains thousands of diverse photos for users. If you are not satisfied with their free choices, you can choose to pay for their premium pictures. This site offers features to resize and download images with ease. Pexels uploads 100 high-quality stock photos every day. Their Creative Commons license allows their users to grab photos without the requirement of attribution. This is helpful to designers who don’t have space to credit their images.
- DaFont – DaFont has over 25,000 fonts to choose from, each accessed with ease. This site is widely used for fliers, websites, invitations and more. It contains thousands of freeware, demo, shareware, and public domain fonts. With a minimal and straight-forward website, designers can touch up their work with the right font.
- GraphicRiver or Pixeden – GraphicRiver is a high-quality graphics and presentation templates provider. Each graphic is unique and detailed. This site is great for designers looking to spruce up their Powerpoints or projects. Thousands of professionally designed elements are at your fingertips at a reasonable price (depends on the details). Pixeden provides its users with thousands of free graphics and web resources. Templates, icons, prints, and vectors can help designers develop their ideas. Entire projects can be completed with their free features, but premium options are available.
- Logoinspirations – Logoinspirations offers its users with free templates, editing, and customization features. These logos can be made for websites, menus, brands, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram covers. They also provide wallpapers for backgrounds on projects and cell phones. Design categories include a restaurant, beauty, business, nature, sports, and more. Your designs can be easily shared and downloaded. There is an option to register your designs in exchange for site benefits. A proper logo design is such an essential piece of your branding that we strongly recommend hiring a professional, but if you need something for your hobby project, this is a great starting point.
Do you have questions about creating attractive images for your online marketing? Contact us for help.