9 Social Media Graphic Design Secrets (from REAL graphic designers)

We’re visual beings, and we’re drawn to visual content online in more ways than before. After all, 90% of information our brain processes is visual.

As social media shifts to visual social media, the opportunity for businesses to get their graphic designs for social media right is huge.

As social media shifts to visual social media, the opportunity for businesses to get their graphic designs for social media right is huge.

1. Show them instead of telling them

Anything visual will almost always beat a bunch of text. Images, videos, graphics, slideshows, GIFs; basically anything that helps catch the eye of the fast-scrolling social media user.

Make sure to present the right images to the right people. That also includes the way you sell what you’re selling. 

If it’s a product with high visual appeal, say furniture and homewares, use the product image itself to share your message.

But when it comes to selling services or intangible items, such as vacations and trips, it’s best to excite the senses and imagination. “Sip ice-cold Mai Tais on the beaches of the South Pacific while crunching sand between your toes,” gets the point across nicely. 

In either case, the text must supplement the image and not the other way around.

2. Sizing them right

Unlike other visuals, a graphic design for social media should always be sized precisely for the platform and place that it’s meant to be used for.

Most images on social media need to comply with the official dimensions if you really them to pop and display correctly.

The optimal for a Facebook post is different from Instagram. Further, a Facebook post will require a different size to a Facebook cover.

Then to add a final layer of complexity, the optimal size for social media image dimensions changes frequently, and often without any notice (ahem, Facebook) so it’s also best to check into an updated guide before starting the design.

3. Images should pop

Vibrant, colorful images attract lots of eyes, so choose unique imagery that has bright, eye-catching colors. Alternatively, a design with high contrast will help attract the eye as well.

If you’re selling food or most general products, be sure that the greens, yellows, oranges, and reds in your images as they generally pop more than black, blues, and greys.

Don’t forget to take the season or event into account when choosing colors either. This Christmas promo graphic design for social media from LOFT is instantly reliable to Christmas but not in an overly cheesy way.

If you’re selling a service, a well-chosen stock image or vector will also work well. Spotify does this consistently well but pairing fairly generic stock images with a simple message.

4. Where the eye goes

Advertising research shows that people tend to read what’s in the corners of the page more than what’s in the center. 

What’s more, we also tend to read in an “F”, “E”, or “Z” pattern, so placing important and eye-catching elements of a social media graphic on the upper left and left side of the graphic will most likely capture.

Larger images and positive space also attracts our eyes first, so keep this in mind when designing your social media graphic.

5. Keep it sharp and simple

With only a few seconds to catch the scrolling social media user’s attention, the KISS principle will always hold true.

The key here is to focus on just one thing and one thing only. This can be a sale, a promo for an event, or an offer for your free lead magnet.

A simple sale graphic like this from ModCloth is both effective and informative. Anyone looking at this will instantly what you’re trying to sell or offer me.

6. The 20-percent rule

Facebook, despite intense competition from platforms like Tik-Tok and Instagram, is still the social media gold standard for many brands.

In order to increase content quality of users’ feeds, Facebook have a rule that states that image-based advertisements may not have more than 20 percent text.

Well, that’s not strictly true; your ad can have more than 20 percent text, but it simply won’t be shown to as many people if it does.

Use Facebook’s own tool to check how much text is in your ad image here.

Pro Graphic Designer Tip: Smart placement of text will help your Facebook ad design stay within the 20% rule, so experiment a bit with different text layouts and font sizes before resorting to reducing the verbiage.

7. Typefaces matter

Traditionally, serif fonts are best for print, and sans-serif fonts are best for websites.

This is important since even the best copy in the world won’t be seen if people can’t read it easily, preferably in one glance. 

Not sure what font types to use?

Study your target demographics and pick fonts that appeal to them. Do some competitor research and see what (and doesn’t) work. Cherry-pick some that appeal to you and have a play to see what works best with your brand.

If your branding is well-established, using your brand’s existing font types will always work well.

Don’t be afraid to mix-and-match fonts, or try the tried and tested method of font-pairing for some eye-catching visuals.

Pro Graphic Designer Tip: Check out our guide to the Best Font Pairing Hacks

8. The right colors

Did you know that as many as nine in 10 people often choose their purchases by color alone? 

Arguably even more important than selecting the right images, choosing the right colors to match your message will always help boost engagement with your audiences.

For example, red indicates urgency while blue indicates honesty and stability. Green is freshness and fertility, and yellow is happiness.

Read more: 23 color palette ideas to inspire your next graphic design project

9. Stay visually consistent

Being consistent visually is all about building up trust and familiarity with your audience. Showing up time after time with a consistent graphic design for social media visuals (and brand messaging along with it) will help you “brand” an impression through consistency.

It doesn’t have to be complicated either, simply design your social media graphics using the same logos and colors will be enough.

Visually consistent social media graphic designs help people to remember who you are and what your brand is about.

The final word

Getting your social media graphics right doesn’t have to be difficult. The key to getting more eyeballs and engagement on your content is to always think visual first.

Pair this up with the right messaging, and you’ll be on track to wooing audiences and blowing away your competition.

Data Visualization 101: How to Visualize the Most Common Simple Data Points

From visualizing percentages to visualizing a list, this guide gives you some easy ways to visualize five of the most common types of data.

Which of these sounds more interesting to read?

 1. An article that is mostly text, or,

2. An article with engaging images scattered throughout?

I’m willing to bet you picked the second option!

Although both articles are talking about the same thing, peppering it with small, interesting visuals helps break up the text, and makes the article overall easier to read and more engaging.

Images are powerful.

Visuals dominate people’s attention; in fact, images get 94% more views than text-based information.

Not all images are created equal, however; images that visualize data, breaking it down into a more immediately understandable format, are incredibly powerful.

They can give your readers an insightful takeaway that is easy to tweet or share.

They may even use your visual on their own site and link to you as the source, growing your influence on the web.

However, if you’ve never created visuals to accompany your blog posts before, it might be confusing to get started because it’s not clear what you should visualize, or how you should break it down.

This guide will give you easy ways to visualize five of the most common types of data:

• A few things to consider first
• How to visualize a single number
• How to visualize a percentage
• How to visualize a proportion
• How to visualize a list
• How to visualize location data
• Wrapping up

A Few Things to Consider First

If you’ve never thought about accompanying your blog posts with visualizations before, it can be a bit of a head-scratcher figuring out exactly what to visualize.

At the core of a data visualization is data; so, how can you break down the main point of your post into facts and figures that would make for good takeaways?

If your post doesn’t include any data, maybe a data visualization isn’t the best way to add visuals to your post; instead, it might be better served by a nice photograph or by pulling out a quotation.

But data is compelling; maybe this is a sign that you should be finding more statistics or other data to back up your arguments.

Before you begin creating visuals to accompany your posts, consider if there are some features you would like to be consistent between all the visuals on your blog, like a color scheme, use of certain fonts, etc.

Always be sure to include your logo on the visual; if someone uses it on their own website, you want their readers to be able to track down the original source, even if the webmaster doesn’t link back.

How to Visualize a Single Number

Sometimes, the most compelling piece of data at your disposal is a single number. Maybe it’s a number so big it’s hard to wrap your head around; or maybe the surprise comes from the understated smallness of the number.

Two simple ways to visualize a single number are with text or with a pictogram chart.

Text

Sometimes the best way to show something is also the simplest. A number is exact, easily understood, and can command attention all on its own.

For example, in the motion graphic The Economy of Coca-Cola, a glass is shown filling with liquid, overlaid with “1.7 billion,” the number of servings of Coca-Cola consumed daily.

Pros: A number is powerful and precise. It can also take up a lot less room than, say, a pictogram chart (shown below).

Cons: On its own there is nothing wrong with using a number, but use too many of them and you run the risk of making your visuals too text-heavy.

Pictogram Chart

A pictogram chart visualizes data using icons that represent that data. Each icon could be worth one item, or a key might explain that each icon represents another value, such as 1,000.

In this infographic, a pictogram chart is used to great effect to show the enormous discrepancy between sharks killed by humans and humans killed by sharks (be prepared for lots of scrolling):

The exact number is not important here, just the discrepancy; however, at the bottom of the infographic, a red box explains that that’s over 11,000 sharks killed every hour.

Pros: Icons can simplify the meaning of complex data, and also make it more understandable across language and cultural barriers.

Cons: Using icons instead of a number is less precise, especially for very large numbers, which are hard to count. Avoid using partial icons to make the data more precise, as it can be hard to understand what a portion of an icon represents.

How to Visualize a Percentage

There are many ways to visualize percentages; as a part of a whole they can be shown in a number of different formats.

One of the most common and recognizable ways to visualize a percentage is a pie chart, of which donut charts are a variation.

Stacked bar graphs are another way to show percentages.

Pie Chart

Pie charts are some of the most recognizable, and some would say, most-overused types of visualization.

This example breaks a pie chart down progressively more and more:

Pros: Pie charts are recognizable and pretty universally understood. One of the most effective ways to use them is to show one “slice” and how it relates to the whole.

Cons: The more slices you have, the harder a pie chart is to understand. They take up more space than some alternatives. They can be difficult to understand precisely without labels. Difficult to compare trends between multiple pie charts.

Donut Chart

Donut charts are the same as a pie chart, they are just missing the center.

This eases some of the cons of pie charts; for example, they can be easier to understand because removing the center makes different segments easier to compare.

There is also more room in the middle to label the chart.

These donut charts are used alongside a proportional area chart showing the perceived corruption in every country in the world.

The donut charts help explain the percentage of the world that is perceived as more vs. less corrupt.

Pros: Relies less on area and more on the size of the arc, making them easier to understand at a glance. Offer space to add labels on the inside.

Cons: Still difficult to understand with lots of slices, or to understand trends between multiple donut charts.

Stacked Bar Graph

A 100% stacked bar graph shows percentages of a whole within a single bar or a set of bars.

These are particularly useful if you need to show a comparison between multiple datasets.

Unlike pie charts and donut charts, where the circular form makes it hard to compare percentages, the stacked bar graph makes this easier.

This interactive visual compares creative routines of famous writers, artists, and musicians. All the creatives had the same number of hours in a day, but this chart shows how differently they used them.

Pros: Easier to compare between datasets than pie charts.

Cons: The 100% scale may not be as obvious in a bar as it is in a pie chart. Harder to compare segments the more segments there are.

How to Visualize a Proportion

Proportions can usually be visualized similarly to percentages; it’s just another way to think about the data. However, pictogram charts and proportional area charts are especially powerful for proportions.

Pictogram Chart

When using a pictogram chart for proportions, color some of the icons a different color to represent a portion of the data.

This pictogram chart compares populations of UK countries.

Pros: Icons can simplify the meaning of complex data, and also make it more understandable across language and cultural barriers.

Cons: Using icons instead of a number is less precise, especially for very large numbers, which are hard to count. Avoid using partial icons to make the data more precise, as it can be hard to understand what a portion of an icon represents.

Proportional Area Chart

Proportional area charts are even simpler than pictogram charts.

They use the area of a shape to represent its size, and then another shape around or within it to compare it to.

The following example from 2011 shows the European debt crisis using proportional area charts. Countries are ordered by the size of their GDP and then overlaid with a red block representing the percentage of the GDP that is government debt.

In some cases, the debt completely swallows the GDP. The countries are all extremely easy to compare, being arranged this way.

Pros: Can compare lots of datasets easily without needing to rely on labels to get the main idea across.

Cons: It is hard to make these charts very precise and easily interpreted without labels.

How to Visualize a List

Sometimes your standout “data” is actually a list of items. Icon lists and bubble clouds are commonly used to visualize lists.

Icon List

An icon list is exactly what it sounds like: a list, with each item accompanied by an icon. While not exactly visualizing the data – it’s still very text-heavy – the icons can help break up the text.

In this humorous example, beards are ranked in terms of their trustworthiness. Every beard in the list is accompanied by a simple icon showing the type of beard.

Pros: Can compare lots of datasets easily without needing to rely on labels to get the main idea across.

Cons: It is hard to make these charts very precise and easily interpreted without labels.

Bubble Clouds

Bubble cloud charts is great for displaying, grouping and comparing large sets of data. It’s most useful for illustrating the relationship between elements in a data set and the set as a whole.

Take a look at the example below that shows the number of smokers in the European Union. Rather than using a traditional map, the data is visualized by using a bubble to represent each city. The larger the number, the larger the bubble, so that the size of each is proportional to the value for that country.

Pros: Great for displaying, grouping, and comparing large sets of data.

Cons: It can be hard to get text to fit inside smaller bubbles, resulting in some legibility issues.

How to Visualize Location Data

Location data may seem simple: just slap it onto a map, right?

However, not all maps are created equal. Here are two simple ways to use a map to show data: a chloropleth map and a bubble map.

Chloropleth Map

A chloropleth map is a fancy way of saying a shaded map. States or regions are shaded to a color scale, which generally gets darker the higher the magnitude of your measurement, such as population density.

This is a fairly typical example of a chloropleth map.

Pros: This type of map makes it easy to see trends across a country or region.

Cons: Larger regions are emphasized over smaller ones due to their area seeming more prominent.

Bubble Map

Bubble maps are pretty much what they sound like: a map with a bubble over each state or region, with the bubble’s size representing a particular piece of data.

This example uses bubbles to very clearly show which states have the highest rates of babies exposed to drugs in the womb.

Pros: This type of map makes it easy to see trends across a country or region.

Cons: Larger regions are emphasized over smaller ones due to their area seeming more prominent.

Wrapping Up

So there you go, I hope this guide has helped you find some easy ways to visualize some of the most common data types that you’ll come across. 

If you need some professional help displaying your data, consider hiring a professional graphic designer who can give you that polished look that your data deserves.

24 Best Free Google Fonts [Visual Guide]

Offering an amazing selection of professional-quality typefaces for graphic designers, Google Fonts offers some of the best free web fonts. Every font is open-source and 100% free for commercial use.

Choosing to use Google Fonts will boost your website’s visual consistency across platforms, as all current web browsers will support Google Fonts, including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera. 

From a collection of 1482 (as of 2023), we’ve carefully hand-picked 24 that we think are the best free Google Fonts, perfect to make your designs shine!

Cormorant Google Fonts Link -> 

Cormorant is a highly versatile typeface that’s popular as both header and body font. The family is available in nine styles with five weights to provide endless

ASAP Google Fonts Link -> 

ASAP is a modern sans-serif typeface featuring subtle rounded corners. Specifically developed for screen and desktop use, the font family is available in four styles and a standardized character width on all types.

B612 Google Fonts Link -> 

B612 is a highly-legible sans-serif typeface originally designed for aircraft cockpit screens. A distinct choice, B612 is available in four styles in two weights plus matching italics.

PRO TIP: Read the secret to font pairing in our Graphic Designer Secrets: Best Font Pairing Hacks guide

Work Sans Google Fonts Link ->

Work Sans has a playful feel that is more prominent at heavier weights.  The smaller sizes are optimized for screen displays although they can be used in print as well.

Karla Google Fonts Link ->

Karla is a grotesque sans-serif typeface. We appreciate it’s off-kilter and quirky looks, making this a standout option when something unusual is called for.

Source Sans Pro Google Fonts Link -> 

Source Sans Pro is a versatile sans-serif typeface designed for user interfaces. It renders remarkably well even in small sizes, making this a great choice for UI designs or long-form body copy.

Lato Google Fonts Link ->

Lato was released in 2015 and has been used on more than 9.6 million websites since. It’s easy to see why; a sleek sans-serif look and semi-rounded letters giving Lato a feeling of warmth and expertise.

Mulish Google Fonts Link ->

Mulish is a versatile and minimalist sans-serif typeface designed for both display and text typography. Recently additional font weights were added, making it perfect for both web and mobile interfaces.

*Mulish was earlier known as Muli, with the name changed in 2020.

Rubik Google Fonts Link -> Rubik is a sans-serif typeface with slightly rounded corners to give it a softer look. It features a heavier weight with low stroke contrast. There are seven weights and matching italics. 

Archivo Google Fonts Link -> 

Archivo is a high-performance font designed to be used simultaneously in print and digital platforms. The typeface also supports over 200 world languages, making it ideal for international design projects.

Roboto Google Fonts Link ->

Roboto is a modern, crisp sans-serif font developed by Google for Android and is currently the default font used in Google Maps and Google+. Because of this, the typeface is very legible, even at the smallest of screen sizes.

Noto Sans Google Fonts Link ->

Noto Sans supports more than 100 writing systems, 800 languages, and thousands of characters with compatible heights and stroke thickness. There is also a serif sister family, Noto Serif though we prefer this sans-serif version for its clean and modern lines.

 Graphic Design 101: 17 Design Basics You NEED to Know

Graphics design is a set of building blocks. Each one builds on the previous until you’ve reached your goal: creating something fantastic, whether it’s a logo, a website, or a bespoke illustration.

Whether you’re a client looking for great graphic design or a beginner brushing up your skills, it’s important to have a strong foundation in the basics.

In this post, we’ll share 17 graphic design basics. By understanding and applying these ideas and concepts, you’ll be well on your way to understanding what makes a great graphic design.

01. Shapes and Lines

Shapes and lines form the basic foundation of every graphic design. Circles, squares, triangles, rounded edges, or curved thin lines; the choice is yours but how you use them can completely transform how a design looks and feels.

Take a look at this example design below. Both illustrate a simple circle, but one with sharp edges all around and one with none. 

Which design is easier to look at?

The human eye has an inherent preference for rounded corners. We tend to perceive objects with rounded corners to be safer, whereas things with sharp edges tend to trigger what neuroscience calls an “avoidance response”.

​Which of these would you trust a child with?

02. Space

Space, in graphic design, is used to separate or connect design elements or objects. It’s one of the most important aspects of graphic design, and it can be positive (white space) or negative (negative space). Proper use of space in graphic design can make a real difference in how easy it is for someone to understand your message.

Look at the graphic below. Which arrangement is easier on the eyes?

The graphic on the left makes it easier for the eye to digest the information. The extra white space in your design helps to break up the graphic elements and makes it easier for us to take in the information.

03. Color

Color is another important graphic design element that can be used to great effect. The right colors can convey emotions or ideas, and trigger certain responses in people.

For example, the color red is often used to signify danger or caution, while green is often used to represent peace or safety.

Take a look at the example below, the sample alarm can convey a completely different meaning depending on the colors used.

The red alarm is more urgent and suggests impending danger while the green alarm is less so.

04. Typography

Typography is the practice of designing typefaces and is a crucial element of graphic design. Typefaces can convey different messages and evoke different emotions, so it’s important to choose the right one for your project.

For example, a more serious message might be conveyed with a serif typeface, while a more fun or casual message might be conveyed with a sans-serif typeface.

Of course, there are many other factors to consider when choosing a typeface, such as readability, legibility, and style.

05. Composition 

Composition is the art of arranging elements in a design to create a certain effect. It’s important to consider composition when creating any kind of graphic design, as it can make or break the final product.

There are many different ways to arrange elements in a design, but some of the most common include symmetry, asymmetry, and radial balance.

Symmetrical compositions are often seen as more stable and balanced, while asymmetrical compositions can be seen as more dynamic and interesting. Radial balance is created when elements are arranged around a central point, like the spokes of a wheel. 

06. Hierarchy

Hierarchy is the arrangement of elements in a design from most important to least important. It’s used to help viewers understand the hierarchy of information by using things like size, color, and spacing.

For example, if you want viewers to focus on a certain element first, you would make that element larger or more colorful than the others. High-level or important items are usually larger, bolder, or more eye-catching in some way.

You can see how the use of hierarchy can help direct a viewer’s attention to the most important element in a design.

07. Contrast

Contrast is the difference between two elements, and is often used to create visual interest or emphasize certain elements in a design. You might use contrasting colors to make one element stand out, or use contrasting shapes to create visual interest.

Adding contrast to a design makes it more dynamic and often more effective at communicating its message.

08. Unity 

Unity is the feeling of cohesion or coherence in a design, and is often achieved by using similar colors, shapes, or styles in a design.

For example, if you want to create a feeling of unity in a design, you might use repetition or rhythm to create a sense of movement, or use consistent colors and fonts throughout the design. 

09. Proportion 

Proportion is the relationship between the sizes of different elements in a design. It’s often used to create visual interest or emphasis and can be achieved by using contrasting sizes or by grouping elements together.

For example, you might use large letters to emphasize a certain word, or group multiple small elements together to create a sense of unity. 

10. Movement 

Movement is the feeling of motion in a design and is often created by using repetition, rhythm, or directional lines.

For example, you might use repeated shapes or colors to create a sense of movement or use diagonal lines to create a feeling of motion.

In the example below, movement is created by the slightly curved lines and the overlapping colors. Both effects enhance the movement because the lines are unstable and the gradient blurs the lines instead of being static.

11. Texture

Texture is the visual quality of an object that can be seen and felt, and is often used to add depth and interest to a graphic design.

For example, you might use textured paper or cloth backgrounds to add texture to your graphic designs. You could also use textures in photos or illustrations to make them look more realistic. 

12. Pattern

Pattern is a repeating design element that’s often used to create visual interest in graphic designs. Patterns can be created using shapes, colors, or textures and are often used to add texture or create movement in graphic designs.

For example, you might use a repeating geometric pattern to give your graphic design more texture or use a striped pattern of different colors to add movement and visual interest.

In the example below, the pattern repeats itself from edge to edge without any disruptions.

13. Layout

Layout is the way elements are arranged in a design and is often used to create visual interest or emphasis. It can be achieved by using contrasting sizes or by grouping elements together.

For example, you might use a large image with small text to create visual interest or use multiple columns to group information together. 

14. Balance

Balance is the feeling of stability in a design, and is often achieved by using similar colors, shapes, or styles in a design.

For example, you might use repetition or rhythm to create a sense of balance or use symmetrical elements to create a feeling of stability. 

15. Contrast

Contrast is the difference between two colors, shapes, or styles, and is often used to create visual interest or emphasis. It can be achieved by using contrasting colors, or by grouping elements together.

For example, you might use a light color with a dark color to create contrast or use different fonts to group information together. 

Take a look at how the use of contrast can help create visual interest or emphasis in a design.

16. Alignment

Alignment is the way elements are positioned relative to each other, and is often used to create visual interest or emphasis. It can be achieved by using repetition or rhythm, or by grouping elements together.

Without consistent alignment, a design could start to feel disorganized.

17. Proximity

Proximity is the feeling of closeness in a design, and is often used to create visual interest or emphasis. It can be achieved by using contrasting sizes or by grouping elements together.

Considering using large letters to emphasize a certain word, or group multiple small elements together to create a sense of unity. 

Great graphic design doesn’t happen by accident

These are just some of the basics of graphic design. With these 17 concepts in mind, you’ll be well on your way to creating beautiful, effective designs. 

If you’re interested in having unlimited custom graphic designs for you by a professional graphic designer, make sure you sign up for Undullify. Good design is an investment for your business success.

26 Essential Graphic Design Terms for Non-Designers

Chances are, if you’ve spent any time reading about web or graphic design, you’ve stumbled across a design term that was unfamiliar to you.

Of course, unless you are deeply involved in the design of something, you may not need to know what kerning is or what skeuomorphism means.

However, there are some terms that come in really useful in order to effectively communicate with your designer.

In this post, we’ve defined 26 design terms in simple, non-jargony language.

With these terms under your belt, you can broadly speak about most essential design projects you’re involved in.

Branding Terminology

Branding is all about leaving a lasting impression, and design is a big part of that initial gut reaction.

From your company’s logo to the colors you use across your marketing materials, over time you become more and more recognizable.

Icon

An icon is a simple way to get an idea across to a viewer. Icons are used frequently to simplify and set apart text in web design, and are not to be confused with a logomark (see below).

Logomark/Brandmark

A logomark, or brandmark, is a symbol representing a brand. Typically logomarks are abstract shapes or simplified representations of something, and they do not contain the name of the brand.

Logotype/Wordmark

A logotype, or wordmark, is the name of a brand stylized into a text-based logo. Logotypes combine the visual identity of a brand with the ease of recognition of the business name.

Combination Mark

A combination mark is a logo which combines both a logomark and a logotype.

Style Guide

A style guide is a place to define and enforce stylistic standards for your brand. Examples of information you may find in a style guide include brand colors, typefaces, image sizes, and more.

Color Terminology

Color Palette

A color palette is a set of colors that complement one another, used to pull together elements of a design. Often, color palettes include 5 colors.

CMYK

CMYK stands for “Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key” and is a color model used for print.

It works by laying down tiny dots of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, which when used in different combinations appear to show different colors.

If you add cyan, magenta, and yellow together in this model, you end up with black.

RGB

RGB is a color model used for screens, and stands for “Red, Green, Blue.” As you add colors in this model, you end up with white.

Graphic Design Terminology

Aspect Ratio

Aspect ratio refers to the shape of an image or video. It is a ratio of the width of an image to its height. For example, high definition video has a standard 16:9 aspect ratio.

Crop

Cropping an image removes parts of the edges of an image, in order to reframe it. Often, cropping changes an image’s aspect ratio.

Resize

Resizing an image does not remove any parts of the image like cropping does. The aspect ratio remains the same, though the width and height change proportionally to the original image.

Generally you resize an image to make it smaller; you lose image quality when you resize an image larger.

Resolution

Resolution is the amount of detail in an image. The higher the resolution, the crisper your images look; the lower the resolution, the blurrier they look.

Compression

Compressing an image reduces its filesize, often by slightly decreasing the quality of the image, which is called lossy compression. Lossless compression reduces filesize without lowering the quality of the image, often by cleaning up metadata rather than altering the image. Decreasing the size of your files for the web is very important; generally you should upload only the largest size image you plan to display on your site, nothing larger, and be sure to compress it for the web.

Gradient

A gradient is a smooth transition from one color to another, often with thousands of colors in between.

Opacity

Opacity refers to how transparent your image is. It is expressed as a percentage, with 0% being hidden and 100% being fully opaque.

Flat

Flat design is a style of design that favors solid blocks of color over textures, gradients, and 3D stylistic elements like shadows.

Vector

Vector graphics are created by mapping out shapes and paths on an X/Y axis, unlike more familiar raster graphics which are created by defining the colors of pixels. Since they use shapes and paths, vector graphics are infinitely resizable without losing quality.

Image Terminology

Stock Photo

If you don’t take original photos for your website, you might rely on stock photos, which are professionally-shot photographs available for purchase. While you can find high-quality free photos to use, you can’t just take any image off the web and use it on your website.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons (CC) is a media license that allows you to use a photo as long as you credit the creator. Creative Commons Zero (CC0) images are public domain images that are free to use without credit. You can read more about sourcing images legally in this post!

Layout Terminology

Alignment

Alignment refers to the position of text, images, or other design elements on your page. These elements can be centered on the page, or aligned to the left or the right, sometimes with text wrapped around it.

Lorem Ipsum

Lorem Ipsum is fake text used to fill in spaces of a design where text is intended to go, without distracting from the design with real text. It is generated from Latin words to look very similar to English words – until you attempt to read it, that is.

White Space

White space, or negative space, is the part of a design without content in it. White space is an important part of a design because it gives it room to breathe and makes it less overwhelming.

Typography Terminology

Typography

Typography refers to the stylistic arrangement of text. Text is important to many designs, and typography encompasses the alignment, positioning, and color of type, and the pairing of complementary typefaces.

Serif

Serif fonts are those that feature small lines coming off the ends of the letterforms, called serifs. Traditionally, they are preferred for printed text but considered more difficult to read on screens.

Sans Serif

The “sans” in sans serif literally translates to “without” serifs. These typefaces are more modern and preferred for screen reading, because they require less pixels to display cleanly.

Script

Script fonts are more organic feeling than serif or sans serif fonts, and intended to mimic cursive handwriting, with connected letters.

Wrapping Up

There you have it – over two dozen design terms translated to plain English for the non-designers among us!

You can save this article to refer back to later so that you can better communicate your vision or feedback about a design with your designer.

Are there any terms that you would have liked to see on this list? Share them below and we’ll try to update the post to include them!

23 color palette ideas to inspire your next graphic design project

Colors evoke emotions and create memories. A memorable color palette is one that wholly fits with your company’s vision and can be used on everything from a complete website redesign to designing social media graphic images.

Finding colors that look good together can be a challenge. That’s why we’ve generated these 23 graphic designer-approved color palettes for you to use in your next design project.

Check these out to find your visual inspiration and get those creative juices flowing.

1. Hidden Treasures

This green-based palette is both rich and calming. By adding the light tan-based Zorba, the tawniness of Raw Sienna is kept low-key. Hidden Treasures would be an excellent palette for any company associated with nature or the outdoors.

2. Neon Pop

The vibrancy of Torch Red, Neon Carrot and Puerto Rico are calmed and offset by the peachy pink and dark gray hues. Much like a brilliant billboard or poster hung on a solid stone wall, Scorpion grounds and upholds these other colors that tend to pop from the page.

3. Paris Interlude

Monochromatic colors taken from the same hue are great for understated looks, but these brilliant purple shades will keep your design punched up and exciting. Even the deepest Woody Brown hue has a hint of violet, evoking a deep sunset over a wooded area.

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4. Golden Autumn Glory

Autumn colors are bright and invigorating, and this palette creates a similar energy. Perfect for companies wanting feelings of coziness or for those dealing with the outdoors, this beautiful palette combines blazing colors with a rich wine-based hue. Although bright, you can keep the colors toned down by using Zeus for your text, Fire Bush for your background and the other three hues for graphic flourishes.

5. Pacific Sunrise

A brilliant pastel sunrise fills you with energy and excitement for the day, and this palette will get your customers excited about your brand. Although the colors are bright, they are perfect for softlines or children’s brands.

6. Caribbean Welcome

If you want to evoke adventure and imagination, this palette is a great place to begin. Each complementary color is crisp and bright, capturing the mind and exciting the emotions. Reminiscent of the brilliantly painted homes and shops on the shores of the Caribbean, these colors create a vacation-like quality of exuberance.

7. Winter’s Fog

The monochromatic hues of gray and black are offset in this palette by the sheer yellow of Milan. Much as the sun peeks through snow-covered trees on a crisp winter’s day, Milan will peek through your graphics, showing your customers that your brand does have a heart and soul while welcoming them to try your business.

8. Rich November

Chathams Blue is an incredibly rich color, commonly seen on intensely dyed linens. Combined with the complementary shade of Golden Grass, these luxurious hues warm the mind. This palette would provide an exciting twist for a neighborhood shop, antique store or luxury goods brand. Use Del Rio as your background and Baltic Sea for your text, and your design will be completely set.

9. International Flight

Traveling the world brings adventure and warmth to the soul, much as this color palette does. While Armadillo and Zeus anchor your brand to the world, Hit Pink and International Orange help you to soar. The ideal palette for an adult brand, International Flight is smart and sophisticated yet edgy.

10. Building Storm

The two most natural colors are green and blue, which hearken back to earth and sky. This natural palette keeps away from the softness of a pleasant day and instead pulls on the emotions with sensuous and strong colors. Consider this for a masculine or an outdoors brand.

11. Mexican Waters

Cool and refreshing like a day along the seashore, this palette gives you an array of blues that hint at nearly every mood. Considered to be a color that is linked to dependability, blue-themed palettes work well for travel, health care and communication brands.

12. Saturday Brunch

Filled with sophistication and elegance with a pop of Radical Red to ease any tension, Saturday Brunch is a motivating palette ideal for showing off your brand’s determination. Consider this palette for food-related brands, such as restaurants and food processing companies.

13. Old West

The earthy colors here point to a brand this is incredibly grounded and aware of its customers. However, this palette is not afraid to take a risk with Guardsman Red. Although intense, these colors are also inviting and work particularly well for the wine or beverage industry.

14. North Star

The cheerfulness of Saffron and Buttered Rum are joined with the calming presence of Ebony and Blue Bayoux to lead you to your true north. While this is certainly a unique grouping of colors, each is very grounding, and the entire palette displays your trustworthy presence to your customers.

15. Spring Flowers

While these colors are more feminine, especially with the addition of the sweetly colored Can Can, they lack the saccharine quality that would make men look down on them. These are the perfect colors for a flower shop or even a neighborhood bakery.

16. Stained Glass Window

This palette cannot fail to catch your eye. With mainly rainbow hues, Asphalt anchors the other colors. Stained Glass Window catches the attention while proclaiming you as a passionate, extroverted, customer-centric company.

17. Casual elegance

This is a crisp, casual and elegant combination that will suit all graphic design projects. Consider only using the salmon pink as a highlight color for a more dramatic effect.

18. Cosy French

A cosy combination of blues and purples, this muted palette will remind you of a country French farmhouse on a cold winter’s night. A perfect alternative to use during seasonal changes of Spring or Autumn and stand out from the crowd.

19. Mid-century classic

Always stylish, these mid-century inspired colors are timeless no matter what the current color trends are.

20. Sleepy Sedona

These are the pastels of the Arizona dessert where it meets up with lazy cities surrounded by sand and saguaros. While these colors are tranquil and soothing, they still speak volumes as lighter blue stands for communication and mental clarity. Consider using this for an organic brand or for a health and beauty-based company.

21. Old Arizona

On the edgier side of the western dessert is this Old Arizona palette, which combines the Periwinkle Gray of cloudless days with the traditional stucco color of Just Right. These colors invite the eye to linger and give off a sense of relaxation, which is exactly what a company in the hospitality industry would need to succeed.

22. Industrial Grays

Dark and stormy, this collection of grays and deep browns reminds you of a steel-framed industrial space and of strength and confidence. Clearly, these are amazing colors for an industrial company or a construction brand that wants to position itself as being the solid choice.

23. Gathering Storm

These shades of blue are both powerful and evocative, calling to a place deep within one’s soul. Waikawa Gray and Casper both speak of trust and stability, while Horizon and Taupe take this palette to an even more sophisticated level. These dark and masculine tones could work well for the finance industry.

Next Steps

Ready to take your brand’s visuals to the next level? 

When you use our unlimited graphic design services, our professional graphic designers can help you learn more about what colors flow well together, assist you in matching colors to your current brand or product, and lead you toward a design that speaks to you and your audience.

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Read more: If you’re looking to take your designs skill to the next level, try taking a graphic design course.

5 Simple Steps to Design a Pricing Table That Converts

Your pricing table design might just be the most important page of your entire website.

Are you optimizing it to its full potential?

Once your potential customers reach the end of the sales funnel, they are looking to make an important decision: does your product or service fit the bill?

Your pricing table could be the answer to everything they have been searching for… or it could mire them in a realm of indecision and hesitation that ultimately leaves them bailing and looking elsewhere.

As one of the most important pages of your website, it is worth optimizing your pricing page for conversions, because this is one of the places where that optimization will make the biggest impact on your bottom line.

Keep reading to learn the five simple steps you must follow to create a useful, attractive, and highly-converting pricing table.

1. Make Comparisons Easy

At its most basic level, a pricing table is a tool your potential customers can use to compare the degrees of service you offer and how much each tier costs.

Since your goal is to make things easy for your visitors – friction doesn’t convert – display the information in a format that is easy to draw comparisons from. Here’s how:

Display Information in Adjacent Columns

As the name might suggest, tables work well to display your pricing options. This isn’t a time to get creative – there’s a reason every pricing table you can remember displays tiers of service side by side.

Emphasize Your Prices

It’s what people came for, after all. Emphasize your prices using size and placement: prices should be one of the largest pieces of text on the page and should be situated above the fold.

Don’t make your potential customers scroll with trepidation to figure out what each plan costs.

Keep Information Concise and Skimmable

If you’ve done a good job creating a well-converting sales funnel, you can do your talking elsewhere; your pricing table should be a bare-bones summary of the most essential information so it is easy to compare different levels of service.

Use Symbols (Within Reason)

Visual pieces of information, such as symbols, are interpreted by our brains more quickly than text.

In a pricing table this is great news; you can replace all those yeses and nos with clearly distinguishable symbols.

Consider using a symbol to mean yes and a blank space to mean no; this helps to prevent clutter and also removes visual confusion.

A check mark and an X are surprisingly similar at a first glance, and can also be interpreted to mean different things.

Use Strike-Throughs to Compare Missing Features

Your potential customers aren’t just interested in what features each plan has; they are perhaps just as interested or even more interested in what each plan lacks.

In fact, a missing feature considered essential to the visitor is one of the most compelling reasons to increase to a higher level of service.

To make it easier to compare missing features, strike-through the features that lower-tier plans lack. Missing symbols can also do the trick.

Notice how Dropmark uses de-emphasized, grey text to show just how many features are missing from the free version that can be found in their other plans.

Sum Each Tier Up with a Visual

Remember how I said we process visuals faster than words? You can use this to your advantage by using a visual to summarize each plan.

At first glance, your visitors will understand the hierarchy between your plans: which tier is the lightest, and which is the fullest-featured.

2. Offer a Suggestion

Now that you’ve made it easy for your potential customers to compare your different levels of service, there’s something you can do to make it even easier for them to make up their minds: you can offer them a suggestion!

This works because it helps visitors avoid falling into a paradox of choice, where the mental drag of needing to decide between so many options outweighs the perceived benefits of making up your mind.

Here are some ways you can help your potential customers come to a decision.

Highlight a Popular Choice

Most Popular. Best Seller. However you label it, you can’t go wrong with highlighting a suggested choice. This is usually your middle-of-the-road option, but if your most popular option really is the highest tier, don’t hesitate to let people know!

Teachable does a great job emphasizing their middle-of-the-road option with both size and color contrast.

Explain Your Target Audience

Many services are used by people from a variety of backgrounds. If this sounds like your business, you can better serve the needs of your visitors by noting what type of customers each service level is for.

Funnel Signups into a Free Trial

Decision making is hard. A free trial can help delay that decision until a later time – hopefully, a time when your potential customers are better-informed because they have already tried your product or service.

3. Use Pricing Psychology

Sure, your visitors came to this page for the price, but there are so many ways you can soften the blow of a high price, or anchor your services at a higher perceived value.

Display Your Plans in Descending Order

Because English speakers read from left to right, we are naturally inclined to begin visually scanning a page from the left side.

By placing your highest priced plan on the left side, you are anchoring your services at a higher price point.

From that point, it is easier to stomach the prices of your other tiers because they are not moving upwards – they are moving down!

Anchor the Price Higher with a Supersized Option

Take your price anchoring to new heights by offering a supersized option, with extra special features and “unlimited” options.

Your goal isn’t necessarily to make any sales on the supersized option – though you more than likely will make some – but rather to anchor the price at an even higher level to make your high-end plan feel more affordable.

Many customers will not opt for the highest price plan on principle, simply because they do not want to pay for the highest price plan.

This pricing table from Crazyegg is a great example of price anchoring with a supersized option. They have used it to highlight their “Plus” plan, rather than “Standard,” as the most popular option.

Drop the Cents

Unless your product is very low-price, cents are completely irrelevant to the person making a decision. By leaving them out of your design, you are cutting two digits out of the equation – which makes the price feel smaller, even though in reality it is exactly the same.

Show a Monthly Breakout of the Annual Price

This is a common and highly effective pricing psychology trick, but you need to be careful how you use it, because it can be seen as rather deceptive! If you offer annual plans, instead of highlighting the total annual price, you can highlight what it breaks down to on a monthly scale.

Even though you are highlighting the monthly price, be sure to include the true annual price somewhere on the pricing table, even if it is de-emphasized.

Downplay Your Free Plan

Trying to convert more of your free users to paying customers? De-emphasize your free plan on your pricing table. If you put it front and center, more of your free users will stay free users.

4. Leave Room for Customization

In some cases, your pricing might require more flexibility than a typical pricing table with several tiers can offer.

If that is the case, consider baking in some customization options to really help your potential customers feel in control of their purchasing decisions.

Add the Ability to Toggle Between Monthly and Annual Billing

This common feature makes it easy for your potential customers to weigh the pros and cons of different billing options.

Freshbooks uses fun, playful writing and a special offer to draw attention to their annual billing options.

Create a Pricing Calculator

Do you have more complicated pricing variations than simple tiers can get across?

Though it will likely involve some development time, a pricing calculator makes things simple for your potential customer, and they can be kind of fun, too.

Ticketleap includes a pricing calculator on their pricing page so potential customers can see the impact their service will have on ticket profits.

5. Address Concerns Prior to Purchase

Before your customers will open their wallets for you, they need to be sure that your service will meet their needs, and that there aren’t any hidden downsides.

Assuage those fears with guarantees like a risk-free trial, options to upgrade or downgrade service at any time, or other relevant concerns.

Offer a Free Trial

What better way to address your customers’ concerns than letting them try before they buy?

Of course, a free trial doesn’t work for every business – so be sure you understand some of the potential downsides, and design your free trial to offer a taste and immediate results without giving away the farm.

Calm Concerns Before They’re Concerns

Your customers are human with real worries. Address those worries with guarantees that show you understand their needs.

Here are some examples of one-liners designed to minimize FUDs – fears, uncertainties, and doubts.

• Risk-free for 30 days
• Try before you buy
• Upgrade, downgrade or cancel anytime

YNAB (You Need a Budget) does an incredible job calming any fears their target audience might have. This is especially important for a piece of software that you connect all of your financial information to!

Offer Live Chat

Live chat is cheaper and more efficient than a call center, and studies have shown that customers prefer chat as a customer service tool.

Live chat is a feature that you can have across your website, but it can be especially important for in-the-moment questions and concerns from visitors to your pricing page.

Again, live chat will not suit every type of business so think whether this will benefit your target audience before investing in it!

Wrapping Up

There you have it – just five simple steps for optimizing your pricing table to convert!

Here is a quick checklist of the information above.

1. Make Comparisons Easy

a. Display Information in Adjacent Columns
b. Emphasize Your Prices
c. Keep Information Concise and Skimmable
d. Use Symbols
e. Use Strike-Throughs to Compare Missing Features
f. Sum Each Tier Up with a Visual

2. Offer a Suggestion

a. Highlight a Popular Choice
b. Explain Your Target Audience
c. Funnel Signups to a Free Trial

3. Use Pricing Psychology

a. Display Plans in Descending Order
b. Anchor the Price Higher with a Supersized Option
c. Drop the Cents
d. Show a Monthly Breakout of the Annual Price
e. Downplay Your Free Plan

3. Leave Room for Customization

a. Add the Ability to Toggle Between Monthly and Annual Billing
b. Create a Pricing Calculator

4. Address Concerns Prior to Purchase

a. Offer a Free Trial
b. Calm Concerns Before They Are Concerns
c. Offer Live Chat