The Do’s and Don’ts of Social Media Ad Graphics and Typography

Graphic Design and Typography Can Make or Break Your Social Media Ads

When it comes to social media ads, the visuals are just as important as the copy. People are very visual creatures and will make split-second decisions about whether or not they’re interested in your ad based on the graphics and typography. This is why it’s so important to pay attention to the details and create eye-catching and effective visuals.

Your social media ad graphics and typography should stop people from scrolling through their feed and get them to take notice of your ad. But, to do this, you need to understand how good and bad graphics can affect your ad’s performance.

Good graphic design can make your ad more visually appealing and help you communicate your message more effectively. When done correctly, it can also help you target a specific audience and increase the chances of them taking the desired action. Some of the benefits of good graphic design in social media ads include:

• Making your ad more visually appealing
• Helping you communicate your message more effectively
• Targeting and engaging a specific audience
• Increasing the chances of people taking the desired action

Bad graphics and typography, on the other hand, can actually deter people from your ad. Some of the ways bad graphic design can affect your social media ads include:

• Creating a disconnect between the visuals and the copy
• Making your ad look unprofessional
• Causing people to scroll past your ad
• Turning people off from your brand

Now that we’ve gone over the importance of good graphic design and typography in social media ads, let’s look at some of the do’s and don’ts of creating compelling visuals.

Best Practices For Social Media Ad Graphics and Typography

DO: Use High-Quality Images

This is one of the most important aspects of creating effective social media ads. Your images should be high quality and relevant to your product or service. In addition, they should be visually representative of your brand or what you offer.

There are a lot of options for making this happen. You can use professional photos, stock photos, or even take some of your own. Whichever you choose, make sure the images are high quality and visually appealing. Websites like Pexels and Unsplash have beautiful, high-resolution photos that you can download for free.

DON’T: Pick Generic or Unnatural-Looking Stock Photos

When it comes to stock photos, it’s important to choose wisely. You want to avoid using generic or unnatural-looking photos as they can make your ad look fake and inauthentic. Instead, try to find photos that have great lighting and composition. If you’re using images featuring people, make sure the poses look natural and realistic.

It’s also a great idea to opt for images that feature people who would most likely resemble your target audience. This way, your ad would be more relatable and trustworthy because it conveys that you took the time to get to know what your audience members might look like.

DO: Use Contrast to Bring Attention to a Product

You want your ad to be eye-catching, so people will stop scrolling and take a look. One way you can achieve this is by using contrasting colours. This creates a visual tension that’s hard to ignore. You can use complementary colours or even experiment with different shades of the same colour.

DO: Create a Visual Hierarchy

Another way to make your social media ad more effective is using typography to create a visual hierarchy. You want to use different fonts and font sizes to make certain elements stand out.

For example, you might want to use a larger font size for your headline and a smaller font size for your body copy. This will help people know what’s most important and help them understand your ad better. You can also experiment with different fonts to add more personality to your ad. Make sure that the fonts you use are legible and easy to read.

DON’T: Use Too Many Fonts

While it’s great to experiment with different fonts, you don’t want to use too many as it will make your ad look chaotic. So stick to two or three fonts at most. You also want to avoid using fonts that are too similar where there’s no definition between words, but also not so many fonts that it looks chaotic.

DO: Use Natural Reading Patterns to Guide Your Design

This concept is usually used for intuitive web interfaces, but it works well for social media visuals too. Essentially, we want to design our ad in a way that guides the viewer’s eyes in a natural reading pattern. In most cases, people would scan an image from left to right and top to bottom. So, you want to ensure that you place graphic and typography elements along these natural flow lines. The most important text should typically be aligned to the left, which is the most common reading pattern. The CTA or branding should ideally be at the bottom right of an image since that’s where readers’ eyes will likely linger.

DON’T: Forget to Adjust the Ad Layout Based on the Platform

Finally, you want to make sure that you’re adjusting your ad layout based on the platform that you’re using. Each social media platform has its own size and shape guidelines, so it’s important to follow these when creating your ad. For example, Facebook ads are typically rectangular, while Instagram ads are square. The text alignment, buttons, and main images you use for one platform will most likely not apply to another. Keep these platform guidelines in mind when you’re designing your ad so that you can create ads that will engage your audience and generate the best possible results for your business.