Social Media Design: How to Stand Out Online

Social Media Design: How to Stand Out Online

“Social media is an incredible tool for brands and individuals, where content can reach millions and be published at any time, from anywhere. A social media playbook can help utilise this power, by ensuring your account has a consistent look and feel as well as acting as a guide for future content. Now it's your turn to design a social media playbook toolkits for a client. First Steps First, you need to understand the brief. If you don’t have one from a client, don't worry. You can make your own and use it as a reference to inform the structure you want for the project. It’s really important to understand the brief, as this will be a guide on how you approach the project. Once you understand the brief, break it down into content pillars so you can base the direction on these. Content pillars are three to five topics that your brand will consistently discuss. Looking at the current posts the account publishes, you can work this out. If you are working from scratch you can always ask your client what content they are looking to publish, or if it’s your own account write these down. Content pillars are a great way to structure your playbook. Building the Mood Board and Visual Direction Now it’s time for the fun part: creating the mood board. This will help you create and design the look and feel of your toolkit. Look at the symbols, logos, colour palette, typography, photographic style, and illustration of other posts and accounts online. Save them by using the software you are comfortable with.

Colour, Typography, and Graphics Now, let's have a play and start creating elements for the toolkit. Once again, you can use any software that you are comfortable with. All that matters is that you can create your assets. Considering textures, colours, and gradients can be an excellent way to build up your toolkit. Typography plays a large part in the social toolkit. Therefore, when considering your typography, keep your font legible! If you can’t read it, no one else will either. Photography and Videography Social media is a very visual platform. By defining the art direction of the photography and videography in your playbook, you help the user to understand what the brand should look and feel like. Ask yourself, where does video or photography appear within the account? On Twitter, you may not have the need for so much photography. But on Instagram and Facebook, there will be a much larger need. When looking at your videography, you don’t need to use a fancy camera. Sometimes the best camera is the one you have on you. Mock-ups and Templates! Bring all of your hard work together and make some templates for your social playbook. This is where your vision comes to life. A good rule of thumb is that every content pillar should have a mock-up or template – a guide for whoever is going to make the content. Finalizing the Playbook It’s time to finalize your social media playbook! First, edit back your deck. Each section should be easy to understand. Your playbook will become the brand guidelines for the account, not only you will be reading it. If there is a specific way you want your mock-ups to be used, here is the chance to write this information down. I like to include links to the various templates and toolkit elements so that anyone using the document can easily find what they need. I’m really excited to see your playbook! Share them and be proud of what you have achieved. Don’t hesitate to ask for any advice or help. Design is subjective, by sharing your project you can get a wide range of advice and feedback. It’s a great way to learn. See you soon!”

Partial transcription of the video

“ Final Project Congratulations on reaching the end of the social media design course. You've all done so brilliant and you should be happy with everything you've achieved. It is such a privilege that you've joined me on this journey and learned about everything I love to do. We began the course looking at fundamental design principles, the tools on your phone, and getting to grips with what a social media playbook is. Remember, sometimes the easiest way to design something is by using the tools at hand. You don't need fancy software. You don't need fancy photography. Sometimes doing someth...”

This transcript is automatically generated, so it may contain mistakes.

Course summary for: Social Media Design: How to Stand Out Online

• Level: Beginner
• 81% positive reviews (21)
• 954 students
• 4 units
• 13 lessons (1h 36m)
• 1 download

• Category

  Design

• Software

  Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop

• Areas

  Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Design, Storytelling