Social Media Graphic – Instructions

On this page (quick links):

Overview

Take out your phones and bring up your favorite brand’s social feed. What types of graphics do you see? Message? Audience? Branding?

The continued popularity of social media brings with it the need for social media graphics. Many graphic designers are asked to create graphics and banners for their companies’ and clients’ social media sites.

These graphics include:

  • Highlighted products and overall brand
  • Company values and beliefs
  • New employee highlights and announcements
  • We’re hiring!
  • Join us for our open house
  • Product launches
  • Fundraisers
  • Goodwill efforts, good stewardship partnerships, or charitable affiliations the company enjoys
  • Landing a new account
  • Launching a new website or app

The list is endless. Social media graphics are extremely popular and most graphic designers work on them often—as seen in this recent job posting:

Graphic designer job posting

Grading Checklist

  • Design one social media graphic for a client, subject, or product of your choice
  • (Optional) You can download the Vans Brand Assets Project Folder below and start designing immediately
  • (Optional) You may choose a client from my Client List
  • (Optional) You may design using the Habitat for Humanity brand (see below)
  • Size: 1080 x 1080 pixels
  • Software: Canva.com (set up your own free account)
  • You may use Illustrator if you prefer and have the skills
  • Find more stock photos: unsplash.com, pexels.com, pixabay.com, or use AI.
  • Export a PNG from Canva, or in Illustrator save your final graphic for the web as an optimized 1080 x 1080 pixel .png
  • Critiques: Participate in critiques of your work
  • Presentation: Present your final work to the class

Examples

Social Media Examples

Student Work

Social Media Student Examples

4 Levels of Graded Design Work

(Always strive for Client-ready)

Grading Example

Social Media Graphics – Best Practices

  • Follow your client’s brand guidelines when they have them
  • Follow pixel dimensions for each specific platform, or use a universal size of 1080 x 1080 pixels (recommended).
  • Highlight one message, topic, or subject only per graphic
  • Use large headlines to grab attention
  • One large photo or graphic to grab the attention
  • Brand your design with your client’s logo, typography, colors, layout, and repeatable design elements.
Social Media Examples and best practices

How to use Canva.com

This tutorial video gives a quick overview for designers using Canva for the first time. We’ll cover:

  • Uploading a folder of design assets
  • Creating a document size
  • Adding your photos, logos, shapes, and text
  • Adjusting and arranging elements on your page
  • Exporting your design to a PDF

I think you’ll find this video helpful. Remember that Canva takes a minimalistic approach to design and doesn’t offer as many tools and adjustment options as Adobe’s software. This doesn’t have to be a bad thing, and can make your life easier when designing.

(10:54)

Custom Vector Drawings to Canva

SInce Canva is not (currently) a full vector drawing program, you can create your own custom vector graphics in a program like Adobe Illustrator and upload them into Canva to use in your designs.

Simply create your custom vector drawings in Illustrator, save them as SVG files (scalable vector graphics), and upload them to Canva. You can edit them slightly in Canva like change the colors and opacity if you choose.

Download this Illustrator file and I’ll show you, in class, how to do this.

Illustrator Wave Vector Drawing.ai.zipDownload

Design for Vans shoe brand on Canva.com

More and more companies are asking designers to know how to design in Canva.com. While it’s not as robust as the Adobe programs, it is growing in popularity with many companies. I think it is good for you to have some experience designing on its online web platform.

Here’s how to do it:

  1. Go to Canva.com and create your own free account
  2. Create a new project for an Instagram social media post (1080x1080px)
  3. Download the Vans brand asset project folder here: Vans – Brand Assets Project Folder.zip
  4. Upload the entire project folder into Canva
  5. Design your social media post
  6. Download a PNG from Canva for critiques and to hand in

Here’s my example design:

Social Media Example in Canva

Good Job!