Social Media Graphic – Instructions

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

Most social media content is created using dedicated external design platforms like Canva rather than native platform tools or standalone professional software. An estimated breakdown shows:

65% use template-based web platforms (Canva and Adobe Express)
25% use professional desktop suites (Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator or Figma)
10% use native in-app mobile tools (Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok)

Tool Categories

Template Web Platforms (65%): Tools like Canva and Adobe Express dominate daily social media output due to fast drag-and-drop layouts, pre-sized templates, and bulk content scheduling.
Professional Suites (25%): Software such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Figma is used by high-end brands and professional agencies for advanced photo manipulation, custom vector graphics, and unique brand identities.
Native Platform Apps (10%): Built-in tools inside apps like Pinterest, Instagram, or TikTok are used primarily for final text overlays, native stickers, or quick, spontaneous stories rather than original ad design.

Switching from Adobe to Canva

Pros

Blazing Speed: Turnaround times drop significantly.
Pre-Baked Templates: Thousands of pre-sized assets eliminate manual setup.
Frictionless Collaboration: Multiple team members edit simultaneously in real time.
Built-in AI Tools: Background removal and resizing take one click.
Lower Learning Curve: Onboard non-designers or clients in minutes. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Cons

Zero Vector Control: Cannot draw or edit complex custom vector shapes.
Lacks Advanced Photo Editing: No frequency separation or deep masking tools.
Homogenous Designs: Heavy reliance on templates risks looking like competitors.
Intellectual Property Limits: Cannot trademark logos built using Canva elements.
Subscription Lock-In: Canceling the plan revokes access to premium brand assets

Compare Feature Deep Dives

Typography: Adobe offers full kerning, tracking, and OpenType controls; Canva offers basic font size and spacing adjustments.
File Portability: Adobe outputs raw vector files (.AI, .EPS); Canva prioritizes web-ready raster formats (.PNG, .JPG) and flattened PDFs.
Workflow integration: Adobe links deeply across Premiere, After Effects, and Audition; Canva operates entirely inside its isolated web application ecosystem.

Social Content Creation on the Job

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

Student Work

4 Levels of Graded Design Work

(Always strive for Client-ready)

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.

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.zip Download

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:

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

Here’s my example design:

Good Job!