Social Media Graphics – Instructions
On this page (quick links):
- Overview & Examples
- Grading Checklist
- 4 Levels of Graded Design Work
- Social Media Graphics – Best Practices
- Design Template (Illustrator)
- Tutorial Video: How to create the Habitat social media graphic in Illustrator
- Export to a web-friendly PNG file
Overview
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 company’s and client’s social media sites.
These graphics include:
- Highlighted products and brand values
- 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. In a recent study, social media graphics were the third most frequent project designers reported working on.
Examples
Grading Checklist
- Design one social media graphic for a client, subject, or product of your choice.
- Size: 1080 x 1080 pixels
- Software: Illustrator, RGB, 72
ppi - Stock photos: unsplash.com, pexels.com, pixabay.com
- 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
4 Levels of Graded Design Work
(Always strive for Client-ready)
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.
Design Template (Illustrator)
Download and open this Illustrator template I made so we can review this project together in class.
Most of you haven’t had Illustrator class yet, so this tutorial shows how to get started with some Illustrator basics.
Tutorial Video: How to create the social media graphic in Illustrator
This is a video of my in-class demonstration showing how to get started with Illustrator and this design project. You can choose your subject; I just did Habitat/ReStore, so you’ll see how it’s done.
It has everything you need to get started, from opening the template, loading fonts, finding and placing photos, drawing vector shapes, and adding and modifying text.
Export your final social graphic to a web-friendly PNG file
These are the final files that you would deliver to your client (or hand in to me, your teacher)
These are now optimized for the web and can be delivered to your client and directly uploaded to their social media accounts.
Good Job!