Having graphics as a content element in media – newspapers, advertisements, presentations, blogs, or social media posts – are critically important components in crafting compelling communications. Adopting a multimedia approach helps to increase brand awareness, build brand equity, deepen engagement, and improve the accessibility of the message you are looking to convey or actions you are seeking to inspire.

Graphic design is art with a purpose. It’s hard to differentiate between good and bad design and involves creativity, strategy, and technique to create captivating visual communications. However, you must think about the call to action. What is it that you want your audience to do with this piece of visual content? Implementing graphic design is a powerful storytelling tool that can help your audience easily digest complex information and increase engagement.

Here are five tips on how to create graphics that will capture your audience's attention:

The power of color is important in both design and everyday life. Color can represent your personality - it’s essential to consider the mood and tone of your content and choose a color palette that fits best with your brand. Every company should have their own color palette and be sure to use it consistently and thoughtfully.

When it comes to graphic design, remember to avoid only using one color to match your company's brand personality with its palette. By understanding color theory, it will help you choose the right color for your graphic design project.

There are thousands of display fonts that come in many different styles – serif, sans serif, script, all-cap, etc. Consider choosing fonts that make the text readable and attract attention to your message.

Another consideration should be the legibility of the text, which consists of shapes, sizes, descender length, letter spacing and stroke contrast. One can combine different fonts in your graphic to create contrast while giving the text a harmonious style. However, if your company already has specific signature fonts in your branding guidelines, be sure to keep it consistent throughout your designs.

The layout is one of the most important roles in graphic design. It’s about the technique of arranging visual elements – text, images, shapes, lines – that are related to a brand’s image and personality. According to the Graphic Design Institute, there are many categories of layout designs for your message to be delivered effectively. There are no right or wrong layouts. It’s up to your discretion as to which layout best complements the graphic’s text.

Images help create a connection with the content, portray context, and evoke visitors’ attention. Always think about your main purpose of the campaign you are seeking to advance or the content you are considering for development. What is it that you want the visitor to feel? Remember to check image resolution before posting on your media channel and avoid low resolution photos that may pixelate your image. Stock images can help you ensure that your images are high-resolution images. To add some originality to the stock images, you can play around with cropping, distorting, and adding visual elements as much as you want. Some of our recommended paid and free stock image sites that you can use for your graphic design projects are Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, Getty Images, Freepik, and Unsplash. When choosing images, remember to choose images that represent diversity and inclusivity.

Graphics do not have to be fancy to be compelling. Sometimes minimalism can create something phenomenal. By utilizing white space and stylish typography you can also catch the visitor’s attention. Graphics do not need to be as complex as drawings, it should be a thing that is easy to understand at first sight. Just remember to be consistent with the brand guidelines and that the content you have in your toolbox is easily digestible.

Try creating an infographic that draws your information into a critical summary. Without reading packed text information or numerical data, infographics can show data visualizations that are easy to understand. The infographic should be simplified and readable whether visitors are viewing it digitally or in print. Adding some white space, playing with the colors, and creating an outstanding headline will help your infographic stand out!

While it’s helpful to work with an expert designer, you do not necessarily need to be an advanced graphic designer to create compelling graphics that grab the attention of your audiences. One of our favorite tools is Canva, which allows beginner designers to make beautiful and compelling projects. For more of a challenge, Adobe Creative Cloud applications such as InDesign offers unique and versatile options for creating professional designs. Overall, the best way to ensure your graphics are effective and help provide a better user-experience is by keeping things concise, staying on brand, and communicating text in a quick, easy, and digestible way.

By Fred Wannawat, Account Coordinator and Graphic Designer at Denterlein

Feature image portrays a graphic designer working on a logo at their computer. Photo credit: © Pixel-Shot/Adobe Stock