Social Media Design For Dummies

Chapter 2

Checking Out Design Tools

In This Chapter

• Take the right design approach that fits your social media goals.

• You need to resize graphics for optimum online display.

• Take some time to compare free and premium image editors.

• See how to choose the best image format.

• Sometimes using a drawing instead of a photo is an artistic choice.

Before we can start showing you all the wonderful ways that you can customize your social media profiles, invest a little time upfront in the tools and techniques you’ll need. We start this chapter with suggestions for how to choose the right tools and then how to use a program like Adobe Photoshop (shown in Figure 2-1) to create optimal graphics for the web.

Finding the Social Media Design That Fits

First things first. Choose whether you want a beautiful but restrained photo for your social media design, or possibly an image that tells more about you. Throwing caution to the wind and taking the risk of using a quirky image that expresses some deep emotion takes real courage. Should you play it safe in social media or make yourself memorable?

Many creative people struggle with this question, zig-zagging among using a design that features a formal business logo, one that’s more personal, or one that takes a risk with its edgy design. As you consider what’s right for you, consider your audience.

Figure 2-1

If you’re using social ...