I’ve watched entrepreneurs make some doozie mistakes lately on Instagram and in their blog post graphics.
I’m a huge advocate that you can and should create your own graphic images particularly with the ease of tools like Canva.
Here’s the scoop though: creating a graphic for IG or your blog post isn’t just slapping text on an image. I believe it needs to involve a cohesive aesthetic created carefully for your brand. I’m talking about a well thought out strategic decision, not some knock off or thrown together mish-mash.
In today’s post, I’m sharing 3 common mistakes I see people making while using fonts in their graphics.
1. Inconsistency
This is probably the most obvious mistake I see.
Here’s the scenario: you scroll through Instagram and see an artful & beautiful use of a script/handwritten font paring and you decide to implement it on your own graphics. The thing is that you don’t own that particular font, so you pick one that’s default either on your computer or in Canva. (Hello, Jenna Sue). Please, resist the urge to do this.
Why? Your graphics won’t stand out. Everyone uses the default (& free) fonts and they give you zero originality. Secondly, the handwritten font you may drawn to could be too casual for your brand. Here’s an example: your brand might be all about attracting leaders but you’re using a font that screams kindergarten scribble. Can you see the disconnect?
Here’s a good rule of thumb: the same font you are using for your headings and text on your website (and possibly even typeface logo) are what you need to use in your graphics. Consistency, ladies. And cohesiveness.
Don’t like what’s on your website and want to update your fonts so you can be more creative with your graphics? Let’s chat. I have a new popularly-priced offer called Website in a Week that may be perfect to get that on-trend look you’re longing for.
2. No Breathing Room
White space, ladies. Leaving a lot of space around your text improves the readability and even the performance of your graphic. Think about it like this: you WANT people to take action from your post. Maybe you want to entice them to visit your site to read a post, hire you, or subscribe to your newsletter. If there is WAY too much information and no elegant professional spacing, your audience will glaze over it and you’ve missed your opportunity.
Here are two examples of the same graphic. You decide. Which one makes a bigger impact on you?
3. Letter Spacing
In the graphic design world this is called tracking. It’s creating even space between letters to allow for a greater impact and make it visually appealing.
Too many times I’ve seen words all scrunched up and hardly readable but if the letter spacing had been adjusted slightly, suddenly everything opens up!
Check it out in action:
I really hope you learned a trick or two you can begin to implement in your graphics from now on!
UPDATE TO POST:
I received this awesome email from the amazing folks at Canva in my inbox a couple of days after this post was published:
Hey Krista,
I just wanted to reach out and say “thanks” for mentioning Canva in your article: activateherawesome.com/are-you-making-these-three-mistakes-in-using-fonts-on-your-graphics/
We really, really appreciate it.I’m reaching out today to ask if you could add a link back to our site (https://www.canva.com). That way, people can easily find us when reading your article.
Either way, thanks for the shout out and keep up the great work!
Thanks,
Kate Teng
Community Outreach
I love the approach. So — if you want to check out Canva (and I encourage you to do so for ALL your blog and IG graphic needs, check it out HERE.