By Annie Phan, @deca.annie | Decatur High School, WA
DECA MONTH IS HERE! That means posting engaging content every day, whether that’s a trending reel or carousel post. This is your time to showcase your marketing and design skills. To make your DECA account or chapter account stand out, it’s essential to maintain a consistent brand or image on social media, allowing other chapters and DECA members to recognize your uniqueness.
Here are some tips that will make your content GO THE EXTRA:
1. Color Palette
Be sure to use the same set of colors for your content. Using a different set of colors in every post will make your feed and content appear unorganized, and it’s hard to establish a consistent brand for your media. Not only will a set color palette keep the feed looking organized, but it will also look aesthetically pleasing.
2. Stickers
Ditch the regular picture by utilizing the remove background feature and creating stickers! These stickers can be anything, from food to people; the possibilities are endless. They’re versatile, unique and add a pop of personality to your design. A good website to remove the background is remove.bg if your design platform doesn’t include a remove background feature. Additionally, if the graphics provided within the design platform don’t align with the post, consider searching Pinterest as well.
3. Design Effects
Whether it’s for the text or graphics, learning and using the effects in your graphic design platform will elevate your content. Using effects can help important information stand out to your audience. A good effect to start with is shadow; it really makes things stand out and provides depth. Learn how to adjust the effects so that they don’t look too much or too little. Layer text with different effects by duplicating the first text and applying a different effect to the duplicate. With graphics, you can add textures and filters to give it that vintage look, which is growing in popularity these days.
4. Fonts
Like your color palette, use the same set of fonts for your content! Consistency is key, so decide which fonts you’ll use early in the year to make it easier to find fonts for every post you create. Have one font that is unique and not a sans serif font, one for heavy text or a lot of information, and one that can be used interchangeably as a header for each slide of the post. Utilize the effects given in your design platform to make the big title on the front stand out, and use bold or italics to highlight important information. Remember to use light-colored fonts on top of a dark-colored background to achieve that balance and stand out.
5. Background Images
Use pictures from conferences, events or browse Pinterest for some cool backgrounds. Something to note is that you can also combine a solid color and a picture by first placing the picture and then adding a solid color shape on top to cover the picture entirely. Then you’ll lower the opacity of the solid color so that it still matches your feed to an extent.
Here is an example that covers most of the tips explained in this article:
- Background Image
- Special Display Font
- Glow Effect Layered with Shadow
- Sticker Graphics from Pinterest
- Color’s Align with Previous Posts
One extra tip is to look for inspiration on Pinterest, other DECA chapters' social media, and promotional items you encounter in your daily life. Don’t copy, but bring elements of those pieces into your own design. This will help you develop your own sense of style as you learn about graphic design simultaneously.
Don’t forget to take lots and lots of pictures and videos for posts and memories. Happy DECA Month, and have fun making posts!
