Have you ever designed something for social media and thought…
umm, there’s something not right here? You may be going to your Instagram and feeling like it
could look better but you don’t know how to fix it? In today’s video, I guide you through the
absolute worst design mistakes you can make and sadly, they are more common than you may think!
Ready? Let's go! Hi my lovely people,
it’s Natalia and welcome back to my channel where I share super actionable ideas on content
creation for entrepreneurs and creatives. And today, we’re talking about a big issue that may
be one of the reasons why you’re not doing well on social media and that’s bad design.
When you are new to the design world, it might be really hard to get a grip of what
looks good or not. And obviously if you are not aware that things you are creating are not
up to a standards, how can you actually make a positive change right? After watching some
of my tutorials here on YouTube, some of you either tag me in your posts on Instagram (which
I always love by the way!) or DM me asking why the design doesn’t look quite as good as they wanted.
The reason is usually hidden in one of the few points I’m going to make today.
That’s exactly why I’ll show you some of the most common design mistakes that interfere
with your messaging, and often make your profiles look somewhat unprofessional.
The examples will focus on Instagram mostly, but these issues are universal, whether it's
social media graphics, posters, banners, website design etc. I also want you to train your eye to
spot them so we’re going to play a little game and see if you can recognize the mistake first.
I have 7 of them for you today so you can keep a score and tell me how well you’ve done!
And of course, by no means am I here to call you a bad designer and judge you!
I strongly believe that the best way to learn is to identify any problems and take immediate
action, so let’s jump right into the video and then off to improve our work and get a
little bit better with each graphic. Let’s go! Alright, so the first graphic I’ve got for you is
this one. What do you think is wrong here? You can pause this video for a moment and
I’ll tell you what the issue is in a second. Readability is one of the most important parts
of the design, especially if it's a social media post. Why? Because if the design is not readable,
it doesn't convey the value properly and is subconsciously annoying to the reader. Poor
readability takes a lot of different forms. First, it can be because the text is actually
not visible enough to read it effortlessly. If you include a photo underneath,
it may not be clear enough resulting in a design that's busy and distracting. Instead,
opt for a simpler background or a photo that is not diverting attention away from the text.
Secondly, if your text is not big enough or not contrasting from the background enough,
it will be too hard to read it for the viewer and they may simply skip it.
There's another mistake that contributes to the poor readability of the design
but this one deserves another point. **Let’s see if you can spot it this time.**
Listen, I get it. It's tempting to try and cram as much valuable information
into a design, but that's one of the cardinal sins you can commit when creating graphics.
Whether it's for a carousel slide, an Instagram infographic or even a presentation,
having too many words or text in general in a design is going to completely ruin it.
Not only is it hard to read, but it's also too distracting for our brains to consume information
in that form. It's one thing if we're reading paragraphs of an article or even a caption (which,
by the way, should also be divided nicely into chunks and supported with emojis to make it
more digestible!). But if the text comes in a graphic form, it should not be too long.
My tip is to stick to one concept per slide if your creating a carousel, even if it means just
setting the scene for what's coming up on the next slide. And if it's a single graphic, it's much
better to expand on the concept in the caption than to cram everything on that one image.
Now, we know too much text is not ideal so we can move on to mistake no. 3. **Does anything
feel not quite right about this to you?** Now, let's unpack this whole idea, because
trust me, there's a looot to unpack here. First of all, using too many fonts is one of the biggest
mistakes you can make because it's confusing and frankly, it cheapens the design. Instead, stick
to 1-2, maybe 3 fonts max if you absolutely have to and make sure you use them consistently in your
branding. This way, you're creating a consistent image and it looks far more professional.
Another problem with typography that I see all the time is choosing fonts that don't match your brand
image. This can ruin the whole look of the brand and send mixed vibes to your audience about what
your messaging is. Let's say your business is a cozy home decor brand focused on women
and the philosophy revolves around slow living and natural materials. You don't want a harsh,
bold font that's very much IN YOUR FACE. You want something that embodies the values that
your brand stands for and is an extension of the messaging you put out there. In this case, you'd
go for something more organic, subtle and flowy rather than a bold, geometric font for example.
The next thing I want to point out is that it's not just the one font that matters because
fonts don't exist in a vacuum. Unless you're using the same font family for your headings,
subheadings and main body text, you need to really make sure that all your brand fonts go really well
together as well. Good font pairings are crucial for your design to look professional and manifest
the right feel. I could probably make a whole video about this topic but to give you an example,
this is what the difference is between a well-matched fonts and some... less accurately
paired ones. If you're not sure what fonts go well together, you can literally google "font
pairings" to find some good solutions. There are also websites like [Typ.io](http://Typ.io) or
[Fontpair.co](http://Fontpair.co) that suggest great font combinations and you can search
Pinterest for inspiration. There's also a great font pairing guide from Canva which
I'll link down below for you too. Typography can really make or break a
design so make sure you choose the right ones to represent your brand and use them wisely
across your designs. If you're creating graphics for social media, chances are your
messaging is the most important part of the design so really focus on your typography.
Alright, we have the bad fonts covered so let’s move on to mistake number 4.
**What’s up here? What do you think should be fixed with this one?**
We chatted about typography, now let's move on to another very important aspect of your
visual identity which is colors. And just as with fonts, the wrong color combination
can really ruin your brand image and make your graphics look somewhat inferior.
The biggest mistake you can make here is to use too many colors and this is actually
one that I see all the time on Instagram. Instead of using tons and tons of colors,
choose two main ones that grab attention, represent your brand well and provide the
right amount of contrast. You can opt for some supplemental, accent colors to help balance it
all out better and create a well-rounded image. But just as with the fonts, it's not only about
the number, it's also about how well your colors go together. You don't want a mix
that's just annoying to look at and again, looks unprofessional. What you want instead
is a well-balanced mix that provides enough contrast, conveys your brand identity well
and provides harmony to your designs that makes them easy to digest.
And of course, keep your branding consistent across all platforms and with every design,
even if it's just text on Reels or even captions on your Stories. Using the same colors and fonts
over and over again is going to ensure that people remember you and instantly recognize
your posts when they go on Instagram. So stop using anything that you like at that moment
and stick to what represents your brand well. For both typography and colors, you can create a
document for yourself with your brand guidelines to always choose the exact same fonts and colors
in the correct places or use tools like a Brand Kit in Canva to keep it consistent.
Alright, moving on to one of my favorites or rather my biggest pet peeves, mistake 5.
**See if anything bothers you here just as much as it bothers me!**
If there's one thing that I'd say is the most common problem with designs in social media,
it has to be this. Just like we, as humans, feel uncomfortable when in very tight, crowded spaces,
our designs can have the same exact effect on us if they lack this one component which is breathing
space. This comes in the form of negative space and when we have enough of it, it creates a
visually balanced, harmonious design. Negative space is basically all the free,
empty space around the different elements. If you cram too much into a design,
not leaving enough negative space around it, you're basically "suffocating" it,
making it much harder for the viewer to focus on the message. Therefore, you should always leave
enough margins around the design and in between the elements. Another point worth making here
is that whenever we see different elements close to each other, we think of them as more similar.
That's why it's crucial that all the elements of the same type have an equal distance between them.
Again, this creates a more balanced design. It's also important to take care of line
spacing so that your text is evened out too. Alright, we’re getting closer and closer to
better designs so let’s go to mistake number 6. **Can you tell me what’s wrong with this?**
I hate to break it to you, but size DOES matter when it comes to social media graphics.
Time and time again I see incorrect sizing for posts, covers, banners and they always stand out
and not in a good way. Whether it’s text that got chopped off, a face that was cut in half,
a post that was too small to bother looking at it, it always looks a bit awkward and not right to the
viewer, even if only subconsciously. Poor quality in the form of a pixelated graphic is also often
a result of an incorrect size. Graphics that are not properly optimized for size on social media
can get less engagement, less traction and are ultimately not representing your brand well.
It’s worth mentioning here that we need to pay attention to how things look for
others and how much they stand out (in a good way this time!). That’s why I personally believe you
shouldn’t really use landscape graphics or photos on Instagram. Even though it may be a perfectly
fine image, it usually goes unnoticed in the feed because it’s that much smaller. Making the most
of the real estate here is going to increase your chances of the post being interacted with
by your followers. I almost always opt for a portrait ratio of 4:5 which means 1080
x 1350 pixels for an Instagram post. I also make sure that anything on that image that’s
within the middle square is clearly visible and nothing gets chopped off awkwardly,
especially a face. Same goes for any vertical videos I post, be it feed videos or Reels. I size
them correctly to 1080 x 1920 but I check that all the text/captions are within the portrait
resolution of 1080 x 1350 so that people viewing it on the feed can understand the message clearly
and I pay attention to the middle square to ensure that it looks good on my IG profile grid too.
And we’re nearly there, last but DEFINITELY not least, we have mistake
no 7 **What do you think is not right here?** Not paying attention to alignment is a sure way
to a design that looks amateurish. And there are not many excuses that you can make here because
most graphic design tools allow you to use guides and help with alignment directly. Being the most
obvious mention here since so many people use it for their social media posts, Canva shows you
the alignment of all the different elements in relation to each other, has special positioning
functions and provides you with the option to enable margins and guides. With these last ones,
you can secure enough breathing space, the negative space, we talked about and set specific
areas where the different elements can go. So don’t sleep on proper alignment and make
sure your texts line up, the elements are arranged correctly and the whole design is balanced well.
Now, how many mistakes have you guessed? Have you been aware of all of these before? Let me
know your number down in the comment section and tell me which ones you didn’t know about!
If you want to make sure you’re not making other Instagram mistakes (not necessarily related to
design) which can stop you from growing, check out this video here which is going
to help you eliminate any bad practices you may not be aware of. And if you want to learn
more about designing with Canva, head on over to this playlist here for some fun tutorials!
Thank you so much for watching this video till the very end and I can’t wait to see you in the
next one! Make sure you’re subscribed so that you don’t miss it and I'll see you next time!