Dabbling in Graphic Design & Typography
Design has never been a skill I have excelled at (although I like to think I have an eye for spotting good design), but it obviously goes hand in hand with writing—especially for the web. Words mixed with images can have a powerful impact on readers. Whether you're writing a blog post about content marketing strategies or sharing a coupon on Facebook, visual content receives more views and clicks than posts without. According to HubSpot, tweets with images receive 150% more retweets. And a study by Socialbakers reveals that the posts on Facebook with the most interactions include photos. While I don't plan on making a career move to graphic design, understanding the basics of design, typography, and color theory is far from a waste of time. I recently learned about the website Canva, a website geared toward small businesses and marketers who aren't incredibly design savvy. With pre-made templates for a host of materials, including Twitter headers, social media posts, business cards, and more, it's easy for anyone to design something beautiful. Basic designs and graphics are free, with premium images costing as little as a dollar. Combing the templates with free images from the amazing website Pixabay, I dabbled in a variety of designs.
Check out the gallery below I've created—I warn you that there are many nerdy references. (Click an image to open up the gallery.)
