Tips for designing communications products.

1. Fake it Til You Make it:
Visual Literacy for
Accidental Designers
March 23, 2015
Charrosé King
KC Sledd
#16NTCdesign

2. Collaboration Notes: http://po.st/design-16NTC
Twitter: #16NTCdesign

3. Your Team
Charrosé King @charroseck
Senior Social Media Specialist
American Psychiatric Association
KC Sledd @kcesledd
Senior Manager of Strategy
Atlantic Media Strategies
#16NTCdesign

4. Agenda
• True or False
• Why Design Matters to Your Brand
• Design Elements and How to Use Them
• Small Group Design Critique
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5. True or False: Design Edition

6. Art and design are the same.

7. Art and design are the same.
FALSE

8. Good art says something different to everyone.
Good design says the same thing to everyone.

9. #16NTCdesign

10. Art is a talent.
Design is a skill.

11. Different is always better.

12. Different is always better.
FALSE

13. #16NTCdesign

14. #16NTCdesign

15. Originality exists.

16. Originality exists.
FALSE

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18. “The only art I’ll ever study is
stuff that I can steal from.”
David Bowie

19. #16NTCdesign

20. “You are the sum total of
everything you've ever seen,
heard, eaten, smelled, been told,
forgot - it's all there. Everything
influences each of us.”
Maya Angelou

21. Remember this:
1. Look for problems, then solve them
2. Always use the company style guide
3. Design is CRAP - contrast, repetition,
alignment, proximity
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22. What Brand Has To Do With It

23. Brand is perception.
It creates:
• Positioning of your
organization in the
marketplace
• Awareness among your
target audiences
• A relationship between
you and the audience
Image: SSIR
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24. For nonprofits, this can translate to donations.

25. Donors gave 38% more through branded
donation pages than through generic ones.

26. Your logo is not your brand.
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27. –Jeff Bezos, founder of amazon.com
“Your brand is what other people say about you when you're
not in the room.”

28. Define what makes you different.
Actions + Values
What choices
would your brand
make on a
journey?
What emotions
best represent
how your brand
feels?
Voice
How does your
brand convey its
message?
What words and
language will you
use?
Look and Feel
How will visuals
convey your
brand?
How does your
strategy support
your visual
choices?
Characteristics
What qualities
would your brand
have if it was a
person?
How would you
describe your
brand at a cocktail
party?
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29. Create your own Teen Magazine quiz to figure out who you are.
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30. Design can express your
brand to the public.
GlobalGiving is:
Engaging
Accessible
Hopeful
Curious
Human
Substantive
Forward-thinking
Smart
Enthusiastic
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31. Imagery, fonts, and logo play a
collective role in activating your
brand.
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32. Design Elements
and How to Use Them

33. Layout

34. Alignment
Always use a grid
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35. Hierarchy
Gutenberg F formation Z formation
Primary
Optical
Area
Strong
Fallow
Area
Weak
Fallow
Area
Terminal
Area
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36. Balance
Symmetry Asymmetry Unbalanced
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37. Typography

39. “Typography exists to honor
content.”
-Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of
Typographic Style
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41. Choosing a Typeface
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42. Choosing a Typeface
1. Well-designed
2. Designed for intended use
3. Accommodating
• Numbers
• Italics
• Glyphs
4. “Sympathetic to the theme”
•Lean
•Strong
•Swift

43. Font Types
A T A T
Serif
Usually more formal, classical
Varying strokes
Good for body text in print, long reads
Sans Serif
Usually more casual, modern, simple
Uniform strokes, geometric lines
Good for small text
Good for electronic body text
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44. Choosing a Typeface
Instructions written in
a sans serif typeface?
Or instructions written in
a serif typeface?
Which instructions are easier to understand?
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45. Choosing a Typeface
Instructions written in
a sans serif typeface?
Or instructions written in
a serif typeface?
Which instructions are easier to understand?
90.7%
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46. Choosing a Typeface
The documentary using
a sans serif typeface?
Or the documentary
using a serif typeface?
Which documentary is more
in-depth and well-researched?
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47. Choosing a Typeface
The documentary using
a sans serif typeface?
Or the documentary
using a serif typeface?
Which documentary is more
in-depth and well-researched?
78.3%
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48. I love you.
I hate you.

49. Creating Contrast with One Typeface
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50. Color

51. The color wheel is your
guide.
• Primary
• Red
• Blue
• Yellow
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52. The color wheel is your
guide.
• Secondary (made from primary colors)
• Green
• Violet
• Orange
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53. The color wheel is your
guide.
• Tertiary (made from one primary and one
secondary color)
• Red-Orange
• Orange-Yellow
• Yellow-Green
• Green-Blue
• Blue-Violet
• Violet-Red
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54. Color Wheel: Complementary
Colors
• Complementary colors are directly across
from each other in the color wheel.
• High contrast
• Eye-catching
• Can also be difficult to look at, vibrates
• Primary-Secondary or Tertiary-tertiary
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55. Color Wheel:
Analogous Colors
• Three colors next to each other on the color
wheel
• Typically one color is dominant color, which
tends to be a primary or secondary color,
with two tertiary.
• Harmonious
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56. • Stands for Red, Green, and Blue
• Used for digital communications
• Additive color = mixing colored lights
• Lack of color = black
• Stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key (Black)
• Used for print
• Subtractive color = mixing pigments
• Lack of color = white
Color Codes:
There are two different systems to express color in digital and print formats.
CMYKRGB
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57. Use 2-3 colors per piece to
avoid overwhelming the user.
Use tints and shades to add variation without
adding extra colors.
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58. Selecting colors for your brand should be part of your
overall design strategy.
Black:
Powerful and sleek
Blue:
Trustworthy and secure
Green:
Relaxing and easy to view
Purple:
Calming and soothing
Yellow:
Youthful and optimistic
Red:
Energetic and urgent
Orange:
Creates a call to action
Pink:
Romantic and feminine
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59. Images

60. Decide what you want your
brand to represent, and
consider your audience
through this process.
Is your audience international?
Will they need accessible features?
Where will you use the colors?
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61. 10%
Images are critical to your visual strategy because of
the Picture Superiority Effect.
Cat
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62. 10%
Images are critical to your visual strategy because of
the Picture Superiority Effect.
65%
Cat
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63. What do you want people to remember?
• Use:
• Hopeful, smiling faces
• Personality and character
• High-quality, high-resolution images
Not:
• Poor quality
• Obviously posed photos
• Constituents as victims
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64. Consider the Rule of Thirds when selecting images.
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65. The Face-ism Ratio is key when deciding how you want
to portray your subject.
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66. Use memorable iconography to give clear context
to your audiences.
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67. Apply it IRL

68. Powerpoint
• Ask “Does this serve a purpose?”
• White space is your friend
• Big text, fewer words
• Go big or go home: 60 point
headers, 36 point font body text
• Test your Powerpoint - make
sure that people in the back can
read it
• Use a grid
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69. Good slides make it easy on the viewer to consume information.
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70. Newsletters
• Start with a strategy
• Use system fonts, even if it’s
not your brand
• Have a header image, such
as your logo
• Write out your organization’s
name just in case
• Use two to three typefaces
max
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71. Simple newsletter templates are easy to create and easy to read.
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72. Social Media Shareables
• Make sure info is accessible
within 2 seconds or less
• Use icons that are familiar
and recognizable by people
• Contrast, contrast, contrast
• Maintain a visual and
message hierarchy
• Use words that your
audience will recognize
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73. Social media shareables should give the user an identity to
demonstrate to their networks.
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74. Small Group Activity

75. Thank You!

76. Thank You
KC Sledd @kcesledd
Senior Manager of Strategy
Atlantic Media Strategies
ksledd@atlanticmedia.com
Charrosé King @charroseck
Senior Social Media Specialist
American Psychiatric Association
cking@psych.org
Please complete session-specific feedback survey through the:
• http://po.st/YkbWaV
• Mobile app
• Website listing
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