Digital Storytelling: Image Best Practices

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards

november 2013charityexpress.com

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

What We’ll Cover

1. Intro

2. Principles of Creating Images

3. Finding your Facebook Audience

4. Creating your Image with PicMonkey (demo)

5. Workshopping

6. Question Period

Take-Homes: - This presentation PDF- Visual Resourcing Guide PDF

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Brainstorming

Before you start thinking images, generate some related words to your subject

Don’t censor yourself; keep your mind moving and write it all down

Use paper & pen, post-its on the wall

Spend no more than 5 minutes on it

Circle the strongest words you come up with

Try to have nouns, adjectives, verbs, and even details

Case Study: The Plenty Campaign,a campaign to increase food security for se-niors living on Vancouver’s West Side.

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Searching for Images

Now use your brainstorming words to help drive your searches

Don’t forget there are many ways to describe the same thing (thesaurus.com is your friend!)

Pair subject word with a mood wordelderly + hopefulelderly woman + proud

Pair subject word with context word elderly + marketelderly + park bench

Pair subject word with an action wordelderly + smilingelderly + shopping

**Refer to the Visual Resourcing Guide supplement for more resources & tips

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Searching for Images

Make sure you check the useage rights of the image (see Resourcing Guide)

Facebook specs:A 1:1 ratio is bestImages should be a minimum of 403px by 403px; can be larger but not smallerLow-Res (72 ppi resolution)

403 px

403

px

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Analyzing Images - SubjectWho is in the image?What is their body language? Pay attention to age, race, gender, clothing, where they are - does this relate to your audience and/or help convey your message?

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Analyzing Images - Photography StylesDoes it look professionally taken or a snapshot?Are the colours cool, warm, dark, bright?

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Image Sourcing - Photography Styles

Is the image natural-feeling, or heavily edited? Does it have faux-film filters?

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Image Sourcing - Photography Styles

Black and white photography can appear timeless and soft, or very dramatic

Low-Contrast (softness) High-Contrast (dramatic)

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Image Sourcing - Tips

Look for images with large areas of consistent colour for text placement.

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Image Sourcing - Tips

Avoid cliches! Stay specific to your message.Have you seen the image many times before? Could it be applied to many different causes?

Save the World!

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Image Sourcing - Tips

Keep in mind: this is what your audience sees when they log into Facebook…

Selecting a simple, clear, focused image is crucial in order to not have your im-age be lost in the clutter.

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Working With the Image

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Working With the Image - Cropping

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Working With the Image - CroppingSubject is off-centreCut out a busy backgroundFeels more intimateFocus is clearer

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Working With the Image - Touching Up

Increased contrastSharpenedWarmed tones

Every photo will need different touch ups, some may need none.

Less is more when it comes to touching up - it’s easy to get carried away.

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Working With the Image - Adding Text

Decorated, distressed, and embellished won’t look good viewed in small sizes.

Sticking to one font helps keep it clear and concise.

Allow for breathing space around the text. Try to bal-ance it with the main focus of the image.

Readability is key!

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Working With the Image - Adding Text

To create variety & grab the reader’s attention, try emphasizing the most important word or words and giving them more weight.

Say the phrase out loud and see which words you naturally emphasize

Heirarchy

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Working With the Image - Adding Text

Stick with one colour if you can

Use a colour that has high contrast against your background

Colour

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Final Image

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Facebook Specs Recap

403px minimum sizeKeep a 1:1 ratio (square) to avoid cropping in your Timeline preview

Max image size is around 2048px - larger will be slow to load, or may be rejected by Facebook

Image formats: .jpeg.png

72 ppi (low-res)Filesize should be below 1MB

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Questions?

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Finding Your Facebook Audience

(demo)

Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

Creating with PicMonkey

(demo)