Graphic Design for Social Media

“𝗜 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝟯 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 ���𝗮𝘆𝘀, 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱” Same idea. Same message. But I got 3 very different results. Last month, I ran a small experiment. I took one of my most useful lessons from a government project and rewrote it in three formats: 📍Format A – The “Twitter-style” post: 1-liners, punchy hooks, white space 📍Format B – The “Mini-blog” post: a short story, full paragraphs, conclusion 📍Format C – The “Carousel” version: visuals, stats, same insight chunked slide-by-slide Here’s what happened: 📍Format A got 42 saves and 80+ comments, mostly people adding their own perspectives 📍Format B sparked DMs from people in consulting, fewer likes, but deeper conversations 📍Format C went semi-viral, 150K+ impressions, 700+ reshares (because people love sharing info they look smart for) And the wild part? All 3 posts were saying the exact same thing. 💡 Here’s what I learned (and what you can steal): Framing isn’t fluff. It decides who sees it, how they engage, and what they remember. People share what they feel smart reading (hello carousels). People save what’s structured and skimmable (hello bullet posts). People reply when it feels human and specific (hello stories). And most importantly: 👉 It’s not about changing your message. It’s about changing how you deliver it. So if a post doesn’t work the first time… Don’t kill the idea. Reframe it. You don’t need new thoughts every day. You just need new ways to say them. #ContentStrategy #LinkedInTips #WritingExperiment #ThoughtLeadership #ConsultingCareer #ResearchAnalyst #ContentCreation #MessagingMatters #WritingTips

When Design Becomes Democracy: The Branding That Helped Win NYC 🍎 Walk through Queens or Brooklyn, and you can't miss it: that bold blue-and-mustard palette plastered on lamp posts, storefronts, subway entrances. Not the safe corporate navy of typical political campaigns. Not another sterile template. Instead? Taxicab yellow. MetroCard colors. Hand-painted bodega awnings. Zohran Mamdani's campaign didn't just break the political branding mold, it rebuilt it from the streets up. Designer @AneeshBhoopathy (working with @Forgecooperative) created a visual identity that feels less like a campaign and more like your neighborhood. The hand-lettered wordmark carries an authenticity no focus-grouped logo could touch. This wasn't aesthetic for aesthetic's sake. Design is positioning. Design is strategy. Design is a promise. Here's why this matters: In a race against establishment figures like Andrew Cuomo, Mamdani's branding became differentiation as disruption. While opponents spoke in the visual language of power and polish, Mamdani spoke the language of the street corner, the subway platform, the corner store. Every color choice was a neighborhood. Every typographic flourish rejected corporate blandness. The saturated palette didn't whisper, it shouted: "We are not like them." Mamdani understood something his opponents didn't: In a city exhausted by politicians who all look and sound the same, being visually honest is revolutionary. Design isn't just what it looks like. Design is what it says about who you serve. When done with intention, design shapes perception before a single word is read. It builds trust before a single speech is heard. Mamdani's Democratic Socialist primary victory wasn't because of the branding. But the branding was the visual manifestation of everything that set him apart: authenticity, community rootedness, and a willingness to reject the playbook entirely. The lesson: Don't ask "What do campaigns usually look like?" Ask "What does our community look like? What colors live in their daily lives? What typography do they trust?" When your visual identity is truly of the people you serve, they don't just notice it. They recognize themselves in it. And that changes everything. Can design really shift political outcomes? Drop your thoughts below. 👇 #PoliticalDesign #BrandStrategy #CampaignDesign #NYC #DesignMatters #VisualIdentity #ZohranMamdani #Branding #IdentityDesign

🦜 “How We Fixed Skyscanner’s Broken Color Palette” (https://lnkd.in/erqd-yCX), a practical case study on how the Skyscanner team fixed their color palette — along with process, naming, testing and explorations to get there. Neatly put together by Adam Wilson, via Anna Palgan. ✅ Set your base colors: primary, secondary and UI states. ✅ Define core color pairings and extended pairings. ✅ Choose product-specific colors, gradients, patterns. ✅ 4 color groups: neutral, white text, black text, yellow/orange. 🚫 Avoid poetic names: they are difficult to remember and refer to. ✅ Mix black and grey with primary color for a better design fit. ✅ Choose a night color that is slightly lighter than black. ✅ Your colors will need to appear on different backgrounds. ✅ Create color sets with transparency for such cases. ✅ Create tints based on the color contrast against black. ✅ Create shades based on the color contrast against white. ✅ Test for color contrast, colorweakness, colorblindness early. ✅ Double-check the dark yellow problem in your palette. --- 🌱 Useful Guides How To Design A Color Palette For Design Systems, by Alex Baránov https://lnkd.in/epJkT252 How To Set Up Color in Design Systems, by Nathan Curtis https://lnkd.in/e48aJaGb How To Create An Accessible Color Palette, by Stéphanie Walter https://lnkd.in/eUnSTYSM “Dark Yellow Problem” In Color Palettes https://lnkd.in/eS7YqfCf --- 🪴 Useful Case Studies Contentful: https://lnkd.in/edHpghSj, by Fabian Schultz Goldman Sachs: https://lnkd.in/e28Fxuuv Modern Health: https://lnkd.in/ez7xM5xt, by Brian Cleveland Stripe: https://lnkd.in/enaXpWvD, by Daryl Koopersmith, Wilson Miner Wise: https://lnkd.in/eyv8Qh7r, by Stephanie S. Wish: https://lnkd.in/eGYGa7PK, by Taamannae T. --- 🍭 Color Palette Generators ABC: https://lnkd.in/e7QHC2gx Accessible Palette Generator: https://lnkd.in/ejkpyWqZ Colorbox: https://colorbox.io/ Contrast Grid: https://lnkd.in/e6sENdRW Figma Color Palettes: https://lnkd.in/et2zeUjX Leonardo: https://leonardocolor.io/ Naming colors: https://lnkd.in/e6jJzRdW OKLCH Color Converter: https://lnkd.in/esP29Jyj Primer Prism: https://lnkd.in/ekpTmkkM Poline: https://lnkd.in/eSwuXW5P 👍 Stark: https://www.getstark.co/ HUGE thanks to all the wonderful people who worked and shared their insights here for all of us to use and learn from! 👏🏼👏🏽👏🏾 If you also struggle with color, hopefully that’s a good foundation to start with. What techniques, guides and tools do you use to design color palettes? Share what has and hasn’t worked for you in the comments below! 🙏🏾 #ux #design

SCROLL STOPPERS, when social selling matters. Globally, social commerce is expected to reach $1 trillion by 2028. But, It’s often said that the human attention span averages just 8 seconds, but the real challenge isn’t brevity → it’s intense competition for attention. In today’s crowded digital arenas, beauty brands fight to cut through the clutter and prove their value with clarity and boldness. Selective attention problem? >> THE EVOLVED DIGITAL CONSUMER << Gen Z may have pioneered the shift, but consumers of all ages are now adopting their habits. The rules have changed → attention must be earned through visual closeness and uncompromising authenticity. Be were you consumer hangs! MOBILE-first. +70% of beauty consumers browse and shop directly on their phones. SOCIAL-first. +60% discover or purchase beauty products they first encountered on social media. ONLINE-first. +Nearly 50% start their beauty shopping journey online., via search, influencers, or social discovery. >> LET THEM SEE EVERYTHING << Shoppers want to see and feel your product, even through a screen.+84% of beauty shoppers discover new products via social channels. . +Show products in use, applied close-up. +Let texture tell the story: richness, density, glow, smoothness. +Elevate luxury through fine, microscopic detail. +Keep the product as the central star of every shot. +Visual proof of efficacy builds instant credibility. >> RAW, HONEST & RELATABLE << Polish is out. Authenticity is in. Today’s audiences crave honesty above perfection.+62% of Gen Z beauty shoppers purchased a product after discovering it on social media. +Skip overproduced, hyper-branded visuals. +Highlight creams, serums, and pastes bursting naturally from packaging. +Real people (customers, employees) connect more than polished models. +Behind-the-scenes and process moments create trust. +Show personality → audiences want to meet the humans behind the brand. >> EMBRACE IMPERFECTION << Make it sensory. Make it human. Make it real. +Use hands, faces, and bodies to build intimacy and scale. +Hands convey expression and instantly communicate texture. +Playful, generous, even “messy” application sparks curiosity. +Texture-focused close-ups provide the satisfaction of testing in real life. >> THE TAKEAWAY << Global social commerce now accounts for over 50% of beauty sales. Get closer than feels comfortable. In fast-scrolling feeds, visual intimacy is more valuable than ever. Showcasing your product’s details, raw qualities, and human stories builds trust, connection and ultimately, sales. Here’s a curated selection of brands already excelling at this approach. Let them inspire your next campaign. Featured Brands: Boy Smells Cica JVN Kit Kylie Skin Medipel Milk shake Osea P. Louise Rhode Salt & Stone THE WHITE ROOM V34 Wipped #beautybusiness #beautyprofessionals #marquetingprofessionals #digitalcommunication #genZ

During one of our recent podcast recordings, the global eCommerce leader of a CPG shared her biggest frustration: Even in 2025, managing multiple ad platforms felt like a never-ending puzzle, draining time and resources instead of driving results. I can easily relate to this challenge, and it was quite the same three years ago, before the pandemic or in the 2010s. So the lingering question is, how can CPG brands simplify campaign management while maximizing ad performance across multiple platforms? (Let me prioritize maximizing ad performance here) Managing retail media campaigns shouldn’t feel like juggling 20 different logins. Yet, for many CPG brands, that’s the daily reality. The solution? A unified, API-connected campaign manager that brings everything under one roof. With platforms like Pentaleap’s Campaign Manager, brands can: 📍Integrate seamlessly via UI or APIs with tools like Skai, Pacvue or Criteo 📍Run all ad formats—sponsored products, banners, display ads, and more—in one place 📍Boost efficiency by cutting manual tasks and focusing on strategy 📍Drive real impact, with up to 4X incremental ad revenue and 50% higher CTRs Retail media isn’t just about simplifying ad management—it’s also about transforming it into a strategic growth engine. If your current setup isn’t delivering, it’s time to rethink your approach. How is your team optimizing retail media performance? 𝗧𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 ecommert® 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝟭𝟮,𝟲𝟬𝟬+ 𝗖𝗣𝗚, 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘁® : 𝗖𝗣𝗚 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿👇 #RetailMedia #DigitalCommerce #AdTech #RetailGrowth #CPG #ecommerce

I've partnered with 20+ brands over the past 2 years as a B2B creator with 200K+ followers across Instagram, Linkedin and Tiktok. Here's my hot take(?!) on what I've learned about influencer marketing that works vs. doesn't work. The difference between partnerships that perform and ones that flop usually isn't the creator or the influencer marketing team. It's how tight the product marketing is before the brief even gets written. I've worked with a lot of B2B companies that have genuinely complex products. But when the brief comes through, it's often a list of features to cram into a 60-second video. No clear positioning or ideal customer. No simple one-liner on the outcome. No priority on what matters most. So I end up guessing and inferring. Trying to figure out what the product actually enables for the user — when the brand knows this better than anyone based on their own customer research. (They're probably not expecting a product marketer on the other side. But here we are) 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀: → 𝗧𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗳. Give creators a clear one-liner on what the product enables and the outcome to highlight — not just a feature list. If your product marketing team did the work defining positioning and messaging — share it with your influencers! I've even had a brand put a product marketer on the briefing call. Chef's kiss, thank you. → 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘀. When I partnered with Anthropic, I gave my audience a downloadable Claude skill to get a 30-day build plan for their side project idea. Over 1,000 comments asking for it. Combined with Manychat, it drove engagement and gave people something actually useful. → 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀-𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺, 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀! One of my favorite partnerships to date has been with Adobe — we posted across platforms, including my Substack, which is rarely part of sponsored posts. That newsletter post let me tell a longer personal story that wouldn't have fit on other platforms about using the Photoshop product since high school, to a smaller but captive audience (8K subs at the time; 50% open rate). Different platforms, different storytelling. → 𝗙𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 = 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲. The partnerships that tank are often the ones with a million requirements. Say the brand name in the first 3 seconds. Use this exact CTA. Hit these 5 talking points. The content ends up feeling and performing like a generic ad because there's no space to flex creativity after checking the boxes. The best brand partnerships feel like a collaboration, not a checklist. If you're on the brand side working with creators: tight positioning, creative freedom, and giving creators something valuable to offer their audience will consistently outperform a rigid brief! And if you're doing this already, you're the best!

Moncler didn’t launch a campaign... It inflated an entire world. Physical brand experience is no longer where campaigns land, it’s where they hold together. The strongest ideas today don’t just show up across touchpoints, they adapt as they move through them, changing tone without losing identity. Moncler’s Have a Puffy Summer is a sharp example of this: a single narrative inflated into product, space, and global activation, without ever flattening its meaning. The idea starts with contradiction: winter DNA, summer execution. Moncler takes its most recognisable code, “puffiness”, and removes its seasonal logic. What’s left is not outerwear, but a system of form: volume, softness, lightness, protection reinterpreted for heat instead of cold. That system doesn’t stop at product. It expands into physical world-building through inflatable “puffy mascots”, whales, lobsters, octopi, flamingos, scaled into architectural presence. Suddenly, the language of the jacket becomes the language of space. You don’t just see the campaign; you move through it. At moments like 10 Corso Como during Milan Design Week, or city takeovers across Seoul, London, Miami and Paris, the brand stops behaving like retail and starts behaving like environment. This is the shift that matters: activation becomes atmosphere, not display. What’s smart is how consistent the narrative remains while the expression flexes. Product speaks in lightweight layering. Installations speak in inflated scale. Pop-ups speak in play and immersion. Campaign imagery ties it together with a tonal world that feels buoyant, not branded. Same idea, different intensities of translation. Even the “global rollout” isn’t repetition. It’s reinterpretation. Each city becomes a new context for the same emotional code, proving that strong brand assets don’t dilute when localised, they deepen. The bigger question this raises is simple: what if a campaign isn’t something you launch, but something you spatialise? Because for me Puffy Summer isn’t really about inflatables or outerwear. It’s about how far a single idea can travel when it’s built as a physical language. One that can move from garment to sculpture to city-scale activation without losing coherence. That’s the real signal here: not just a seasonal campaign, but a connected world where product, space and narrative are no longer separate outputs. They’re different volumes of the same idea. Pictures courtesy of Moncler ________________ *Hi, I’m Tim Nash, a creative retail expert shaping the future of brand activation. 👀 Shop Drop Daily 🧠 SDDTUDIO #Moncler #BrandMarketing #BrandExperience

Deutsche Bahn's “No Need to Fly” campaign is a rare example of climate-positive marketing that doesn’t scold or scare. Airlines hated it and yet I admire it. Instead of moralising, the campaign relied on smart, data-driven creativity. It paired real-time location data with striking local visuals, then layered in price comparisons and hyper-personalised ads. The message was simple and clever: you don’t need to fly to Arizona when a train ride to Saxony offers landscapes that look just as dramatic—for a fraction of the cost and a fraction of the emissions. The campaign was a massive success, driving a 24% increase in sales revenue, selling two million train tickets, and achieving the brand's best-ever ROI. Travellers discovered they could choose a lower-carbon option without giving up adventure or beauty. The genius of the campaign lies in how it reframed sustainability. It didn’t make it feel like a sacrifice. It made it feel cooler. Smarter. More personal. This is what powerful marketing does: it moves people—emotionally and physically. We need more campaigns like this, where meaning and performance reinforce each other instead of competing. P.S: Of course, it remains to be seen how many of these trains arrived on time =p #marketing #travel

𝗬𝗼𝘂’𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝘇𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆. The magic? Interactive content that engages and hooks your audience. Interactive elements like polls, quizzes, and live sessions don’t just boost engagement, they turn your audience into a vibrant, active community. This fosters loyalty that lasts. Engagement isn’t just about numbers; it's about connection. A static post? It will get you likes.  A poll? It sparks conversations and builds relationships. Practical Tips:  📊 Polls: Use polls to gain real-time insights and make your audience feel heard. ❓ Quizzes: Design fun, relevant quizzes to encourage participation and gather valuable data. ▶️ Live Sessions: Engage directly with your audience, answer questions, and build trust. It’s a common myth that only content quality matters.  Interactivity is what truly elevates engagement. Brands that use interactive elements often see increased authority as they’re seen as more responsive and engaged. Imagine transforming your followers from passive observers to active participants. It’s not just possible, it’s essential! Many brands struggle with fleeting engagement. They post content, but the connection is superficial. One day, they start integrating interactive elements. Initially, it can be daunting to shift from traditional posts to interactive formats. Engagement metrics may be inconsistent as you experiment. Over time, the consistent use of interactive elements leads to a more engaged, loyal community. You’ll see increased interaction, stronger community ties, and sustained loyalty. Interactive elements are not a gimmick—they’re a strategic tool for building deeper connections. Invest in interactive content to turn fleeting engagement into lasting relationships. Start today and watch your community flourish. Enjoyed this? ♻️ Repost it to your network and follow for more insights on transforming your engagement strategy! #linkedinpoll #linkedinlivesessions #socialmediastrategist

Campaigns are not one-size-fits-all. Especially when you're talking to customers across different regions. Combining marketing teams into a single unit that looks after multiple geographies bring efficiency. But it also introduces complexity—because what works in New York won’t always land in New Delhi. So, how do you really connect with customers across such diverse markets? You test. Run localized market experiments to uncover: What benefits resonate most in Texas versus Toronto. How value propositions shift between Sydney and Singapore. What creative actually feels culturally relevant (not just translated). Here’s how you get it right: - Test benefits, messaging, and cultural fit on live platforms like Meta or LinkedIn using Heatseeker. - Use behavior-driven insights—CTR, CPA, engagement metrics—to guide decisions. - Stealth test where needed to mitigate risk and gather unbiased feedback. - Optimize campaigns iteratively to scale what works, fast. The result is campaigns that speak the language-beyond just words. Data-backed insights into what drives customers in that specific local. A scalable playbook for delivering localized campaigns that convert. Your streamlined team now has the tools to drive success.