There are a lot of things that need to be considered when designing for digital. Whether it’s social media post, email campaigns or presentation templates, there are many different calculating design decisions that need to be made. Throughout the PR Design course I have learned a lot of tips and tricks, and plenty of advice to offer.
Digital Design vs. Print Design
Print design and digital design need to be approached in different ways. For digital design it’s important to consider how designs will come across on a screen/different-sized screens. For example, when I was creating my emails, I had to consider what my designs would look like on a computer screen AND a mobile device screen. Digital designs also need to be more eye-catching in a world where we see so many digital designs every day. Designers can also use technology to their advantage and utilize fun animations and pictures.
The Importance of Stakeholders in the Design Process
Stakeholders are essential to consider during the design process. My stakeholders for all of these design campaigns were “Coach Collins,” which is high school sports coaches of elite athletes, and “Softball Sophia,” which is high school elite softball players. All of my designs were crafted to engage and attract those two audiences. On my social media posts I tried to make sure that the wording and images I was using was geared towards both groups separately.
- Instagram post for “Softball Sophia”:
For this post I choose an image of previous OU softball players in a dogpile because I think it would appeal to young softball players. I kept the wording short and sweet on the graphic and used one of OU’s coined phrases, “There’s Only ONE”. I feel like these choices would appeal to that audience well and be engaging.
- Instagram post for “Coach Collins”:
For my “Coach Collins” post, I wanted to make choices that would appeal to an older audience/the coaches. I used a picture of a field that they would want to see their athletes on and used words like “tradition” and “next generation” to catch the eyes of the coaches promoting the school to their athletes.
Appealing to your stakeholders, understanding what their interests are and what will catch their eye is key to what will make your design memorable. You can have a really good design, but if it doesn’t appeal to the interests of your stakeholder, it won’t matter.
Drafts on Drafts on Drafts
During the design process, you won’t just make your first draft and have it be your final. You’ll have to make multiple drafts, and it is ESSENTIAL to get feedback from your colleagues, peers and professors to see what insight they have that you may not have thought of. For my presentation template, I had to make multiple drafts of each slide and I got feedback from my classmates before finally submitting my final draft. I like to test different colors, images, phrases and fonts before making any final decisions.
My Final Advice
Designing is not a linear process. There are different design platforms to use, different strategies, and endless different images, phrases and visual choices that need to be made for digital design. My advice is to always ask for other eyes, try out different options and even look at inspiration to get the juices flowing if you’re in a rut. You want to make something that connects with your audience. It’s important to do your research and know your stakeholders. Stay flexible in your designs and always keep your audience in mind!