Brand (almost) anything with this simple design tip
Today I thought I'd let you in on a little secret-not-so-secret design tip that's helped me transform the way I look at custom design pretty much since I started calling myself a designer... Whether you're a designer yourself, or you're a biz owner, this will come in handy no matter where you're at.
Here's the deal —
Anywhere you see an ‘upload image’ button is an opportunity for you to create something custom.
Notion, Google Docs, Kajabi, Teachable, ConvertKit, you name it — even if it’s a platform that has limited built-in design & styling options, if you can upload an image, you can create something custom, no matter how simple or detailed.
Here’s a few simple examples of what we can do —
Custom text headings.
Sometimes it’s not possible to add custom fonts (or its just a huge pain in the ass), like in Notion, but we can totally add custom images as headings.
Add rounded corners on images.
This one is basic AF, but DETAILS MATTER. Anyone can slap a regular old square image on, so why not add a lil rounded corner action.
Go branded.
Add as much of your own branding to this as you want or need — since you’re just uploading an image you can do whatever you want! Illustrations, you name it.
Here’s 3 super important tips to help you do this, and do it well —
Tip #1 — Pay attention to where the image will be seen.
Your image will need to be adjusted based on what size it’ll be viewed at, for the specific platform & useage you’re working with. The last thing you want is for it to look half-assed, or for your text or info to get cut off.
For example, this is the header image inside my course platform, Teachery. The main block of info needs to sit dead centre because it crops the header in when customers view their Dashboard page with all of their purchased offerings, similar to this (second image)...
Tip #2 — Keep your shit clean and on-brand.
Don’t go introducing a bunch of new fonts or images, just keep it simple and use your existing Branding. If you don’t already have a set bunch of curated photos or textures you can use, spend time doing this — then in the future you’ll have a solid library to pull from when you need them.
This is especially important if any of these applications are going to be outward facing, where your clients or customers (or anyone else) will be seeing it! Design matters, and details really fucking matter. Even if it means you literally just start with custom font headings, that’s perfect.
Tip #3 — Don’t go too ham. Usability & readability is still key.
Once you understand how widely this tip can be used it could be easy to go hard and upload images to everything left right & centre, but you really don’t want to do that — the goal here is just to add a touch of branding & customisation to a place there otherwise wouldn’t be much at all.
For example, in ConvertKit (or any email platform), you really don’t want any images as text other than some large headings or logos — because it’s not going to be responsive, and people will have major trouble reading it on different devices.
