Charity Express's Jen Cook shares the secrets to selecting, cropping and editing awesome images.

1. Digital Storytelling:
Creating Facebook Postcards
november 2013
charityexpress.com

2. 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

3. 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 seniors living on Vancouver’s West Side.
Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

4. 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 word
elderly + hopeful
elderly woman + proud
Pair subject word with context word
elderly + market
elderly + park bench
Pair subject word with an action word
elderly + smiling
elderly + shopping
**Refer to the Visual Resourcing Guide supplement for more resources & tips
Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

5. Searching for Images
Make sure you check the useage rights of the image (see Resourcing Guide)
403 px
Facebook specs:
A 1:1 ratio is best
Images should be a minimum of 403px by 403px; can be larger but not smaller
Low-Res (72 ppi resolution)
403 px
Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

6. Analyzing Images - Subject
Who 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

7. Analyzing Images - Photography Styles
Does it look professionally taken or a snapshot?
Are the colours cool, warm, dark, bright?
Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

8. 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

9. Image Sourcing - Photography Styles
Black and white photography can appear timeless and soft, or very dramatic
Low-Contrast (softness)
Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013
High-Contrast (dramatic)

10. Image Sourcing - Tips
Look for images with large areas of consistent colour for text placement.
Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

11. 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

12. 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 image be lost in the clutter.
Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

13. Working With the Image
Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

14. Working With the Image - Cropping
Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

15. Working With the Image - Cropping
Subject is off-centre
Cut out a busy background
Feels more intimate
Focus is clearer
Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

16. Working With the Image - Touching Up
Increased contrast
Sharpened
Warmed 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

17. Working With the Image - Adding Text
Readability is key!
Decorated, distressed, and
embellished won’t look
good viewed in small sizes.
Sticking to one font helps
keep it clear and concise.
Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013
Allow for breathing space
around the text. Try to balance it with the main focus
of the image.

18. Working With the Image - Adding Text
Heirarchy
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
Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

19. Working With the Image - Adding Text
Colour
Stick with one colour if you can
Use a colour that has high contrast against your background
Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

20. Final Image
Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

21. Facebook Specs Recap
403px minimum size
Keep 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

22. Questions?
Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

23. Finding Your Facebook Audience
(demo)
Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013

24. Creating with PicMonkey
(demo)
Digital Storytelling: Creating Facebook Postcards – Fall 2013