Black Friday is an anticipated day every year, that comes around during the festive season. It’s typically the Friday after Thanksgiving in the United States. It’s also a day that marks the advent of the Christmas shopping season.
So while most shoppers and store owners prepare for the day off, content marketers start preparing for the occasion months before. There’s so much to plan, so many advertisements to run, so many social media channels to cover and most of all think of all the graphic and video designs that need to be created!
So as always, we’re here to offer some expert tips on creating Black Friday designs.
Let’s get to it!
Black Friday designs call for some special pizzazz. Like each festive or seasonal design has its unique touch, Black Friday designs also inherently come with its traits. That’s why we’ve listed out these expert tips so that your Black Friday designs can not only meet the industry standard but also excel beyond it.
Here’s the first tip we bring to you.
Visual hierarchy is not an unusual tip but you’d be amazed by what kind of effects it has on Black Friday designs. Since the sole purpose of these designs is to drive triple or more sales you must ensure that the most important elements, such as discounts and deadlines, stand out.
Numbers are a big part of Black Friday designs so make sure the hierarchy does justice to the numbers.
To implement this you can use color-blocking which is to use large contrasting colors to draw attention to key details first.
Or, you can also use large, bold typography combined with contrasting colors. This design type grabs attention quickly, making key offers stand out.
Here’s an example:
Another pro tip is to apply these design practices to urgency elements. Urgency elements are phrases like “Limited Time,” “While Supplies Last,” or “Shop Now”. These encourage quick decisions. Furthermore, adding timers or progress bars further amplifies this urgency.
Applying the right hierarchy design techniques to elements like these will ensure that your Black Friday designs don’t go unnoticed.
Color is a versatile component in designs. As we just read, not only is it great to show hierarchy or contrast in design, but it’s also a great tool to evoke desired emotions in consumers.
Black Friday designs usually take on the colors black, red, or yellow used in various ways. Out of these black is the dominant and recurring color year after year. It psychologically connects customers to the occasion like no other color does. During this shopping season, encountering black advertising quickly signals to consumers that it’s in fact, Black Friday-related content. This is probably because of the “black” in the Black Friday name.
Here’s a hero image idea for landing pages:
This showcases why you need to use black, if not in whole at least in part in your Black Friday designs. In other words, the color black on these designs is what red and green color are to Christmas designs. So you can see the psychological component here at work.
For those brands who don’t have black in their brand’s color palette, this would be a good and excusable time to step out. And there won’t be any harm in it as long as it’s done tastefully and still with a mixture of other brand elements.
To elevate your Black Friday designs from simple backgrounds, we recommend using textured backgrounds. These could be rough, distressed, glittery, or grunge textures. Textures are also a great way to evoke desired emotions. For example, grunge, rough, and distressed textures help add a sense of urgency and excitement.
And this type of design works well for brands aiming to create a rugged, edgy look for their Black Friday promotions.
For others, glittery backgrounds would work to add depth to their usual brand colors. This Walmart Black Friday social media design exemplifies this:
And if you don’t like using textured backgrounds, using seasonal patterns can also be an effective way to upgrade your visuals from plain to interesting.
To give people the idea that it’s a special sale or promotion for shopping it would be great to tastefully incorporate elements like products, shopping carts, gift boxes, or holiday lights into the design.
This adds a nice touch and aligns the promotion with the feeling of shopping. And it all contributes to the visual flair that you want your Black Friday designs to have.
Here’s a creative way to incorporate imagery into your designs:
CTAs are one of the most important parts of Black Friday designs. You need to remember that the ultimate goal of your designs is to drive sales. If the way to make the sale isn’t clear then the part of the funnel isn’t complete.
That’s why designing clear CTAs is important. These can be designed in the likes of buttons, and other different ways as long as it looks catchy. A good personalized CTA is also highly likely to be clicked as statistics show they perform 202% better than a basic CTA. That’s a very high percentage and you need to make use of this knowledge.
Here’s an example of a clearly designed custom CTA:
As you create designs for Black Friday it’s important to optimize them for multiple platforms. While this may seem like a tedious task, optimizing ensures that your marketing campaign reaches the audience both cohesively and effectively.
That’s why at the very onset you must create designs that are versatile for use across platforms – social media, email newsletters, and websites. And while you’re at it remember to consider different aspect ratios and readability for each medium.
It should also be noted, that optimizing for different platforms is not simply the resizing of designs. It’s much more than that.
You will have to make various intent changes to layout, color, fonts, and font sizes, and most importantly remember to use the right kind of color type for each medium – RGB for digital content and CMYK for print content.
This is why as we mentioned before, if you’re creating designs for multiple platforms be sure to create versatile designs that can be translated across different mediums and platforms.
If you love using digital content to promote Black Friday offers and such, leveraging motion graphics should be your top choice.
Animated banners or social media posts with flashing sale text or shifting elements increase engagement. Motion draws the eye and makes static designs feel dynamic.
You can even create entire video ads using motion graphics because video is the most engaging form of content. According to stats, about a third of all online activity is spent by users on video content.
So be sure to use motion graphics in your Black Friday designs. They will help draw in consumers and help prolong engagement.
Here’s a short yet creative video ad by Best Buy:
Mobile-friendly designs are a critical strategy you must adhere to whether it’s Black Friday designs or not. Most shoppers and app users spend the majority of their time browsing content on mobiles. That’s probably why according to XP² 74% of traffic to ecommerce websites came from mobiles.
So the takeaway is to ensure your Black Friday designs look great on mobile devices. Use large, easy-to-read fonts and limit complex graphics that may not render well on smaller screens.
Remember, a design may look good on a desktop or laptop screen but if it doesn’t translate well into a mobile screen view then, it wouldn’t be a properly executed design.
Keeping in mind all the tips we mentioned above let’s look at this next tip very intently. It’s important to highlight sales and follow nice design techniques and all that but, maintaining your brand’s visual identity is still an extra important step. Your brand identity is what will help build long-term recognition. So don’t stray too far from your usual brand colors and fonts.
Good brand management paired with a good designer will result in on-brand Black Friday Designs that still reflect the special occasion.
Visual storytelling in advertising and graphic design is a fun practice. All it takes is some creativity and the right designer to help you execute it. Visual storytelling is how you communicate a very inspiring or creative message to your audience using visuals and just a few words.
The stories could be mysterious, humorous, inspiring, or whichever type you want them to be.
Here’s an example of social media design that makes people curious:
It’s a favored technique to help engage consumers because irrespective of age everybody loves a good story.
And here’s another example of visual storytelling that communicates your brand values even during Black Friday:
And with that, we wrap up the tips for creating Black Friday designs.
You can find skilled designers on platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, or Behance. If you’re looking for more personalized and affordable flat-rate services, consider reaching out to unlimited design services. Many of these services offer professional designers specializing in seasonal promotions.
A great way to spark inspiration is by looking at past Black Friday campaigns from major brands like Walmart, Best Buy, or Amazon. You can also explore design platforms like Pinterest and Dribbble, where creatives share their work.
Don’t hesitate to browse through design blogs or even Instagram for the latest trends in promotional designs.
You can also visit the portfolio pages of different unlimited design services to find Black Friday design inspiration.
