CENTRIC Essential Skills Social Media Graphics

Step 1:

Research

Since the concepts used in the series were simple they didn't require research on the topics themselves. I did do some research on comic book graphics to get basic layout ideas and elements for the graphics themselves. One key element in comics is the feeling of movement in still images. A second is giving background graphics to put the character in a place and time in the story. These I tried to incorporate as I worked through the series.

Step 2:

Concept

Each article had a theme and I created a custom graphic for that blog post that included elements taken directly from the blog text. I started with a drawing to plan out what to include in each illustration. Consistency between the drawings was through the use of a blue and gold palette and repitition with the same figure for the main "character", the hero of the story actually being Peter Parker like. No cape needed, just a regular guy do simple things to be successful. I adapted him to each scene. He even became a figure in some popular movies in one of the posts. Do you recognize him?

Step 3:

Illustrations

I pulled colors from the Centric Brand Guidelines which I had done a refresh on when I joined the team to create the illustrations. I considered a more simplified central figure first and a simpler, flatter graphic style . It was more of an icon type version. This didn't have the feel that I was going for and with further exploration I decided on the more comic book style idea. I found a character that resembled the author a little bit (glasses, brown hair) and I adjusted the colors of his clothing so he would fit in with the color scheme better. Since there was a lot of blue in the background I needed the shirt color to contrast with the background. I then created background graphics that supported the story being told in the blog, with a more dimensional style.

Conclusion

Each illustration was created for use on social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) to entice readers to click through to read the blogs. Article engagement was high. The graphics were well received by the author, editor and the marketing team. I enjoyed the collaboration and was happy I could create visuals to enhance the authors vision while making him a comic book hero.