How to make a banner
Banners are a part of our information-sharing staple diet. We consume its information daily, sometimes without even realizing it. They are frequent and driven by impulse! Today they are also a way to monetize websites and apps, and if you stick them in the right place, you will see some incredible results. It is, in some ways, a form of currency on the internet, and for you to take full advantage of this strange advertising subculture, your banner must stand out.
Whether it’s a social media campaign, an event, or an in-app banner, we can help guide you into crafting a functional banner that works to make an impact on your audience, guiding them to that decisive call to action. It’s in your best interest to make sure your banner doesn’t just become some cyberspace junk floating without purpose into the void. Welcome to Freepik’s ultimate guide to creating a perfect banner.
Tips to create the perfect banner
All banners are made up of separate elements or assets that, when together, form a functional design. Let’s take a look at each banner requirement to find out its purpose:
Logo & Branding
Your business logo and branding is essential and needs to be on point to make your corporate identity consistent and recognisable, effortlessly catching the attention of your audience. Within your branding package you should have; a color palette, branding guidelines, including a corporate message or tagline, and a logo. It is good practice to have a logo formatted as a vector AI file, PDF, PNG with a transparent background, or JPEG for easy editing to your banner design.
However, for those without a logo there are plenty of tools out there. Developing one from scratch using Wepik or browsing professional and editable designs from Freepik or Flaticon!
Message
What is the function of your banner? Once your persons of interest are attracted by the banners irresistible design, you are required to provide some supportive information about the product, service or event you are offering.
As in any case of banner designs, a short hang time is important, giving them what they need and moving on. It’s not a theater pamflet we are creating here! It will be down to the design to help guide the reader through the banner, and with help from persuasive language they will find themselves hovering over your call to action in no time at all!
Call to action!
This is what it all boils down to! The visual cues, the colors, the explosions of creativity, all to guide the person of interest to this moment! So with all that effort, let’s not throw it all away. Give them a choice to find out more, inquire or buy instantly using a treasure trove of call to action methods. Here are just a few to get started:
- Social media icons that link to each platform
- Button to link to website landing page
- Call now button
- Shop now
Of course, you could throw them all in there. However, it is advised to stick to just one functioning method when possible. Hesitation is a force designers are trained to repel, and in the few seconds we have to win over the short attention spans of today’s internet users, simple and obvious is best!
Choose the right background
The perfect banner needs a perfect background to suit! It’s all about creating the right atmosphere to lift up your branding, taking balance, feel and purpose into account. Perhaps you’ll follow your brand color palette? With so many variations out there, only one will make it onto your attractive banner design! But what methods are there?
Solid
A solid color background can deliver a decisive blow to the look of your creative banner and can have some positive effects, especially when it comes to clarity and contrast of readable text. As in some cases a complicated, multicolored background can sometimes make text hard to read as it fights for superiority at the surface. Discover solid backgrounds here!
Photos
Pictures really do speak more words than you can throw a book at, and when it comes to clarity, pictures tell it how it is. Perhaps you want to let viewers in on what you are selling, guiding them to fortune or selling a desirable lifestyle. Additionally they can be an entertaining feature for your overall design, bringing real-life energy and fulfillment. Discover useful images here!
Video backgrounds
A trend that is gaining more popularity is the use of video clips running as a background. They work really well to capture the attention of your audience, often very short clips running for a matter of seconds. When done correctly they can be very impressive. In addition, they can make your selling point look a million dollars too! Discover video clips here!
Gradients
Gradients are when a color’s tone or hue changes its values to create a wave of color variants. They can create some truly sensational results and can be as subtle or loud as you like. The ability to shape and play with gradients means it works great with other elements on your banner design, using the gradient background to enhance or tone down information and graphic elements. Discover gradient backgrounds here!
Types of banners
Of course, there are many forms of banners out there with different functions, varied audiences, and a range of sizes. Some are even vertical! All this needs to be taken into consideration, when creating an effective banner campaign.
Inspiration is a great way to give you some direction. Looking at other successful banners with similar objectives is not copying! It will only build on your confidence to pull the good ideas together, ultimately creating a banner that works for you and your audience. Take a look at these striking banner designs and see what is possible!
Sales banner
We are practically giving them away! Yes, sales banners are big and bold, vibrantly colored, and hysterically cheesy. They work to get short and snappy response times with a hasty approach. If it’s a product you are flaunting, perhaps a featured image will work to provide confidence quickly. With a sudden appearance of a shop now icon and button, persons of interest could potentially convert to shoppers. Money in your pocket!
Events banner
The color and tone of event banners very much depend on the event itself. However, they don’t come across as desperate compared to a sales banner design. Event banners use impact and impressive information to drive popularity for their events. Music festivals will use complex typography and headliners to entice their audience into booking that weekend off!
Social media banner
The digital format of social media banners offers no limits when it comes to the delivery of its content. In other words, it is possible to have videos play as a background, or benefit from utilizing animated icons and graphic elements. If you have a big enough budget to play with, you can push the boundaries to its technical limits.
We are seeing more and more of this style of banner advertisements flooding social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. A few seconds of animated action can excite audiences whether you’re interested in the sales pitch, or not!
With your motives and target audience locked in. The atmospheric background pushed to the bleeding point. Your precisely consistent branding and logo guidelines set in motion, and your painfully taunting call to action set in place! Your incredible banner design will be ready as ever, to monetize websites and direct traffic to where you want it.
If you are curious to learn more about banners, check out this previous article ‘Top tips for designing Banners for effective advertising’. We wish you well on your banner adventure!
