If you’ve had a VIP day at Hell Yeah Studios in the past year or so, you’ve most likely had a conversation over the phone with some asshole who hounded you about why color palettes are important and why using comic sans throughout your videos is probably a bad idea. I am that asshole.
Most people know–at least in an academic sense–that the way they present themselves is important, but, a shockingly high percentage of the time, business owners unknowingly lace their video marketing with visual detritus that makes every designer on the planet cringe simultaneously. If you have the opportunity, I urge you to meet with a branding expert. In the meantime, I’m going to give you a few basic tenants of video design choice that will make your editors’ lives easier and lead you to more clickthroughs.
1. Don’t just pick your favorite colors.
Entrepreneurs wildly misunderstand color choice in relation to their brand. A good color scheme should always serve a purpose. It should tell the audience something without them even noticing. The colors should complement each other seamlessly. I guess what I’m saying is the next time a client sends me a color palette that was assumedly scraped together from some personal favorite colors, I’m going to kick every puppy I can find.
Unless you’re a Christmas-focused company, it’s best to not even touch bright green and red. If you’re dealing with a particularly emotional subject, soft hues might be the bill of fare. The colors should complement each other so that they look great when used in graphics.You get the gist. Check out these color selections taken from Converse:
That is the Indiana Jones of color schemes. It’s straightforward. It’s rugged. My girlfriend thinks about it while we’re having sex.
2. Fancy fonts are not better fonts
Like your color selections, your fonts send a message about your business. First of all, you should only use a couple different fonts. If you can find a compelling argument as to why your brand needs a cursive font, a big blocky headline font, and a slanted “fun” font, I will give you every dollar I made this year. Secondly, don’t assume that a font comes off as high-class or interesting just because it looks hand-written. And finally, for the love of all that is holy, please understand that Comic Sans should only be used by drunk, blind squids planning the world’s worst party.
3. Bigger is better
If I had a quarter for every time a client has sent over a file labeled “logo” that, when opened, turns out to be a 200×200 screenshot, I would have like six dollars. When sending materials to an editor or designer, a vector graphic is ideal. Essentially, a vector graphic allows the image to be enlarged without losing image quality. You should be able to get such a file from your designer. If, for some reason. you are not able to obtain a vector file. It is crucial that you supply the biggest image you can find. When a client asks me what size I need in order to us it in a video, I always respond, “As big as you can find.” A good key to remember is that you can always make an image smaller, but you can’t make it bigger.
David Vance, Editor at Hell Yeah Studios
