Visual content
The format follows the content's shape
- Sequence or process → carousel. One step per slide, one idea per slide.
- Comparison or relationship → single diagram. A carousel would break what needs to be seen at once.
- A single memorable claim → quote graphic.
- Quantity, trend, or proportion → chart, with one message.
- Anything with more than about seven elements → it is two visuals.
Choosing format by what is fashionable rather than by the content's shape is why so many carousels are a paragraph cut into ten pieces.
Carousels
The first slide is the entire hook — treat it as a headline, not a title card. Every subsequent slide must earn the swipe, which means each ends slightly incomplete.
Consistent template across slides: same margins, same type positions, same palette. Variation across slides reads as error. Number them so the reader knows the commitment.
Last slide lands the idea. A last slide that only says "follow for more" wastes the only slide with guaranteed attention from everyone who finished.
Infographics and diagrams
A diagram earns its place when it shows a relationship prose would take three paragraphs to establish. If it restates the text, cut it.
Label directly on the element. Legends make the reader hold a mapping in memory while looking elsewhere. Strip anything not carrying meaning — decorative gradients, 3D effects, and drop shadows on data.
Designing for the actual context
Almost all of this is seen small, on a phone, in a feed, at speed. Test at that size before finishing. If the headline is not readable at thumbnail scale, it does not exist.
High contrast between subject and background is what stops the scroll. Subtlety is a desktop luxury.
Where images are generated
Write the prompt as a brief: subject, composition, lighting, palette, mood, and negative constraints. Generate one concept per image. Then check the output actually renders any embedded text correctly and matches the brand palette — generated imagery drifts, and drifted brand color is worse than no brand color.
Never
- Choose a visual format before knowing whether the content is a sequence, a comparison, or a single claim.
- Design at full size for something that will be seen at thumbnail size.
- Put load-bearing information in an image alone. It is unsearchable, untranslatable, and invisible to a screen reader.