Let’s Get Graphic: How to Make Simple, Nice and Free Graphics for Your Law Firm
A lot is required of lawyers who run their own firms. Keeping a ship on course, so to speak, can make it feel like being a jack-of-all-trades is practically a requirement.
It’s quite natural for anyone who has to meet a lot of demands to be very good at some things and less proficient at others. One area in which many small firm owners tend to struggle is visual communication.
It may not be the first thing that comes to mind, but graphic design is important to digital marketing. It can say a lot about your firm without saying anything at all and greatly helps create the feeling of who you are (which is critical, because that is what clients are really looking for when they’re on your website or social profile).
So, that can result in a difficult position – the information a small firm owner shares for public consumption has to look good, but developing the knack for graphic design can take time, energy and patience, all of which may be in short supply.
Enter Adobe Spark, a free smartphone app and web platform.
Adobe Spark will not to replace the talent, experience and sensibilities of a professional designer. What it will do is help people with little to no visual arts background create simple, good-looking images and digital content – for free (which is important, because small firm owners don’t have tons of extra money lying around). I see it as a really useful tool for law firms where the budget doesn’t quite match the marketing aspirations.
Adobe Spark is pretty intuitive, so rather than provide instructions, it might be more helpful to identify some uses for it:
- Social media images: Posts with images get more traction that those with text alone. Your next LinkedIn update or Tweet doesn’t have to be a masterpiece, but using Adobe Spark to, say, put a line or two of text on a photo will enhance a post’s value. Over time, your firm will likely see increased engagement and response.
- Web stories: Web stories are image-rich pieces of content, similar to the Internet version of a magazine layout. These take a little more effort, but if you have a particularly good customer testimonial or impressive case result, a web story created through Adobe Spark would be a good way to really maximize its value and impact.
- Inspiration: When you’re doing it all on your own, you will soon realize your own ideas will only take you so far. That’s a very normal part of the creative process. Adobe Spark lets you see what other users – individuals, small businesses, large companies – are doing. You can borrow elements you like and rule out components that don’t work for you and refill your creative well.
