Nine years ago, I was a young, enthusiastic freshman in college, hungry to learn something I was truly passionate about. I started out wanting to be a graphic designer until I went to my first college art class. 

One of our big projects was to draw off a certain stock image given by the professor and expand on it. When I presented the project to the class, all my professor said was, “I see what you’re trying to do, but I don’t know how to explain what you need to do differently to make it not bad.” 

That was an exact quote from my professor. Really great feedback, right? 

Alright, let’s get off my sad story arc of why I’m not a graphic designer and why this plays into this blog. 

Design is one of the most important things in grabbing your audience’s attention for social media ads. 

If you run an ad on Facebook that doesn’t have clear, cohesive design, it will lead to fewer clicks. Fewer clicks mean fewer people to your site, meaning fewer chances for leads and conversions for your business.

If only there was a cheat sheet for the dos and don’ts of Facebook ad (AKA Meta) design… Oh wait, that’s what I’m writing about right now! 

Let me be your “professor” and teach you best practices for Meta ad design (but in a much nicer way). 

Design for Mobile First

Do you remember back in the day when DVDs were a thing? Everything is streaming now! Sorry, ignore my oldness. Remember when DVDs had to go wide and narrow because your TV screen size was not matching up? Such an annoying thing to deal with. 

Think how annoying that is for people looking at your Meta ads. Most people are looking at it on their phone rather than a desktop. If you design for the mobile format first, it will fit your whole design and then expand it for other devices. 

One free and easy way to format your design for mobile is Canva. They already have preset dimensions for any ad you can think of!

Grab Their Attention with Visuals, Not Text

Facebook’s algorithm favors images with minimal text overlay. It makes sense, if you think about it. 

When you are scrolling through Facebook, what catches your eye? A bright, vibrant ad that uses space to its advantage, or a crowded ad with a bunch of text throughout the design?

I’m not saying to not use text. Just keep it short and sweet. In fact, designs that have an overcrowded design with excessive text leads to lower delivery and engagement for Meta ads. 

It’s also important to keep in mind that readable fonts are better than fancy fonts. Look, we get it. You want to spice it up sometimes and throw in some weird cursive-type fonts, but guess what? Users don’t like it. It makes them lose interest because the text is hard to read. 

You can use fonts like Comic Sans. Just kidding! 😉 I actually recommend using Verdana, Arial, and Tahoma for Meta ads.

Clear Unique Value Proposition (UVP):

It’s hard to grab the attention of users on Facebook. No matter how much money you put in a campaign, people want what they will get out of your offer.

When crafting a clear value proposition for ad designs, think about what your audience really cares about and how your designs solve their problems. Focus on what makes your work stand out — like creating visuals that grab attention, messaging that connects, or layouts that make brands unforgettable.

Keep it simple and straightforward; no one wants to wade through jargon. Show them how your designs can boost their business, whether that’s through more clicks, better engagement, or driving more sales. 

And most importantly, tie it back to their goals. When you show how you can make their life easier or more successful, that’s when your value really shines.

Keep It Consistent with Your Branding

You want to create a familiar user experience. Make sure your audience knows when someone is seeing something from your business by having each ad design match the colors of your brand and website. 

You want to keep your brand message strong! If people are clicking on a design and going to a landing page that doesn’t match up, they’re going to get confused. Heck, they might even think it’s the wrong website linked to the ad. 

Let Us Handle The Design Work.

Don’t have an artistic side? Just don’t want to deal with it? Let the Meta specialists at 9 Clouds take responsibility for your Facebook ad design! Our team has a great track record with Meta ads giving our clients great results.

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