For the love... stop being pretty
Oct 17, 2022I see it all of the time, and you probably do, too.
Posts on Instagram and social media that are hard to read.
Not because they are long (sometimes that makes it difficult) and not because the words are $10 words when they could be a dime word (also can be frustrating).
No. It's the pretty but almost illegible posts.
When the color of the font is too close—or not contrasting enough—to the background color.
When the font is too pretty and small to decipher.
When the background is pretty but the colors change in the picture and the font doesn't have a distinctive background, so our eyes have to adjust and readjust to try to read what the words say.
Here's the truth: we don't care enough to work that hard.
We don't. If we have to work to read what you are sharing, we will either swipe on by, forget what you said, or get frustrated and connect that frustration to you.
It shouldn't be difficult to read your pretty posts on Instagram.
In fact, it should be SO EASY. Like a billboard on a freeway where we are driving 80 mph. Did we catch the message? Do we know who it's from? What we should do with that info?
If not, then it's too difficult and we don't care. We won't remember.
Think of your posts as LEGIBLE before PRETTY. As easy-to-consume before "on brand".
Put a contrasting color behind your words so they POP and we can read them. You have less than three seconds to get our attention before we bounce and move on
Stop being pretty. Unless it's also super easy to read.
