The first false spring has come and gone, and we're officially into the third winter in our little more-cows-than-people corner of Western New York.
This basically means the weather is cold, snowy, rainy, or muddy every day, and there is nothing to do.
We don’t get much of a spring up here - it’s winter, then rain, and BAM, summer appears.
So, in the meantime, Kyle and I have been filling our evenings with one of our favorite pastimes.
Roasting the shit out of people on survival shows like Alone, Outlast, and Extracted.
As novice outdoorsmen, it is easy to spot the straight-up dumb mistakes that people who haven’t eaten anything but a handful of blueberries in three days can make.
Like when the guy on Extracted put his emergency blanket on the outside of his shelter as a tarp… instead of inside his shelter, where it could actually reflect his body heat.
When you know a little better - it’s easy to spot the people that don’t.
There are guidelines for most things in life, whether you are talking about what to do and what not to do when surviving outdoors or creating content for your brand. And while I am all for breaking the rules for the sake of creativity… in the words of Pablo Picasso:
“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
As a business owner marketing your brand, you’ve had a million and one “rules,” “shoulds,” and “shouldn'ts” shoved down your throat online.
Some of them helpful - like your fave copywriter who taught you to write like you are talking to one person.
Others not so much - like every Instagram algorithm hack that you’ve ever heard.
As a brand designer with a background in fine arts, it's all too easy for me to notice creators like you breaking conversion-killing design rules every. damn. day.
(That’s right, it’s not just “bad” copy that can kill conversions, it’s also your design choices)
But I mean who is really to blame here? You?
Absolutely not.
One of the things I ALWAYS tell my 1:1 clients (about all different marketing and business pickles) is that no one ever taught you how to do this in school.
This is all brand new.
Your high school English class didn’t teach you how to write engaging newsletter copy for your business - and my K-12 Art Education degree can PROMISE you that no one taught you how to design conversion-friendly graphics in Canva.
If there’s anyone to blame, it’s me.
For not having the confidence to step into Art teacher mode soon enough and point out the stupid simple fixes that can make the assets you create for your brand 10x more professional looking, so you can actually get more eyes on your words and content.
Which is exactly why I decided to teach the masterclass that has been sitting on the back burner of my brain since summer of 2023.
A masterclass about the basics of design - but for your brand.
So you can spend less time tweaking in Canva & feel more confident about everything you create for your brand.
From stories on Instagram to carousels to landing pages on your website.
Let’s not bury the lead here and pause your regularly scheduled newsletter programming for a quick note from the writer:
I’ve decided to push the Masterclass out a week to Friday, May 2nd, so that I don’t have to stress about getting ready for it while I am on Spring Break with my family and to give myself a little more time to talk about it. When registration kicks off on Friday, you can still join the waitlist to lock in pay-what-you-want pricing.
As a self-proclaimed “sage” as far as brand archetypes go, one of my most important brand values is building understanding.
Because if you can understand the elements of art and design, you can make better, more conversion-friendly compositions without even really having to think about it.
This means more people will engage with your content because they read that post, reel, or story in the first place.
So, this newsletter is dedicated to helping you fix the design faux pas I see scrolling Instagram every single day.
Let’s dive in.
3 design tweaks you can make today to get more eyes on your words & content (whether that's on socials oR your website)
The online world is a visual one. And whether or not someone decides to take the time to read your content comes down to neuroscience and design.
The way our brains process images is the first barrier to conversions.
Here are the three most common design decisions I see everyday that make people scroll or click away instead of reading the words you worked so hard to write
01: Not enough contrast:
If the words on your design and the background don’t contrast each other enough - it creates a split-second subconscious reaction where people have to try to actually read what you are saying.
And in the online world no one wants to work harder than they have to - so that subconscious split second can mean a major difference in engagement.
I break down exactly how to fix this within your brand color scheme + the accessibility standards your brand’s colors should meet in the CJ color kit (you can snag it here)
02: Not enough negative space:
You know those guidelines on Canva around the outside edge of anything you design? Or when you are placing text in reels and the yellow columns pop up?
Those are there for a reason - to help you create enough negative space and wide enough margins around the outside of your design. But that doesn’t mean you should shove as much content as you can inside that bounding box either. Your eye needs negative space to “rest” within a composition in order to be able to easily read something.
03. Incorrect formatting of your copy:
There are three different ways you can format your copy anywhere including:
- Left-aligned - meaning every line of copy starts on the left side of your screen. This one is considered the easiest for our brains to read & track.
- Center-aligned is the second-best choice for formatting your copy. But when you are dealing with paragraphs of words, left-aligned is still going to be the better choice.
- Right-aligned is the third way you can format copy, and it should be avoided at all costs (just kidding), but it is the hardest for your eye to track and read since we read left to right.
A common mistake I see is mixing multiple formatting styles within a single image or view. When you do this, your brain has to work harder to process the content tracking it across the screen, creating a subconscious friction point that makes people more likely to keep scrolling. It takes a certain design finesse to pull off.
Instead, pick either left or center alignment for your copy and stick with it consistently, even in your stories. Make sure to break up your copy with headings, subheadings, and paragraphs, making it easier to read (even on stories). This improved readability leads to better engagement.
If you feel like your colors lack enough contrast, the CJ color kit can solve that problem.
But if you want to sharpen your design skills all around, be sure to join the waitlist for the 2D brand design masterclass. In it, I’ll teach you how to format copy and create conversion-friendly designs so that you spend less time tweaking in Canva and more time not being a designer for your brand.
Everyone on the waitlist gets pay-what-you-want pricing - so whether it’s for you or your VA, get your name on the waitlist because signups start Friday.
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FROM THE ARCHIVE
Where to start when it comes to making your brand identity feel more like YOU
Your biz besties are going to be asking who you put on a design retainer - but really, it's just you 😉.
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NOTE TO SELF
It's time to let your personal brand run wild
How to infuse more of YOU into your brand, so you can make more human connections with your audience & build community.
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ON THE GRAM
BTS of the 2025 CJ Brand color kit update
How many times have you put off showing up because something about your brand didn’t feel quite right?
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