This is the eighth installment of a series on Instagram aesthetic trends for 2020. Here are the links to the previous posts in this series:
- #1 Instagram Aesthetic Trend for School Marketers: Treat Your Grid Like Your Homepage
- #3 Instagram Aesthetic Trend for School Marketers: Curated User Generated Content
- #4 Instagram Aesthetic Trend for School Markekters: Focus on Authenticity
- #5 Instagram Aesthetic Trend for School Marketers – Inclusivity
- #6 Instagram Aesthetic Trend for School Marketers – Photography + Emoji Combo
- #7 Instagram Aesthetic Trend for School Marketers – Add Video and Motion to Your Grid
Connecting to the ever-growing millennial parent population as well as their Generation Z children has been a hot topic for years in the school marketing world. It's a topic sometimes met with uncertainty or puzzlement.
What makes connecting to millennials so challenging? What motivates and inspires them?
One straightforward way to attract more attention from millennial parents is to use more photographs.
When I refer to photos, I'm not talking about using the same old stock photography on which we tend to rely. Instead, we need to think outside the box and use pictures and graphics that are unique to your school, your mission, and, most importantly, your students and families.
At a time when there is a plethora of information and images are flooding the internet, a single, unique graphic can cut through the profusion of digital clutter.
This is why Instagram has become so popular with the millennial generation, and even the younger Generation Z cohort. Millennials make up the majority of Instagram users, according to the Pew Research Center. Not only is the Instagram platform growing in popularity among younger generations, but it is also free, user-friendly, and includes basic photo-editing tools.
Instagram is all about unique, captivating images. There are a host of photo editor apps and options out there, from changing the size, shape, and brightness of a picture to simply adding color-enhancements. Even small edits can make all the difference, ensuring your images stand out when users are scrolling through their feed.
The fine-line sketch look on Instagram is a current photo-editing trend that is new to the Instagram scene. It's a fun and artistic style used on social media graphics. The idea is to take a photo and outline a face or other aspect of the image using a fine-line sketch design feature. Usually, the sketch is drawn off-center of the design aspect you're outlining.
The great thing about using a photo editing app is that you don ‘t have to be a stellar sketch artist to create exciting, fun, and creative fine-line sketches. You can use an app to create the fine-line sketch look with just one click, taking any image and turning it into a sketch masterpiece.
Probably the best-known app for adding fine-line sketch drawings to your photos is PicsArt. Made famous by Kim Kardashian (no judging) earlier this year, PicsArt offers six fine-line sketch effects that will instantly transform your content images by adding interesting, fun, and creative sketch designs. These are the types of designs millennials (and younger generations) love and look for in their feeds.
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Simple Fine-Line Sketch
Simple sketch is the classic trend where you outline a part of your image with just one click. You can make it uniquely yours with several different editing tools, such as making the sketch line broader or thinner, changing the line color, or adjusting the background.
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Total Fine-Line Sketch
The total sketch design feature allows you to erase part of the background, change your line effect and colors. This feature lets you add exciting design elements to your image with just a few clicks.
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Double Fine-Line Sketch
The double sketch design feature allows you to create your design fine-line sketch and then copy the sketch. This multiple sketch outline is especially effective when wanting to highlight a specific person or element of the image.
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Shape Sketch
The shape sketch feature is a fun way to add sketch outlines using shapes. The idea here is to choose elements within the image, add a shape that turns that part of the image into a fine-line sketch.
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Mirror Fine-Line Sketch
The mirror sketch effect flips the fine-line sketch, mirroring the original image. Like the rest of the sketch features, the sketch can be altered using various colors, rotated, various line thicknesses, fades, or the photo itself can be turned into a black and white.
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Fine-Line Sketch Only
The sketch only feature creates a fine-line sketch of your image and then removes the image, leaving only the illustration and background. You can choose different built-in backgrounds and reverse-fade the image back in.
It’s crucial to remember millennials are a growing population of younger parents. While it still may take a few years for them to be your primary target audience, it is still worth cultivating the interest of this generation when considering the long-game of school marketing. It’s not too soon to reach out to this younger generation of parents and begin working them into your inquiry pipeline. Show people why they should consider enrolling in your school by attracting them with photo-edited images, and definitely give the fine-line sketch look a try!
