Improve blog covers

[ferdi05]

It's more understandable by our users, and should drive new users. e.g.:

[ferdi05]

Also a good image is very useful for the social media performance of our posts. See some tips on how to write the best performing social media messages on Notion (private link).

[ferdi05]

We have a process on blog post cover creation on Figma (private link). We need to update our previous blog post cover when needed.

Content that require an update:

• [ ] Every release blog posts - currently discussed with @lpinot (private link)
• [ ] Integrations blog posts: Gatsby, Strapi v3
• [ ] Other tutorials: React+Rails, React

[ferdi05]

Why a good blog post cover, quoted from a RenderForm blog post:

A blog post cover can make or break your content. It's the first thing readers see when they come across your post and it should be enticing enough for them to click, read, and share.

This could apply to blog posts that don't really have a cover, even if I'm not convinced this would fit with other illustrations, but I don't really have any better idea. We could also wait until we have a new blog template.

While there are no general rules for what makes a great blog post cover, there are some pointers to keep in mind. Make sure you incorporate images if possible. Include the title in the image so that viewers know what they're clicking on. Use an image that is visually appealing and relevant to your topic the more eye-catching it is the more likely people will click on it. Make sure your images are high quality so that nothing looks pixelated or blurry. And lastly, don't forget to include a catchy headline with an enticement!

[ferdi05]

I just updated some of the latest blog post covers for new version releases, thanks to @lpinot great work on Figma (private link). I like it, but I feel like if we change all the covers, this may look super uniform, like Strapi's blog (I don't want to call names here, they're our friends and I hope they will forgive me for this). wdyt @lpinot @CaroFG ?

[lpinot]

I don't think it is going to look too uniform. We obviously need something more consistent between the covers, but it doesn't mean it's going to look boring. We can bring some rhythm with a pattern depending on what type of article it is. E.g., all the release posts are in purple; tutorials are in blue, demos in dark blue, etc... + with sometimes a few illustrations, it's not possible to be boring. WDYT?

[CaroFG]

I totally agree with @lpinot. Talking about consistency, why is the background color different in the release posts? Also, I'd keep the version in bold 😄 but it's my aesthetic-blind-person opinion

[lpinot]

I agree @CaroFG regarding the different colors of the release posts, we should choose one and use the same each time

[ferdi05]

Thanks for your input @lpinot @CaroFG I agree that using illustrations sometimes could be really helpful to make it look less dull.

I totally agree with @lpinot. Talking about consistency, why is the background color different in the release posts? Also, I'd keep the version in bold 😄 but it's my aesthetic-blind-person opinion

I was using some different proposition from @lpinot to indeed make it more colorful, but I'll be happy to apply the one color per content type strategy! I'm changing it!

[ferdi05]

We should adsd in the guidelines that covers should be exported at the size x2 otherwise they are blurry in Ghost

[CaroFG]

I am trying to create a list of different blog post types and establish which ones need a cover designed by @lpinot.

I have identified 8 types of blog posts:

• Release
• Tutorials / integrations
• Demos
• Life at Meilisearch
• Company
• Cloud
• Special events: hacktoberfest
• Other (one-off posts that do not fall into any of the preceding categories: posts about knowledge management, CFPs...)

[CaroFG]

For now, we have templates for the following categories:

• Release: purple dark background with stars and a 2-line title: the first line reads "What's new?", the second line contains the version number
• Tutorials / integrations: logo of the language / framework... followed by a plus sign and the Meilisearch logo

Since we decided to have consistent in-brand covers, only one tutorial dedicated to a demo has been published: Take control of Meilisearch's typo tolerance. The cover was designed by @lpinot. The image used includes:

• the title of the blog post: white and pink (pink used to highlight the name of the showcased feature)
• an illustration representing the settings, which evoke the title (taking control).

Next demos blog posts could follow the same pattern.

[CaroFG]

The 3 categories mentioned above —release, tutorials/integrations, and demos— are the most recurrent posts. We should decide on a design pattern to bring a little variety and avoid having a monochromatic blog while keeping consistency. I like the idea of using different background colors according to the post type. For now, the only color used has been Valhalla 500. I think we should keep this one for the release blog posts and use others for the demos and the tutorials.

@lpinot do you think you could create some examples of covers with different background colors so we can start to make some decisions?

For the other categories, we've been using stock images or pictures. IMO we can keep using them, especially for the "life at meilisearch"/"company" categories, wdyt? I find they make the blog more human and less corporate.

Regarding the events, we can design a cover for each particular event.

[ferdi05]

I agree with all said here, thanks @CaroFG for your work here! Watching the progress.

[CaroFG]

Little reminder to @lpinot 😄

[ferdi05]

@CaroFG We made a lot of progress regarding post covers. Do you feel like there are still covers we should work on?

[CaroFG]

Yes, find the list below:

• How to Search Nobel Prize Winners Faster With MeiliSearch and JavaScript
• How to Speed Up GoodReads Book Titles Search With MeiliSearch and JavaScript
• Save and Search Through Your Slack History on a Free Slack Plan
• Add a search bar to your Gatsby project using Meilisearch
• How to use Meilisearch in your multi-tenant application With the new agency working on our landing, we'll have to update all the covers to match the new identity

[CaroFG]

If we decide to create different covers for different type of content, we should look at the tags