In the last Shakr Tips, we talked about making video designs that fit seasonal themes, such as Valentine’s Day. Today in Shakr Tips, I would like to talk about another shopping season that is coming up soon — Ramadan.

What is Ramadan?

Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims won’t eat or drink between dawn and sunset. This is called fasting. At the end of the fast – when the sun has gone down – families and friends will get together for iftar to break their fast.
After fasting for about 1 month, there is a special three-day festival to mark the end of Ramadan. This is called Eid al-Fitr – the Festival of the Breaking of the Fast. Often children are given presents and new clothes.

Why is Ramadan an important special occasion?

According to the Quran (Muslim’s bible), Ramadan is the holiest month of the year. There are many blessing from God and people looking forward to erasing their sin.
In terms of marketing, Ramadan is one of the key shopping seasons for Muslim nations. As you can see from the charts below, Facebook and overall social media consumption increases during Ramadan, which could connect to better sales opportunities.
Below are the insights from Facebook during Ramadan:

Tone and Manner

Ramadan is a religious period that spans a whole month. The overall atmosphere of the period should be considered when designing appropriate designs for it. Think of calming and religious atmosphere which inspires sharing, and forgiveness.
However, as Ramadan enters its final week, the overall atmosphere becomes more festive, and this is the time when sales increase dramatically as people start to buy presents for loved ones. Keep in mind these two distinct atmospheres when designing new designs!

Design Tips

Ramadan celebrates religious traditions. Thus, utilizing media assets related to Muslim culture can give the vibe of the period that advertisers are looking for. These Muslim-themed images include:

• Mosque 

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• Crescent Moon

• Latern 
• etc. (Dates, Arabic calligraphy…)

And since most video ads are first played without audio, it is important to convey all the necessary message just using visual elements. Using texts and other visual elements are effective methods to convey messages. However, videos that have too much or too small text can inadvertently give viewers fatigue. Thus, the size and amount of the text should be well considered designing a template. Also, you have to think about where the users would want to put in the text in a frame, thus having a text editable on every possible part of the frame is recommended.

Lastly the wording is also important. Greeting the Ramadan month (“Ramadan Kareem”) is a good way to start, but also including phrases of good-will, like wishing a prosperous month and blessing is generally a good way to design a suitable design for Ramadan.

We hope that these tips will give you some ideas for the upcoming special occasions. Please feel free to reach out to us anytime, if you have any questions.

Thank you! 👋

– Shakr Staff Designer & Designer Program Manager Nayoung🎀