Everyone takes photos. Some post it up on their social media, too. Candid snaps, selfies, and images of delicious food on a plate might be okay for the average Instagram user. However, when you’re a business looking for a click on that holy grail of buttons called the “follow,” you must be a little more discerning in how you populate your Instagram feed. Here are a few graphic design tips for Instagram to help you create a beautiful Instagram feed that will inspire your visitors to follow you.
Lighting is one of the main graphic design tips for Instagram
This photo has indoor lighting with a specific fashion or beauty theme.
Dark, gloomy pictures shot in poor light conditions lack detail and are uninspiring. Keep your photos bright and detailed by ensuring there is adequate lighting when you shoot your images. If you’re indoors, use photography studio lights to provide a decent exposure. If you are outdoors, make sure you time your shots to when the weather is being nice.
What about food shots? Go for warm, orange tones that boost the appearance of your food. The layout is key, too, for an essential Insta-worthy shot. When you’re editing your photos, you might need to edit their colors later on. Here’s where a free online tool like Pixlr X, Fotor or PicMonkey can come in handy!
Go from the original to a warm, yummy, fresh out the oven appearance.
Professional food photographers use camera equipment that gives a strong focus or highlight on the food subjects in their photos. Then they tweak the contrast, exposure or brightness of their food shots to appeal to viewers.
Stick to a Theme
Maintaining a feed that adheres to a specific aesthetic will strengthen the brand image you are trying to convey. A theme will also help give your feed some direction and cohesiveness.
Image set by contributor sonyakamoz
A few ideas for themes other Instagrammers have used to good effect include keeping the images light and airy with lots of white space, taking a minimalist approach, or posting colorful pictures dominated by pastel tones.
Image set by contributor Daria Minaeva
A theme can be something as simple as favoring a filter when editing your photos. Scroll through your existing feed to see where your natural tendencies lie and then start doing more of that. This is definitely one of the more visual ways to make your Instagram feed beautiful.
Strategically Organize Your Feed
Haphazard shots posted at random can ruin the flow of your feed. Instead, organize your shots so the photos fit together visually. An attractive feed will feature a variety of subjects that are evenly spaced out. Don’t post a whole stream of landscapes or fashion shots in one go. Mix them up so they add variety and visual interest. This way, you don’t need to worry about creating visual boredom in your social feed.
That’s about it for our graphic design tips to make your Instagram feed beautiful. Above all, enjoy the time you spend in your Instagram feed, as it will show up in your work. Remember, creativity is not a precise science, so have fun and be sure to experiment! Is your brand ready to jump on the remote work bandwagon? Here are 5 benefits to marketing automation and remote work you might like.