Instagram is an amazing platform, it inspires the development and creativity of absolutely different people, but to succeed here, you need to have a basic knowledge of visual rules and trends. 

Attractive social media accounts are no longer something unusual or exceptional. More and more new trends in social management. Networks dictate their rules. Now any account is the face of a person, brand, or company in the digital sphere.

How to stand out among millions of users and attract thousands of followers and customers? To do this, you need to beautifully design a profile on Instagram.

Instagram Design is the staff of life!

Create an Instagram account — just not the main thing — to pay attention after the design of the profile this is important. This seems obvious, but let’s look at the main reasons for the work on the design on the Instagram account:

• “First impressions count”. The beautifully designed profile is just nice to look at. If the user initially stops on your page for pictures and inspiration, he is more likely to be interested in the main purpose of the profile and your services/goods.
• Demonstration of goods/services. Attractive product photography will certainly increase the interest of a potential buyer, especially in the case when the visual component is important. This applies to clothe stores, salons, photographers and other figures in the field of beauty and art. But if you try, you can draw attention to the service station. It all depends on choosing the right approach.
• Engaging with utilities and tips. If you’re selling clothes or accessories, use photos and videos to show them on a model or in combination with other wardrobe items. Offer current bows or pay attention to fashion trends. 
• Results/reviews. Make a selection of your most successful projects, remove them, adhering to the specified style, and publish from time to time on the page so that visitors can evaluate the results of your work.

Let’s look at the internal errors in the design of the Instagram account:

Mistake #1: Visual content doesn’t symbolize anything

Think about why people should follow you? Usually, this happens for one of two reasons – either they like your product, or it symbolizes something close to them. Better when it’s both.

Technically, you have to understand what your audience likes and to create an image that will reflect its values, habits, lifestyle. This approach will significantly increase your chances of success in working with visual content.

Mistake #2: Visual content doesn’t evoke emotions

Understanding how color affects the audience’s response is very important when you appeal to emotions. There is one trick based on the psychological characteristics of color perception that will help you stand out among others. When selecting images, it is important not only to rely on your taste but also to apply knowledge in the field of color to set the right mood of the audience. What feelings do you want to arouse in your audience?

• Green – traditionally symbolizes freshness, naturalness, environmental friendliness. Eternal choice of eco-friendly brand.
• Blue – often used for technology brands. Blue is associated with safety, loyalty, honesty, and harmony.
• Red – the color of passion, extreme, sexuality. In Eastern countries, red is the color of luck.
• Purple – it symbolizes independence, individuality, and inspiration. Also, this color is often associated with wisdom and spirituality.
• Yellow – represents happiness and joy. The warmth of this color stimulates mental activity. There is an opinion that this color attracts attention more than others.
• Orange – friendliness, fun, and openness are associated with orange. It is the hottest of all colors in the spectrum.
• Pink – this color symbolizes romance, love, youth, hope, inspiration. Usually, it is perceived as a soft, feminine color.
• Gray – this is usually a neutral shade, which is not associated with any serious emotions.

Mistake #3: Poor quality of visual content

If you’re selling a great product or providing a good service, your visual content must meet the same quality standards. To use a photo of low-quality today – it’s like that sign of incompetence. Visual content is a direct reflection of your brand and the audience will only agree to share it if the visual image impresses them. Therefore, do not rely on a lot of reposts and likes, if the quality of the picture barely allows you to distinguish what is depicted on it. When choosing images to promote your brand, make sure they meet the following criteria:

• Images have a high enough resolution;
• If you have added text, you can easily read it;
• Your images are optimized for social media.

Mistake # 4: Visual content is not standardized

If you have not formatted the visual content to the size of the social platform, your images will be cropped, or significantly lose quality when converted. Before publishing, check the size of the images to ensure they meet the standards of the social platform or use online tools.

Mistake #5: Visual content is not balanced

The modern reader loves visual content because it does not create a large cognitive load. Too much text on an image has the opposite effect. When supplementing the text with an image, or an image with text, it is important to understand which of them has a leading role and which of them has a secondary role. Then you will balance your message with the right emphasis.

If you’re already using visual content on social media, you’re on the right track. Even if you’re not a Pro in visual marketing, all you need is a little research and the right tools to become one.

It should also be added that in social media there is an invisible, constantly evolving culture, which is determined by the impulse, short-term demand for content. Track Instagram design trends and get into trends. Remember that an image is worth a thousand words – be brief and let your visual content speak for you.

How to make a pleasant Instagram design?

We have highlighted five approaches to the visual beauty of the account, which can help to create an unforgettable profile!

1.Photo, color, filter

In the case of only photos or only videos of the author, it is important not to overdo it so that the account does not turn into a mess. Often the strong point of such accounts is not in the photo but in the texts, charm, and charisma of the author. This concept is not suitable for shops, but it is good for bloggers or expert projects. Among the unfading and very effective applications, except for the built-in filters Instagram – VSCO, PicsArt, Snapseed. They are available in paid and free versions and are regularly updated. Dominant color or photo in one color scheme is also a very cool visually combine account. But it is important not to beat out: if you decide to keep an account in cold gray-blue tones, the warm photo will not look the best way. And vice versa: cool photos in the warmth of the account will confuse.

2. Templates, text on the photo

The popularity of this approach has created a whole new market — the market of Insta. The idea is that for certain categories you and the designer develop a template — a substrate for the text, on which it is easy to write the title of the article or hide screenshots of reviews. The use of templates, structure your account: you visually distinguish important topics, bringing attention to them. Depending on your goals, you can develop one, two or more variants of templates for each of the headings. Also often is used the text on photo. It differs from templates in that your photo is used instead of the design background. For many expert accounts, this approach has already become a level of expectations — it immediately becomes clear what is at stake in the blog, which articles are key, what to pay special attention to. You can insert templates or photos with text in a chaotic order, or you can give the placement structure and meaning. Here are the options: 

• in the column, the template — every third photo;
• checkers, pattern — every second photo;
• with rhythm — text takes one or two photos on a grid of nine photos.

3. Illustrations

The design of templates has one significant drawback: covers for publications like at times less. Therefore, reduced involvement and the post gets less coverage. In this case, you can work with the Illustrator and create your character or picture illustrating the post. This method is also suitable for selling some very specific services or goods — when just showing the goods is not enough. Once a girl came to me for a consultation, whose business is connected with the production of gentle cleaning products for swimming pools, both domestic and professional.

4.The item in photos

The connecting element in the visual concept is the product itself. It’s amazing how many photos you can take with just one product.

5.Video

Everyone is talking about the trend in the video — including Instagram. In practice, short useful videos are used infrequently. Although the accounts of weiners (video bloggers) are among the most popular and fastest-growing, few use this approach in sales. If you want to use video content for sales right now — try it! This method is good because it brings you as close as possible to the followers, gives the effect of possession and builds a winning account. For video, you can also make a cover and put it for preview. The functionality allows you to upload and video gallery — this means that you can cut the video for 10 minutes and put it in one post.

Choose which approach to the visual concept is closer to you! What would you like to see in your account? Select the Instagram profiles that you like: look at how to construct visual content they have. Adapted borrowing has not been canceled!

Above all, the visual component of Instagram is Insta stories. An important point: for stories it makes sense to create a separate content plan, including only the planned announcements, games or contests. Now there are many different applications for stories that make the visual content of stories at least unusual: it is a variety of options for pop-up fonts and short 15-second videos. The element of surprise and the lack of super-quality photos in stories very often makes the account just the same more charming and interesting.

Don’t forget about mobile photos! One way or another you will have to make mobile photos — for your account or stories. What you need to know about shooting:

• Light. At any shooting, this is the most important thing. One of your main tasks is to learn how to catch good light: diffused daylight. If you shoot in bright light, there will be hard shadows and illuminated areas, which will not give a correct understanding of the texture. If in the dark with a flash — the color quality will be useless. Shoot between 2 and 4 am.
• Composition. The Golden section rule was invented in the Renaissance and still works perfectly. And most cameras have a grid tool that divides the frame into two vertical and two horizontal lines. Your task is to place the key objects ON these lines or ALONG with them. 
• The genre of photography. For mobile shooting, the perfect format is flat lay. This is a photo with the point of shooting from above. Well obtained architectural and landscape shots. Portraits come out a little worse than when shooting on a professional camera. For the tape, they are probably not suitable, but for stories — the most.
• Point of shooting. The most popular vantage point for the institution from above or at eye level. There are very few photos taken from top to bottom at an angle, and it is not common to see photos taken at an angle of 45%. If you follow the rules of composition and select the desired point of shooting you simply do not have a chance to make a bad photo, even if you are new to this business!

Without editing photos for your account will not work. Pay attention to the following parameters (in one or another version they are present in all mobile photo editors):

• exposure is the amount of light in a photo. Even if you were shooting at the perfect time, you may need to adjust the brightness;
• details and clarity of the image. Be careful with this: you can strengthen or, conversely, greatly weaken the texture and important details. The task of photography is not just to create an atmosphere, but also to convey the quality of the product, which means that the texture should be close to nature;
• color correction. Any photo can be made both warm and cold, depending on the dominant colors you choose.

The most catchy Instagram design trends

To design your page on Instagram you need to be creative, not forgetting to keep track of the ever-changing fashion trends in design. After all, your account is your advertising, and advertising is very sensitive to any socio-cultural changes. Keep track of what is fashionable and relevant in the field of graphics, photography and visual art. All these trends are very quickly transferred to the Instagram space.  Keep your finger on the pulse of change. 

What will be the trend in 2019?

• 3-D graphics

The popularity of 3D graphics in recent years has only increased. And the reason is the strong development of AR and VR technologies. Leading artists of this direction give very interesting ideas. Using these elements will draw attention to your account. 

• Illustrations

Adding hand-drawn graphics in the design of accounts looks stylish and interesting. It is possible to process in graphic style real photos or to use the drawings executed in various technicians. In any case, attention to your account will only increase. Today, illustrations are widely used in all areas of design. Hand-drawn graphics elements will perfectly fit into any visual row of the page. At the same time, you can use both additional drawings and sketches in a variety of styles: from watercolor sketches to comics. This solution is especially popular in the fashion and beauty industry. Such accounts are watched by many users. Illustrations can be safely used as avatars and highlights because there are not many linear icons.

• Animation

Animated videos are a great way to add variety to your content. Well made animation will make a bright and original way to present your brand and make it more memorable.

• Bright colors and bold fonts

An aggressive attempt to attract users’ attention with bright color schemes and underlined-huge fonts was successful. Well-known companies and ordinary users have added colors and contrasts to the visual design of accounts on Instagram. Catchy fonts, rich shades and extravagant color combinations, which became the flagship of the 2018 design, continue to hold positions in 2019.

• Typography

Stand out with a beautiful and recognizable font – it is always important. 2019 will be no exception.

• Realism in photography

Filters and retouching are becoming a thing of the past. Today, Instagram users want to see real, live people with all their imperfections in the photo. To understand this, just go to the account of the Italian magazine Vogue, in which more than 2 million followers. Today staged stock photos are no longer fashionable and we can say anti-trend, so we forget about them. Remember the body-positive, so here it is in all its glory. They don’t hide freckles behind a thick layer of makeup. Problems with the skin of the model will only add to the naturalness. The same applies to bruises under the eyes, imperfections in the shape – there are no perfect people and this is now not silent, but show publicly.

• Modernism in photography

Photoshoots in this style involve the use of bold solutions in makeup and scenery, which in itself look very bright and impressive. Modernism is the general name of the trend in art that emerged in the early 20th century. 

• Gradients and duotone

Use color transitions anywhere: in fonts, images, filters, and backgrounds — trust your imagination and act. Designers have paid close attention to gradients in 2018 and are happy to continue to use them in their work. Along with the multi-color fill, a trend similar to gradients in the formation of pallets, which connect a series of posts with one dominant color, is also popular.

•  Style “camp”

The camp is a style that loves everything exaggerated and unnatural. It is always interesting to follow the accounts that choose this style for themselves.

Taking into account the Instagram design trends of 2019, remember that it is very important that the design of your account does not go against the peculiarities of the brand and development strategy. If you do not have enough time to analyze all the details, it is better to contact a marketing agency, where competent specialists will help you create a brand book. The brand book will contain all the necessary information for your further self-promotion.

It is already clear that there are a lot of tools to work with the design and appearance of the account. It is sometimes difficult to work and understand this on your own. But this can try to do. But if you do not have time, you should contact specialists who speak, think, communicate in the language of Instagram. The effect of this will be much better. The main thing to understand – how important is the strategy and what kind of visual style will present your page with the best hand and give the result. Do not forget, the design and history on the page should be justified because the fictional style is questionable.

Final word

Photos, the visual concept of the account on Instagram — not just what put likes (although this is important), but what sells your product or service. The main task of visual content is not only to reflect your values and goals but also to form a style, create the value of the product.

Collect a selection of pictures in any planner, you can immediately make a stock of photos to use them later. Look at your account from the side: do you like it? Would you like to follow?

You can show it to a few friends of your customers and ask them what they like and what they don’t. Getting feedback is extremely important, you can use it to bring your profile to perfection.

The visual content should be treated very carefully. However, do not forget that the main selling function performs all the same text.