How to Create an Eye-catching Instagram Grid
I love playing around and planning my Instagram grid and the layout my photos will appear on my profile. Unfortunately, Instagram success is not just about the quality of your individual photos. How your photos present together on your Instagram grid is also a big factor in attracting and keeping followers. Since Instagram is essentially your digitally curated portfolio/gallery, you want it to be well-planned and visually appealing so your account stands out as a whole.
~ Creating a Consistent Aesthetic ~
Choose an overall theme. Is your account going to feature landscapes, beauty products or food photography? This is important because people will want to know what to expect from you and be able to identify your genre right away. You want to avoid having jumbled uploads with no clear vision of what your account is about. You can think of your genre as your an area of expertise. What type of information and content do you want to be known for? Your followers should know exactly what they can expect from your account.
Nail down your featured subjects. It took me a bit of trial and error to figure out what I wanted to share with the world. As much as I love food photography and could fit that in with my travel content, it doesn’t have a place on my grid, so I focus on nature and outdoor adventures with springs and mushrooms being my favorite subjects.
Hone in on your editing style. If your photos aren’t similarly edited, your grid won’t have a cohesive feel. You want all your photos to have the same overall look or vibe. The best compliment I receive is when people can recognize a photo of mine before they see my username. That’s what you want to aim for. I think your editing style will come naturally with time and experience but I suggest you experiment with filters and presets to help facilitate the process and use your favorites on the majority of your photos to achieve that unified look.
Choose coordinating color palettes and tones for your uploads. You want your feed to have consistency when it comes to colors and tones. This creates a cohesive flow to the grid even if the subjects are otherwise different.
Upload photos that look good together. This is where a planning app can come in handy. You don’t want to have a black and white photo next to a vibrant photo next to a moody sunset photo. Remember, you want your grid to flow. Keep in mind the subjects and colors/tones of each photo when organizing them. You don’t want to have too many similar photos together such as too many photos with trees in them or the same mushroom from three different angles in a row.
Carefully plan your transitions. You don’t have to stick to one color theme forever, you can totally cycle through themes. When doing so, you just want to do so gradually, paying very close attention to the tones of your uploads. For example, the photos below were saved in my planning app until I transitioned the grid into more of an autumn toned theme. When transitioning colors, say from blue to green, post your last mostly blue photo, then several that have equal parts blue and green and slowly transition into green that way.
~ All about Grid Layouts ~
A grid layout is another way to help your grid flow. I usually like to follow some sort of grid layout, or upload pattern, to avoid too many similar photos uploaded too closely together. The layout typically focuses on the main subject or tones/colors of the photos and I tend to use a lot of checkerboard patterns. I find the checkerboard pattern to be the most appealing and is easy for your eye to follow.
Alternate shooting persepectives and subjects. Don’t post five flower photos in a row. The grid is much more appealing when there is an alternating pattern. In this grid layout, I alternated landscape photos with more macro shots with similar colors and tones.
Similarly, I experimented with this layout rotating a six day pattern but staying with alternating prospectives. I used the following formula - flower, kayak, butterfly, landscape, a mushroom for #mushroommonday and a video. Eventually I found this hard to maintain as the general colors and tones were hard to harmonize.
Alternate colors. For this grid pattern I ended up with a lot of photos that had a purple subject so I alternated those with some similarly toned shots.
Alternate photos with a human element with ones that lack the human element. In my opion, too many selfies or travel-style photos can be a little much unless that’s what you specialize in. If that’s the case, just make sure you alternate your poses well enough so the grid still flows nicely.
Experiment with the seasons and holidays. It’s hard to do this in Florida where we don’t fully experience the warm tones of autumn or the stark whites of a winter landscape, but I love seeing season or holiday-specific themed grids.
~ Utilizing Planning Applications ~
There are many Instagram planning apps out there, but I really enjoy using Planoly. This helps me schedule, visualize, organize and store my photos, stories and captions for future use.
Planning apps show your most recent Instagram uploads as well as ones you upload to the app allowing you to see exactly how your grid will look. You can move the photos around into an order that is most appealing and upload them straight from the app to your Instagram account or schedule for them to go live in advance.
Upload all your Instagram- worthy photos to the app. Even if your epic sunset shot doesn’t fit your current theme, upload your Instagram-worthy photos to the app for later use so they don’t get lost and forgotten about in your archives. Since you want to curate your grid as best you can, it’s ok to have some time between shooting and posting. It’s totally fine to hold off on posting for the sake of a cohesive grid.
For example, my feed currently consists of mostly green jungle-esq vibes but these photos have more of beach theme so it wouldn’t make sense to upload them just yet. I can save them in the app for another time when they will fit in better with my grid’s theme. Having them there is also a reminder that I need some more beach shots.
Use place holders. Sometimes, the photos in your photo bank just wont flow and you will need to use a place holder until you upload a photo in its place. I love that Planoly allows you to upload and label colored placeholders so you know what type of photo needs to fill it’s place. I use a different colored place holders to represent different types of photos. For example, black placeholders are usually a macro shot and blue is usually a landscape. I plan upcoming shoots based off of which placeholders need to be filled next.
Like I said, I have a lot of fun playing with my grid layout and am not afraid of experimenting and switching it up. I hope this post was helpful for you and feel free to contribute your tips, tricks and preferences below.