To build a powerful brand, you must be consistent
Consistency is critical to building a solid brand.
You’ll notice that top brands have a consistent look in their content.
Notice how Coca-Cola uses our trademark red branding on its website, Twitter account, and Youtube channel.
You can build your credibility by maintaining a consistent “look.”
This doesn’t mean you need to be perfect and polished constantly.
Richard Branson, the billionaire founder, and CEO of Virgin, said:
Too many companies want to project an idealized image of themselves through their brand. Their brands lose their texture, character, and public trust.
Consistency is vital when presenting your brand.
The Instagram Stories of the artisan coffee brand Deathwish Coffee may be better, but they maintain their brand.
Look at the image below. Notice the skulls and the black-and-white color scheme. Also, notice the excitement expressed by phrases such as “Hell yes,” “Just arrived!” and “Death Wish Coffee Time!”
Create Instagram Stories with Apps
You can easily create Instagram Stories to capture attention using various tools.
Check out these five Instagram Story apps:
Over: Add beautiful graphics and text to Instagram Story designs. (Featured on the image below).
Canva: An extensive library of professional graphics and Instagram Story Layouts.
Adobe Spark Post: Enhance your photos and add pictures all in one app.
StoryLuxe: Customize stunning templates and filters.
Unfold: Bring a touch of style and class to the designs of your Instagram Stories.
Check out our guide to the best Instagram Story Apps to learn more.
Create Instagram Stories with Templates
Why reinvent the wheel?
Professional designers have created countless Instagram Story templates.
These Instagram Story templates are available in many design apps. Here are a few examples from Canva.
These templates for Instagram will help you save time and maintain a consistent look while maintaining your professional brand.
See how Vevo, a music video hosting service, uses Instagram Story to showcase a new artist.
The Right Instagram Story Dimensions
It can be challenging to design Instagram Stories using your smartphone, especially when you are trying to create video clips that look professional. You may prefer to use a computer.
You’ll then need to use the correct dimensions.
Instagram Stories should be 1080 pixels wide and 1920 pixels tall. This aspect ratio is 9:16.
You can download an Instagram Story template to use. You can download the template to your computer, then import it into your video editing or design software.
These dimensions could be better. Instagram Stories’ dimensions are determined by the device you use to view them. Some smartphones have larger or smaller screens.
Please read our guide to Instagram story sizes and dimensions for more information.
Select a Font
Consistency is critical to an intense look at your brand. It is essential to select a font that represents your brand and stick with it.
This can be a different font than you use for your website. The watch brand Bremont, for example, uses different fonts on their Instagram Story and website.
Bremont uses the typewriter font in all their Instagram Story designs. This font is timeless and classy.
Find a font that works well for your Instagram Story design by visiting websites such as Font Pair Font Joy and Canva Font Combinations.
You can also get creative with your text if you are into fonts. For example, you could use an Instagram Story Design app like Font Candy for iOS or Style Candy for Android.
Create a Brand Color Palette
In the first part of this article, you saw how Coca-Cola created a consistent brand image by sticking with our signature blue color palette.
Different colors elicit different emotions. They can influence our feelings about products, brands, and services. They can influence our decisions.
For this reason, brands choose a color very carefully regarding their marketing materials.
The graphic below shows the relationship between colors and emotions and how brands use this connection to strengthen their brand.
If you want your Instagram Stories to stand out, you should choose a unique color palette.
What colors best represent your brand?
You can see in the image below how hair extension company Luxy Hair has used pink, purple, and blue pastels to create a feminine, soft look.
Learn more about color psychology.
Access Every Color
You can choose from 27 colors when you draw or type in the Instagram app.
The cool thing is that you’re not restricted to these 27 colors. Hold down any 27 colors available to select from the entire color spectrum.
If you still can’t find the right color, you can use the color picker in the lower left corner of the screen. Tap it to select a color from your image.
Use stunning images in your Instagram Story Designs
Instagram Story designs can be based on something other than low-quality graphic elements or video clips. Use some high-quality photos to spice things up.
These Instagram Story designs by apparel brand Hisschel “pop” are thanks to stunning images.
How can you create Instagram Stories that look professional without paying a photographer to do it?
You can find many websites offering free images that you can use for commercial purposes, including Shopify Burst or Unsplash.
Check out our guide on 10 of the best websites for stock photography to find more great places to source photos.
Highlight specific elements with Backgrounds and Overlays
Use a colored background or overlay to draw attention to a particular item.
This example, from the energy beverage brand Redbull, highlights the design elements in the foreground with solid colors.
Backgrounds and overlays can be created in a variety of ways.
You can create Instagram Stories without photos or videos by opening the draw tool. Choose a color, tap, and hold the thumb until the screen changes color.
You could go one step further by using the eraser to remove a part of the overlay and reveal a part of your photo.
Use backgrounds and overlays in your Instagram Story design to make it more interesting.
