How to create engaging layout in your social media account.

How important is the layout on Instagram? Planning the posting can change the way your content is perceived. Adding colours and textures in the right spot creating a background for other important work. Some more generic pictures offset more detailed ones and do not overloads the page with too many details. Also, the repetition of Colours is key. Having the same colours repeating now and then helps to connect the content and creates a professional-looking thought of the page. Planing the layout is easy, you don’t even have to load any apps, just create a new album with pictures you want to post and rearrange them as much as you want.

So the key strategies when creating a pleasing layout is matching! You have to support images with similar texture, colours, forms to create repetition. We humans naturally like similarity, symmetry and repetition, it makes everything look ordered, complete. But at the same time having repetitive elements is not enough. also let viewer,s eyes to ‘rest’ from some pattern, otherwise it will be perceived as boring and monotonous. So repetition has to be combined with contrast. Having a contrast of colour, level of lightness or darkness of pictures also makes it vitally more pleasant and interesting to investigate.

Can you see the matching elements (colours and shapes)? We focus on them since they repeat.

A common practice is using chessboard layout and changes the darkness of pictures in every next post. this creates a big contrast. However this practice has become so popular, so to be unique let’s look at other options of arranging the social media. The strategies am using all the time to help me to create an exciting journey thought my feed and lead the eyes of focusing attention on the things that are important to me. I often use these: grouping by 2, 9 with focusing on the centre. 6 in 2 rows, and ‘snake’. let’s look at them closer.

Same layout but showing how it is grouped using brightness in 6. Also, there is a transition bettween darker area and lighter.ry vivid colour pops up (highlighted with purple). That helps to make sure that is not dominating over other content, but still far enough, so it is still visible at the same time while scrolling.

Same layout but showing how it is grouped using brightness in 6. Also there is a transition bettween darker area and lighter.

Here how his strategy looks like. having less dominan, less detailed, or contrasting and more abstract pictures around helps you to focus better on your star object. Here I represent the main content you want your audience to focus on with red and ‘offsetting’ pictures as blue. in common.

Here how his strategy looks like. having less dominan, less detailed, or contrasting and more abstract pictures around helps you to focus better on your star object. Here I represent main content you want your audience to focus on with red and ‘offsetting’ pictures as blue.

Also, to make the layout more dynamic and contrasting you can use 2 grouping technique. This allows you to keep the feed variable, but go away from standard chess look. I am calling this ‘snake’ layout. It is guiding the eyes of the viewer in zigzags. Besides, you can incorporate a pano of 3 pictures here.

what Makes the pictures look more in tune or harmony together? Some alignment! Try to rotate pictures, so the lines in them create a new focal point in a grid. Like on one picture pen could be directing the focus on some other spot. Make it fluid and support round lines with round shapes and rigid sharp corners with other pointy details.

Here you can see how this layout can help to focus attention in the middle.

And down below is a ‘classic’ chessboard layout. Try it out as well! Combine, explore! And find the one that fits you. But keep in mind that to stand out and be remembered you have added your flavour to it because there are no predefined solutions that will work in every instance. So let’s experiment with it and give every possibility a try to find the one that feels just right!