How to Design On-Brand Instagram Stories

Curating an Instagram aesthetic that stops users in their tracks is #goals for any brand, but with the rise of Instagram stories, having a recognizable look and feel that extends beyond your channel is more important than ever. Read on to discover how to design on-brand Instagram Stories that’ll engage your audience and keep them from swiping on past.

Step One to Creating on-brand Instagram Stories: Create a Branding Kit

Good branding quickly communicates the essence of your product or services. The right combination has the power to sway our purchasing decisions, evoke emotion, and communicate identity—often without saying a word. So, if you’re looking to grab attention and influence people (what brand isn’t?) getting your branding in line should be your first step.

Lucky for you, designing Instagram Stories doesn’t have to be complicated. Consistent color palettes and fonts go a long way in making your stories professional and recognizable. If you’re not sure where to start, spend some time examining existing color palettes and photo edits to see which colors are naturally reoccurring in your feed. Your final color palette should consist of core branding colors as well as secondary colors to be used as accents. (Remember to record the HEX codes so your team can use and reference these in the future.)

Next, choose your fonts. These should complement the overall look and feel of your brand and include options for headings and body copy. Feel free to experiment here to choose the look that’s right for you.

Step Two: Choose Your Filters (Or Go au Naturale)

Once you have your visual identity established, people will naturally start to gravitate towards your feed. Make it worth their while with beautiful stories that only enhance their experience.

Editing On-brand Instagram Stories

Choose filters that reflect your brand style and essence. Is your brand bright and colorful, or would a warm, retro effect compliment your images better? Once you’ve found your style, utilize Instagram’s built in features or explore photo editing apps to take your images to the next level. Of course, if the unedited style is more your thing, feel free to rock that too! Filter or no filter, choose what makes the most sense for your unique brand.

Step Three: Utilize Templates

Want your Instagram stories to be on brand, all the time? With a few branded templates set in place, you’ll be able to design on the fly and reinforce your branding at the same time. Not a designer? No worries! Design site Canva offers hundreds of templates to remix and repurpose. Just select a template, add your brand’s colors and fonts, and get creating.

Does your brand have multiple content series or a new campaign to promote? Reserve a few templates for these special use cases to create recognition with your audience and get them looking forward to your next post.

Step Four: Add That Logo

Though heavily branded posts on social are a no-go, we always recommend adding a logo to your Instagram stories. Here’s why: incorporating your brand’s logo into the overall design of your Instagram Story gives viewers a reminder of who’s posting in a natural and aesthetically pleasing way. Whether you include your logo at the beginning of the story or feature your product prominently in the frame, don’t forget to add a bit of branding to every story.

Step Five: Brand Your Instagram Story Highlights

If you’ve followed the steps above, chances are people are going to start noticing and engaging with your brand. Give your followers the chance to get to know you better with a beautifully curated selection of Instagram story highlights!

The key here is to follow your brand guidelines and keep the color palette and tone consistent with your feed. If your brand is bright and quirky, playful, abstract shapes or cartoon like doodles will complement your aesthetic and add another layer of personality to your feed. Elegant and minimalist? Line drawings and simple shapes add to (rather than distract from) your carefully curated images.

Try out these tips to create on-brand Instagram Stories and you’ll soon see a difference in your profile’s engagement rate, growth, and performance. Looking to wow with a full Instagram strategy? Contact us!



Ignite Social Media