10 Ways To Up Your Instagram Story Aesthetic

Let’s face it–we’ve all at one point or another have been jealous of someone’s Instagram story. There’s some Instagram stories you don’t even really look at it, and there’s others that you really look forward to looking at and envying. If you haven’t experienced that then you either don’t have an Instagram, or you’re just straight up lying.

Ok, so maybe Karen that goes to school in Florida has a fabulous life and just goes cool places–of course when you live around palm trees your Insta stories will always be on point. Or maybe Taylor from your school is just super crafty and creative with hers. If you want to stop envying other stories and have people start to envy yours, here are ten ways to make your Instagram story #amazing.

1. Know your fonts

It sounds very surface level, but know your fonts. Knowing the fonts on Instagram will make your life a lot easier when it comes to pairing them with stories. A good picture can be ruined by a font that doesn’t match it. If you’re posting a picture at a wedding, the light up cursive is probably a good option. If you’re posting a picture of a cool dive bar on a trip, using the typewriter font might suit it better.

2. Know your subject

If you’re posting a picture of your friend with a beautiful landscape, it is obviously better to be far away. If you’re posting a picture of loaded bagel sandwich, get up close on it. Know what you want people to really notice in your Instagram stories. Taking a picture of that same loaded bagel from further away, it might get lost.

3. Boomerangs in moderation

I won’t argue that boomerangs are the coolest part of Instagram stories, but use them in moderation. There’s nothing worse than clicking through a long Instagram story when all of them are boomerangs. It will ruin your Instagram story aesthetic.

4. Get familiar with the writing/drawing tools

While most people get scared to use any of the marker or pen tools (where you can draw yourself), they reallycan add to an Instagram story. Play around with the width and look of some of them and start to use them.

5. The 2-1 rule

If you use two fonts, use one color. If you use two colors, use one font. Nothing is worse than seeing multiple fonts with multiple colors on an Instagram story–next.

6. Know when to just leave it

Sometimes, you just need to leave it. I mean it, don’t do anything to it. The #nofilter is a real thing. Don’t ruin a picture of the grand canyon with words, locations, or filters. If people are likely to know what or where your picture is, then leave it.

7. Know where to put text

If you’re posting a picture of a wall at a museum that’s full of lines and colors, maybe don’tput text there. If you post a picture of a palm tree with a blue sky, put words or the location where they sky is. Don’t make it too crowded.

8. Have a few go-to filters

I’m all for making your Instagram stories your own, but try and have at least some sort of theme. And by theme I mean using some of the same filters. If you use Melbourne and New York a lot (which are darker filters), don’t use Cairo (a lighter filter). Try and have at least 3 favorite filters that are similar.

9. Try to avoid video

For starters, that’s what Snapchat for. It’s also really distracting to have a video of you and your friend, no matter how cute you look (again, Snapchat). Unless you have a beautiful 360 view of some land or something really cool, I would avoid it.

10. Good lighting

It seems the most obvious, but you would be surprised. Bad lighting can completely ruin an Instagram story–if you really need to post it, lighten it up with a brighter filter.

I’m no Instagram guru, but I have learned and picked up on some tricks of the trade on how to up your Instagram story aesthetic.