Perfecting your Instagram grid can feel like a challenge, but it’s one strategy that can really pay off!
While you have to consider your business goals and content style to get it right, a planned out grid and Instagram aesthetic is a guaranteed way to get more followers.
Thankfully, there are tons of super-creative brands leading the way with their Instagram grid — and we’ve picked out our top 10 to take inspiration from:
Instagram Grid Inspo #1: Create Bold Color-blocking Themes like Ohh Deer
Nothing is as pleasing on the eye as a completely color-blocked scroll and Ohh Deer does this like no one else!
@ohhdeer
The stationery brand boldly switches up their color theme every couple of weeks. With just a quick scroll of their feed, you can see that every 9-12 photos Ohh Deer changes up the color scheme but maintains a strong user-generated content (UGC) strategy even as the color palette changes.
And with some subtle hints to the next color coming up on their grid, Ohh Deer moves from one color to the next seamlessly, making the color-blocking trend look easy!
@ohhdeer
One of the best ways to plan out a color-coordinated grid is with a visual planner like Later! You can schedule your upcoming posts to your calendar, then simply drag-and-drop your images into the order that works best for your grid!
Make color-blocking your grid easy with Later’s Visual Planner (available on desktop and mobile) and start planning a perfectly cohesive grid. Sign up now — it’s free!
Instagram Grid Inspo #2: Go Bright and Bold like Blogger Sam Ushiro
When it comes to creating a colorful feed, industrial designer and blogger Sam Ushiro knows how to stand out from the crowd!
Her unapologetically bright and colorful feed uses a myriad of oversaturated hues to make every single image pop. From closets to cakes, you can see how she creatively thinks with color first when planning her Instagram grid.
@aww.sam
Using a singular color palette on your feed can be visually striking, but combining multiple colors (like Sam!) can be just as captivating.
TIP: Don’t forget about your Instagram Stories Highlights! An on-brand profile means continuing your grid theme into Highlights’ cover images. See how Sam has integrated her grid’s stand-out shades into cute icons for her Instagram Stories Highlights:
@aww.sam
Instagram Grid Inspo #3: Host a Product Launch Takeover like Jo Malone London
Jo Malone London does an incredible job of showcasing their products on their Instagram grid. By taking a birds-eye approach to designing the grid, the brand hosts a feed takeover for a new product launch.
When launching their latest fragrance, Poppy & Barely, Jo Malone dedicated a 3×3 grid spread to the new collection:
@jomalonelondon
And with a combination of videos, carousels and single-image posts, Jo Malone’s followers were able to get all the info they needed on the new launch, and potentially encouraged followers to hit “add to bag”!
@jomalonelondon
For the fragrance brand, it works a treat — by continuously introducing new editorial-style images to their grid for each launch, readers are kept engaged.
And while every image works as a standalone post, it’s the combination of the images and the grid takeover that makes it work!
Instagram Grid Inspo #4: Add Quotes to the Grid like Postmates
When it comes to color, Postmates knows what they’re doing, but it’s their Instagram quotes that make for a stellar grid!
By organizing their grid in 3×3 format, Postmates is able to inject some punchy, eye-catching quotes to their grid.
@postmates
And it’s often their quotes that get the most rewards! With witty one-liners and relatable moments, Postmates is able to build their grid with content their audience can relate too. That means there’s plenty of likes, comments, and shares coming their way!
Looking to fine-tune your Instagram content in 2020?
We teamed up with Founder of @ilovecreatives and @PeopleMap.co, Puno to create a free 6-part video workshop that teaches you how to find your people, get in on the conversation, and put a personal spin on your content.
Sign up and start building your very own personalized visual identity board and grow your following with a killer content plan — especially for Instagram!
Instagram Grid Inspo #5: Commit to Presets like The Birds Papaya
Sarah Nicole Landry of The Birds Papaya has her Instagram strategy down to a tee. And while her followers love her micro-blog captions, it’s her uniform, slightly pink-hued photos that keep all eyes on the grid!
First and foremost, Sarah Nicole plans what she wants to say to her readers and her captions are often what drive her to post on Instagram in the first place (you can learn more about her caption-first strategy here).
But she always makes sure to keep her aesthetic on-brand and cohesive:
@thebirdspapaya
By creating a consistent pink-toned Lightroom preset for her posts, with one quick photo edit, everything on Sarah Nicole’s grid is uniform!
Whether it’s a selfie, a family portrait or a cute meme, there’s no mistaking that gorgeous rose aesthetic!
Want to get to grips with Lightroom presets? We teamed up with content creator Maddy Corbin on how to quickly level-up your photography with presets! Check it out here:
Instagram Grid Inspo #6: Use a Consistent Color Combo like Jenna Rae Cakes
Canadian baking duo Jenna Rae Cakes may know how to whip up sweet treats, but they also know how to curate a beautiful Instagram grid!
Their consistent style of bright whites and delicate pastels allows their feed to flow beautifully.
@jennaraecakes
To achieve this consistency, marble flat lays and stark white backgrounds are often used for Jenna Rae Cakes product shots, while the more lifestyle images showcase a pink or lilac pastel color palette.
It’s one powerful color-combo that makes every post stand out on the grid.
Looking to create a consistent feed? Check out some of the best Instagram apps and filters for editing your photos here!
Instagram Grid Inspo #7: Choose Borders like Blogger Jillian Harris
Remember when Instagram was all about the borders you picked for your photos? Well, that trend didn’t completely die out.
Some bloggers, like Jillian Harris, include a white border on Instagram posts for a clean aesthetic — and we’re loving the final result!
@jillianharris
While being a really subtle addition to your grid, the gallery wall look is trending and will definitely give your feed a unique look and feel.
Instagram Grid Inspo #8: Use Carousels to Go Behind the Scenes like Paige Arminta
Instagram Stories are a great way to show your followers some behind-the-scenes action, but you can also put this content to good use on your Instagram feed!
Creative Paige Arminta shares her BTS content by using Instagram carousel posts — so she can always keep her Instagram aesthetic intact!
@paigearminta
To do this, Paige uses a perfectly edited image as the first photo in her carousel post and tucks the unedited, behind-the-scenes footage one swipe away in the carousel.
Carousel posts are a great way to share more with your audience — so even if a post doesn’t fully align with your aesthetic, you can still share it with your followers in a carousel!
It’s an awesome way to be more transparent with your Instagram content (ICYMI: it’s a big trend for 2020!) and show your followers how the final photo came to be, while still maintaining a perfect Instagram aesthetic on your grid.
Many bloggers are starting to hop on this trend, but Paige posts her BTS consistently — and we love it!
Don’t forget! You can schedule carousel posts with Later for free!
Instagram Grid Inspo #9: Integrate Great UGC like Later
We couldn’t give a shoutout to our favorite feeds without mentioning our own!
Later’s Instagram feed uses a combination of strong user-generated content and in-house designs to create our punchy grid that mirrors our trademark look and feel!
@latermedia
But not just any user-generated content will do — our Social Media Strategist, Mel Brittner cherry-picks the best images out there, and ties in the image’s content with what we want to share in our caption.
By spending time curating the best user-generated content for the Later grid, Mel’s able to seamlessly stitch UGC posts with our in-house designs. The result? One uniform Instagram grid that honors our punchy, bright aesthetic and showcases our community’s best work:
@latermedia
And a feed based on user-generated content is super easy to achieve, especially if you use Later!
Now you can add Instagram posts that you are mentioned or tagged in directly to your Later media library, making it easy to share to your social channels in just a few clicks.
You can also search by hashtags or add photos from any URL to find user-generated content in seconds, or have contributors upload content to your Later account.
It’s a great way to save time on content creation, and engage your fans while you’re at it. Sign up to Later to get access to our user-generated content tools and features:
Instagram Grid Inspo #10: Think outside the Box like Moon Oral Care
When oral care brand, Moon first launched on Instagram, their whole feed was taken over with a series of videos to introduce their brand with a bang:
@moon
Even Moon’s influencer marketing efforts were broken up for the grid — making it an impactful and standout campaign for their new followers:
@moon
And the good news is this eye-catching photo split is really easy to achieve by using apps like PhotoSplit For Instagram. So if you’re looking to give it a try, you don’t need any Photoshop skills to get it right!
And Moon’s commitment to the grid didn’t stop after launch — now Moon has a consistent black and white theme that works across all their images and videos.
Meaning they locked in their grid aesthetic at launch stages to make sure their audience always knew what to expect from the new brand!
Whether you’re launching a brand on Instagram for the first time or looking to give your current feed a refresh, having a creative Instagram grid is a sure-fire way to help you stand out from the rest!
And the best place to start is with some planning, experimenting, and finding inspiration in the brands you know and love!
Ready to take your Instagram grid to the next level? Get started with Later’s Visual Planner — it’s free!
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