How to Do Cool Instagram Story Layouts

Tired of posting the same old selfies or product shots to your Instagram Stories? You can make your Stories look professionally designed, and you don’t need an art degree to do it. This guide will walk you through everything from flexing Instagram’s own surprising layout features to using powerful third-party apps and applying simple design principles that make a huge difference.

Mastering Instagram’s Built-In Story Layout Tools

Before you run off to download a half-dozen new apps, let’s talk about the powerful design tools hidden inside the Instagram app itself. Many creators overlook these features, but you can create some surprisingly cool layouts without ever leaving your Story editor.

Go Beyond the Basics with the "Layout" Feature

The simplest way to create a multi-photo Story is with Instagram’s native "Layout" grid. It’s perfect for showing off different angles of a product, sharing a series of related photos, or creating a quick before-and-after shot.

Here’s how to use it:

1. Open your Instagram Story camera and look at the toolbar on the left-hand side.
2. Tap the Layout icon (it looks like a grid).
3. Right below that, you’ll see an option to Change Grid. Tap it to cycle through different compositions, from a classic two-photo split to a six-photo grid.
4. Once you’ve selected your grid, tap the photo gallery icon in the bottom-left corner to add photos from your camera roll, or take new pictures by tapping the shutter button for each segment of the grid.
5. If you want to remove a photo, tap it and then tap the delete icon.
6. When your collage is complete, tap the checkmark at the bottom. You can now add text, stickers, GIFs, or music just like any other Story.

The Secret Weapon: The Add Sticker from Photos Trick

This is one of the most versatile and underutilized tricks for creating unique Story layouts. It lets you layer photos from your camera roll on top of any background, giving you total creative control. People use this to add branding elements, create custom scrapbook-style collages, or layer product shots on a styled background.

For iPhone Users:

• Start by creating a Story. You can take a photo, upload one from your camera roll, or just pick a solid background color using the "Create" mode.
• Without closing Instagram, switch to your phone's Photos app.
• Find the picture you want to use as a sticker and tap it. Now, tap and hold on the main subject of the photo (like a person or a product). iOS will magically lift the subject from its background. Select Copy.
• If you want to copy the entire photo (and not just the subject), tap the "Share" icon (the box with an arrow) in the bottom-left corner and then select Copy Photo.
• Switch back to Instagram. A little sticker pop-up of your copied image will appear in the bottom-left corner saying "Add sticker". Just tap it!
• If the pop-up doesn't appear, tap on the screen to open the text tool. Then, tap again and you’ll see a Paste option. Voila!
• You can now resize, rotate, and reposition your new photo "sticker" anywhere on the screen. Repeat this process as many times as you like to layer multiple photos.

For Android Users (Using Gboard):

The process is slightly different for Android, but just as easy if you use Google's Gboard keyboard (which you can download from the Play Store if you don’t have it).

• Open your photo gallery and find the image you want. Take a screenshot of it (you can crop it down to just the photo).
• Go back to Instagram Stories and add your background image or color.
• Tap the screen to open the text tool. This will bring up your keyboard.
• On the Gboard keyboard, tap the image icon (it looks like a photo with a smiling face on older versions or a picture in a square on newer ones) in the toolbar.
• Find the screenshot you just took and tap it. It will be added to your Story as a sticker.
• Resize, move, and get creative!

Creative Text and Font Layouts

Your text doesn’t have to be boring. With a few simple moves, you can create effects that make your Story layouts look way more polished.

• Create an Ombre or Rainbow Effect: Type out your text. Then, tap and hold the text to highlight it all. Now, using two fingers at the same time: hold one finger on the end-point of the highlighted text and the other finger on a color in the color palette at the bottom. Slide both fingers to the left simultaneously. As you drag, an impressive gradient effect will be applied to your text.
• Make "Drop Shadows”: Type some text. Duplicate that exact text, but change the color to black or a darker shade. Position the dark text slightly offset behind the original colored text. This tiny offset creates a subtle drop shadow that makes your words pop off the screen.
• Layer Different Fonts: Combine fonts for visual interest. For instance, use a standout script font for one important word and a clean, simple sans-serif font for the rest of the sentence. Layer them on top of each other and play with sizes to create a custom typographic design.

Leveling Up Your Layouts with Third-Party Apps

When you're ready to move beyond the native tools, a world of specialized Story design apps is waiting. These platforms offer stunning, professionally designed templates that you can customize in minutes.

Canva: The All-in-One Design Hub

Canva is a powerhouse for all things design, and its Instagram Story capabilities are top-notch. It offers thousands of free templates ranging from chic and minimal to bold and vibrant. Its drag-and-drop editor makes it incredibly easy to add your own photos, change fonts, and adjust colors to match your brand. Canva is especially in its element if you work with a team, as its brand kit feature lets you save your brand colors, fonts, and logos for easy access, making sure all your Stories stay consistent.

Unfold: For the Minimalist Aesthetic

If you love clean lines, elegant fonts, and a subtle "film"-inspired look, Unfold is for you. This app is famous for its minimalist templates that make your photos the star of the show. It arranges your images and text into beautiful, magazine-like layouts with an editor so simple you can knock out an entire multi-slide Story on your lunch break. Unfold adds a level of effortless sophistication to your content that is difficult to replicate manually.

Mojo: Bring Your Stories to Life with Animation

Static Stories are great, but animated Stories command attention. Mojo specializes in turning your photos and videos into dynamic, eye-catching content. With hundreds of animated templates, it can help you introduce your text with smooth fades, make your images slide into place, or add subtle motion to elements that bring your layout to life. If you find your Story engagement is flat, adding motion with an app in Mojo's class can be a real game-changer.

Layout Design Tips for Stories That Shine

Using these tools is half the battle, the other half is understanding a few basic design principles. You don't need to be an expert, but keeping these concepts in mind will vastly improve your layouts.

Create a Clear Visual Hierarchy

Every design should have a focal point. What’s the single most important thing you want your viewer to see? Is it a product photo? A headline? A call-to-action? Make that element the biggest, brightest, or most centrally located part of your layout. Arrange the other elements (text, stickers, secondary images) around it in a way that supports but doesn't compete with that main focal point. This guides the viewer’s eye and makes your message instantly clear.

Maintain Brand Consistency

Randomly designed Stories can look messy and unprofessional over time. Creating a cohesive brand experience is about repetition. Pick two or three brand fonts and a specific color palette and stick to them. When your followers see your Stories, the colors and fonts should be instantly recognizable as yours. This consistency builds brand recognition and makes your profile look much more professional and trustworthy.

Don't Fear Negative Space

New designers tend to fill every empty inch of the screen with something - a sticker, a GIF, more text. Resist this urge. Negative space (also called white space) is the empty area around your design elements. It gives your layout room to breathe, reduces TMI, and makes the elements you do include stand out more. A clean, uncluttered layout feels calming and high-end. Remember: sometimes what you leave out is just as important as what you put in.

Ensure Your Text is Readable

The coolest design in the world fails if no one can read it. When placing text over a photo, make sure there's enough contrast. If you're putting light text on a busy background, place a semi-transparent, dark-colored solid block behind your text. Most design apps, including Instagram's text tool, allow you to add backgrounds to your text. A simple, well-placed text box is better than a low-contrast font that your viewers have to squint to decipher.

Final Thoughts

With a blend of Instagram's own features, easy-to-use dedicated apps, and a few basic design tips, you have all the tools you need to stop making average Stories. Play around, find an aesthetic that fits your brand, and start creating layouts that grab attention and hold onto it.

Once you’ve perfected your designs, keeping your content on a regular schedule is what truly builds an invested audience. After countless hours fighting with clunky tools, we built Postbase to make that part easier. Our visual calendar lets you plan out all your social content, including Stories, across multiple platforms from one simple dashboard, and our rock-solid reliability ensures your posts go live exactly when you schedule them, every single time.