How to Create an Instagram Aesthetic
Published on 17th of May 2019An Instagram aesthetic is when you create an overall look and feel for your account. Every individual piece of content you upload on your feed needs to be a part of a whole.
The perk of having an aesthetic profile is that people love them. They love them because a specific aesthetic could make someone feel warm, happy, safe, and other positive emotions that prompt them to follow you. They’re also popular because they look satisfying to the eye, and they draw you in so much that suddenly you find yourself clicking the follow button.
In this article, we’re going to cover how you can create an aesthetic profile to gain more followers, likes, and comments. Let’s begin!
1. Know your followers
If you already have a following, and you want to transition into an aesthetic profile, then you can’t just create anything you might be interested in. You have to keep your followers in mind and create the aesthetic they would want.
For example, if you run an account where you upload content about interior design, and you want to induce a feeling of warmth in your followers, ask yourself if that’s what they want. Maybe your followers don’t want warmth. They want pop and color—something that makes them feel like they’re having fun.
If you start turning your Instagram account into the aesthetic your followers don’t like, they’re not going to compare to you anymore. They’ll lose interest, and you’ll lose followers. Plus, what you have in mind versus what you upload may not correlate (i.e., pop and color plus a warm aesthetic), and because of the miscorrelation, then the users visiting your account won’t know what you’re about. You’ll send a confusing message, and you won’t gain a following.
2. Pick a color scheme
Picking the colors
Picking your color scheme will be fun, but keep your goal (and your followers) at the forefront of your mind. A specific color might make your photos look great, but if they don’t do well with what you had planned for your aesthetic to be, it’s not going to give you the effect you desire.
However, you can’t just pick one color. It would help if you chose an entire color palette. This palette can consist of three to five colors, and of course, as any palette goes, all the colors need to go well together. Also, they must all be one consistency. For example, if you go with matte shades, stick to those. Same goes for bright, soft, pastel colors, and so on.
It’s not always possible to only use those colors, so if you are including other colors, make sure they don’t stand out, and that they still go well with your entire palette.
Choose your lighting
Colors, however, are not the only thing that matter in a color scheme. You also have to pay attention to lighting. If you’re going with dark lighting, all your other pieces of content need to have the same or similar dark lighting. This also applies to brighter lighting, something in between, colorful lights, and more.
Decide on a filter
Finally, you need a filter. Preview states, “I love to tell people: ‘A filter is like an outfit for your feed. It can make or break your look. Choose the right one, and you’ll have a cohesive look. If you choose the wrong one, your filter and photos will clash.’”
Our best advice for filters is this: Gather nine images and give them all the same filter. Try a bunch of filters until you find the one that fits your goal and achieves the best look for your content. Experimenting is important here.
Here are apps where you can find filters:
3. Choose and stick to your emotion
Emotions are just as important as looks when it comes to Instagram aesthetics. They both go together. For example, you can’t have pictures filled with colors without expecting your audience to feel light and happy when they see it. Correlate your emotional response with the look of your account.
Examples of “emotions” to bring out in your followers:
- Joy
- Empowerment
- Deep
- Fun
- Young
- Warm
- Safe
- Homey
- Loved
4. Have a theme
Your style theme, just like everything else in this list, needs to remain consistent throughout your entire main feed account. (Stories are a different topic. They can stand alone.) You make your content according to the theme of your account. If your theme is home, vintage, bright, moody, warm, white, sunshine, nature, and so on, the pictures you make have to go with that theme. If they don’t, your aesthetic will seem off, and you won’t accomplish what you set out to do.
When I see that your account is about plants, for example, I expect to see a lot of bright lighting and green. If your style theme is a soft vintage, then I’d like to see soft oranges, pinks, and matching flowers. Everything you do has to point back to it. Everything needs to connect in one way or another if you wish to achieve that specific look you have in mind.
5. Keep the whole aesthetic in mind
A final tip—be sure you’re keeping your entire aesthetic in mind when you’re taking a picture, adding a filter, and so on. You don’t want to make one image different by accident only to have it not fit with your aesthetic.
In your photo album, drag the picture you’re creating after your latest Instagram images and see if they fit. If they don’t, change it up. You don’t want one photo sticking out like a sore thumb; it might send the message that you don’t know what you’re doing.
Follow these five steps, and create the best aesthetic you can to your brand or account. Experiment, and have fun with it. If two months later, you realize that the aesthetic isn’t working out, change it up!
