Instagram is a rented channel. The platform sets the rules and changes them without notice. It is also the brand's most visual channel, because the grid reads as a portfolio before anyone opens a single post. The studio team owns it.
Regulations
Instagram sets these per format and changes them without notice. Nothing here is ours to negotiate.
| Format | Size / ratio | Safe area | File format | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profile photo | 1080×1080 · 1:1 | circular crop, keep the mark clear of the corners | JPG/PNG | served at 320×320 and rendered smaller again |
| Portrait post | 1080×1350 · 4:5 | grid tile takes a strip off each side | JPG/PNG | the tallest ratio the feed shows, and the least cropped in the grid |
| Square post | 1080×1080 · 1:1 | grid tile takes a strip off each side | JPG/PNG | loses roughly a quarter of its width in the grid |
| Landscape post | 1080×566 · 1.91:1 | grid tile takes most of the width | JPG/PNG | the format the grid treats worst |
| Story | 1080×1920 · 9:16 | roughly 250px clear, top and bottom | JPG/PNG or MP4 | profile info and reply bar overlay the frame |
| Reel cover | 1080×1920 · 9:16 | roughly 250px clear at the top, bottom third clear | JPG/PNG cover on MP4 | caption, username and action rail overlay the frame, and the cover also takes the grid crop |
Ratios and the 3:4 grid tile are Instagram's published rules. The safe areas are ours: measured in the app rather than published by Instagram, and re-measured when the UI moves. Verified 2026-07-05.
Standards
- Logo: the avatar variant carries the profile photo, and it has to survive a circular crop at thumbnail size. Variants and clear space: 4.1 Logo
- Colour: imagery and graphics stay inside the brand palette. No per-post filters, no off-palette gradients. Accents: 4.2 Colour
- Type: where text is designed into a post, Story or Reel cover rather than shot in camera, it uses the brand type roles, not the platform's sticker fonts: 4.3 Typography
- Compose for the crop. The grid tile is 3:4 and every preview fills it, so a 4:5 loses a strip off each side and a landscape loses most of its width. A composition that only survives at full frame falls apart on the profile, which is where first impressions happen.
- Export at spec, never up. The ratios in the table are Instagram's. The pixel sizes are ours: the platform accepts a range, and these are the sizes we standardise on so assets hold on retina. Instagram recompresses on upload, and it cannot recover detail an upscale never had.
- Voice: captions carry the same voice as everywhere else. The platform changes the length, not the register. Lead with the point, because the first line is all most people see. The cheat sheet: 3.3 How We Communicate
Formats
Design is building the sized blanks, each with the safe areas and the grid crop marked. Each download turns on as its template lands.
Profile photo
The avatar mark. Take it from the logo kit rather than downloading a template here, and upload it large so it holds on retina.
Portrait post
The default feed export. Build most work here.
Square post
For work that reads best square: grids of detail shots, single objects, type-led posts.
Landscape post
For compositions that need the width: environments, spreads, installation shots. Accept the trade, because the post holds and the grid tile takes most of it.
Story
The short-lived, full-screen unit: work in progress, behind the scenes, and anything pointing at a post.
Reel cover
The still that represents a Reel in the grid, so it carries two jobs: stopping the scroll in the feed, and holding its place on the profile.
Tools
- Image Placeholder, blanks at any of the sizes above, for laying out drafts before the imagery exists
No Instagram-specific tool exists yet. A crop checker that previews a post at the 3:4 grid tile is the obvious first one. Request it the next time a post ships and the profile looks wrong.
Don't
Don't put text in the overlay zones
The top and bottom of a Story or Reel belong to the platform UI. Text there sits under the username, caption, or reply bar.
Don't compose for the full frame
The grid tile is 3:4. A 4:5 post loses a strip off each side there, so a subject pushed to the edge is gone on the profile, where first impressions happen.
Don't let the platform grade the image
Instagram's filters and sticker colours read as someone else's brand. Designed assets use the brand palette; photography keeps the grade it left the studio with.
Checklist
- Exported at spec size for the placement, no platform-side upscaling
- Composition holds inside the 3:4 grid tile
- Story and Reel text clear of the overlay zones
- Colour and type from the brand system
- Avatar logo variant on the profile
- Caption passes the voice check, point first