How to Curate Your Instagram Grid Layout

Find out how you can make the most of Instagram to show off your creative portfolio

Customizing your Instagram feed is a great idea if you want to use your account as a portfolio. A well-curated feed can transmit what you do in seconds.

If your work is visual, knowing how to order your posts–so that they stand out more as a whole–is key when it comes to attracting new followers and showing off your work. Or maybe you are just interested in experimenting with your personal page.

The well-organized and harmonious effects you achieve when you plan your posts in advance are known as Instagram Grid Layouts, Puzzles, or Mosaics. To incorporate them into your feed, all you need to do is follow different publishing methods and try out some of the tools that photographer Pati Gagarin (@patigagarin) recommends in her course, Instagram as a Photography Portfolio.

Previewing your grid

To curate your feed as if you are making a collage, say goodbye (at least for now) to spontaneous posting. From now on, every image you upload will have been carefully planned. This way, you will know exactly how all of them will look together as a whole when someone visits your profile.

To do this, you can use apps like Planoly, which is one that Pati highly recommends. Like many others, this app will allow you to preview images in different orders without having to publish them. You can experiment with different ways of organizing your feed. Then, when you have finally decided which arrangement you like, you can schedule your posts.

Once you’re familiar with these apps, you can start exploring different methods for curating your images–some are simple and others much more complex. Discover some of these methods below:

Individual posts that work well together

You could start by posting images that work very well on their own but also share a strong connection with the other images in your grid. This connection could be style, color palette, or theme. To achieve this harmony, refer back to your previous posts when planning future posts. This way, you can continue developing the visual universe you’ve been building up until now.

Three in a row

This simple technique of publishing three images in a horizontal row or vertical column is a way to draw attention to what you’re showing. Visitors to your Instagram profile will see a well-organized grid and understand it immediately.

Framing your images

Framing each image in a similar way–perhaps using certain colors or shapes–is an effective way to create a coherent grid. It also serves to create space between your images.

Breaking up an image

Splitting an image up into three, six, nine, or more parts, so that it dominates your feed, has a powerful impact. However, it’s important to be aware that the individual images can lose meaning when viewed separately. It is best to save this method for special occasions, such as when we want to draw attention to a piece of work, launch a product, or announce some big news.

If you want to learn more techniques for creating a powerful portfolio on Instagram, sign up to the course, Creating an Illustration Portfolio on Instagram. Discover Pati’s tips for achieving a professional and artistic page.

English version by @eloiseedgington.

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