Have you ever wondered how some architects are able to maintain a visually appealing Instagram feed? Aesthetics and presentation are crucial for the success of an Instagram account, but it can be difficult to know how to improve the look and feel of your own feed. In this post, we will provide three tips for making your Instagram feed more appealing and a free template for architects to streamline their social media workflow.

What makes an account look so aesthetic?

Many architecture firms strive to create a visually appealing and cohesive Instagram feed like Trias Studio’s. However, achieving this level of consistency and simplicity does not happen by chance. In this post, we will delve into the strategies that contribute to April & May’ attractive Instagram account, and provide tips for replicating these techniques on your own account.

Use a border template to display your images in portrait and landscape on Instagram.

Have you noticed that the images in Trias‘ Instagram feed are not cropped into squares, unlike most Instagram posts? This is because Trias has added a border around their images, which allows them to maintain the original aspect ratio of their architectural photography when viewed in the feed. Square cropping can distort the composition of these types of photos and does not do justice to the work of the photographer. To ensure that your own architectural photography looks its best on your Instagram profile, you can use a Photoshop template to fit the images into the square 1080 x 1080 format before uploading them. While this may require some extra effort, it can make a significant difference in the appearance of your feed. To make this process easier, we have provided two Photoshop files, one for landscape and one for portrait, which you can download using the button below.

Ensure that your process images are well-planned, rather than relying on luck.

Borders and carefully chosen background colors can enhance the appearance of your Instagram posts, but it is the consistency and quality of your process images that truly sets some architecture firms apart. Process images often make up the majority of an Instagram account’s content, so it is important to establish a consistent visual language and guidelines to ensure that your feed is both attractive and cohesive. To make the creation of these images more efficient and stress-free, it is helpful to develop a repeatable system for generating them and to prepare them in advance.

To create consistent process images for your Instagram feed, follow these steps:

1. Choose the types of process photos that you want to include in your feed. It is usually best to specialize in two or three categories, such as model photos, renders, and sketches, rather than trying to cover everything.
2. Calculate how many images you need to prepare for the next 3-6 months of posts based on your posting frequency and the proportion of each type of image that you plan to include.
3. Find examples to emulate and create a mood board for each category to use as a reference when creating your own photos.
4. Identify any gaps in your equipment or skills and consider investing in new camera or lens, a tripod or light, or taking an online photography or Photoshop course to improve the quality of your images.
5. When creating your images, pay attention to details such as saturation, contrast, brightness, and color to ensure that they are consistent and complement each other.”
6. Save time and maintain a consistent posting schedule, you can schedule your posts in advance using a tool like Later. For more tips on Instagram posting, hashtagging, and scheduling, refer to our previous post on the subject.

In summary, an attractive and cohesive Instagram feed makes a strong first impression and reflects the quality of the account. Consistently presenting yourself in an appealing manner in the feed is likely to convert a higher percentage of visitors into followers and ultimately drive growth on the platform.