Instagram Stories Creative Customization Guide: Go beyond basic features and play with visual effects!

Do you think the customization options of Instagram Stories are a bit limited? Actually, it is not the case! Text, GIF, hand-drawn and music, these seemingly simple tools, can create eye-catching stories with clever use.

Turn the period into polka dots or squares to create a fashionable geometric background; short horizontal lines transform into lines, GIFs create cool special effects, and appropriate colors can also cleverly hide many hashtags. The possibilities are far beyond your imagination, here are just some introductory tips.

Hide hashtags to increase exposure

If your posts go beyond the circle of friends, you need to make them more social. Although there is no official guide, the user’s years of experience sums up: the more social elements you add in a story, the more exposure you will get in search. This includes mentions, location tags and hashtags.

The more labels, the better, but the dense text has no aesthetic sense. The solution is simple: hide them! The algorithm recognizes them even if the user cannot see them. The same applies to mentioning, as follows:

Method 1: Drag beyond the edge

Instagram Stories has some hidden space at the edge of the screen, which is perfect for hiding content.

1. Enter all hashtags using Text tool . If the quantity is too large, it can be done in batches.
2. Use index finger and thumb to narrow down the text.
3. Drag the text to the left and right edges so that it is no longer visible. If there is more text, repeat this step.

Method 2: Hide behind the post

If you are sharing a post in a feed or Timeline, you can put it on top of hashtags for hiding.

1. Select the post you want to add to your story and share with the paper plane icon . Click "Add to Your Story" in the dialog box pops up at the bottom.
2. Enter hashtags using Text tool . Can be operated multiple times.
3. If necessary, use your thumb and index finger to size the text smaller than the picture of the shared post.
4. Drag the text over the post and click on the post to put it in front. hashtags will no longer be visible.

Method 3: Disguised hashtags

If the hashtags are the same color as the background, no one can see them.

1. Select the post you want to add to your story and share with the paper plane icon . Click "Add to Your Story" in the dialog box pops up at the bottom.
2. Select Drawing Tool (wavy lines at the top of the screen), and select the color.
3. Click on any locale that is not covered by the post to set the background color. Click the tick in the upper right corner of the screen to finish.
4. Select Text Tool and enter hashtags.
5. Tap the palette at the top of the screen to select the same color as the background. If necessary, use the straw tool in the lower left corner of the screen to select the exact tone. Click the tick mark in the upper right corner to finish.
6. Drag hashtags to the space around the post. If necessary, use your index finger and thumb to modify the text size.

Hidden music player stickers

When using Spotify stickers, there are many options. Click once to display the song cover; click multiple times to display the lyrics in different ways. The default white label sticker, no matter how small it is, looks annoying. Also, the artist and song titles are already displayed under your username, so there is no need to keep it in order for fans to know about the song you play. Just hide it at the edge of the screen.

1. Add music stickers. Leave the default display option to determine which song clips to display in the story. Click the tick in the upper right corner of the screen to finish.
2. Flip the sticker into a vertical position with your thumb. You will see a yellow dotted reference line, making sure it is exactly parallel to the edge of the screen.
3. Use your thumb to narrow it down as much as possible.
4. Drag the sticker to the edge of the screen. If thin white lines are still visible, move up and down to hide it completely.

Create a flashing effect using GIF stickers

This trick turns your Instagram story into a flashing logo to attract fans' attention. You need to be proficient in hand-drawing and writing skills, but if you are already interested in it, there are many things you can do with this technique.

1. Open Instagram and click the plus sign at the top of the screen. Then click on the Stories at the bottom.
2. Click the Shutter button (It doesn't matter what you take any photo), and then click Sticker Tool (The third one from the top of the screen is from the right). Click the GIF option to search for cool GIFs. Keywords like “flash” and “glitter” can find amazing results. Remember that bright flashing effects can cause some people to feel uncomfortable, headaches, and even seizures.
3. Enlarge the GIF with your thumb and index finger until it is flashing or animation partly covers the entire screen.
4. Tap the Download button at the top of the screen (looks like a down arrow) to save the story to your device.
5. Click the X button in the upper left corner of the screen to close the story editor, and select Give up in the pop-up prompt.
6. You will be redirected back to the camera view of the Instagram Story Editor. Click the Gallery button in the lower left corner of the screen to select the story you just saved.
7. Open Drawing options , select a color, and click anywhere on the screen to color.
8. Select Eraser Tool (top of the screen, third from the right) and use it as a brush to delete the top color you just created. When you write or draw, you will display the GIF below and the finished product will start to flash.

Use characters as design elements

You have to get creative when the platform only provides basic tools. Instagram users around the world do this by turning short horizontal lines, periods and other punctuation marks into design elements.

Unfortunately, this technology may not be fully utilized on Android. However, if you have an iPhone, the possibilities are limitless, and the results are mainly determined by how you use them. Here is the way to get started:

Add lines and blocks to your Instagram story

1. Open Text tool and select a font. The font you choose depends on what you want to do. Enter a period to see if it is a circle or a square, and then choose the style that best matches your idea. If you want to draw a line, enter a hyphen or short horizontal line.
2. Click the tick the tick button
in the upper right corner to exit the tool.
3. Use your thumb to enlarge the text to the desired size. It depends on the phone you are using and the possibilities vary. Android users encounter relatively small size limitations when trying to enlarge these elements. This limitation makes characters look like characters instead of geometry, thus undermining the purpose of this technique. As an alternative, Android users can use the highlighting feature
when typing (the third button at the top of the screen; looks like an A with flash) to make the character larger.
Drag the element to the desired position and change the color as needed.

Overlay text to create a three-dimensional feeling

Pure text is boring. 3D text is much cooler.

1. Use the Translation tool to enter what you want to say. Click the check button
in the upper right corner to finish.
2. Repeat Step 1
as needed.
Enlarge all text with your thumb to make sure they are exactly the same size. A good way is to use the automatic reference lines that appear when centering text in Instagram.
4. Change the text color as needed. You can use rainbow or gradient colors. If you want to match a photo or post, use the straw tool
.
Align the text to create a stereo effect. This takes some practice, but you can start by overlaying them on top of each other and moving the upper text slightly to the right or left. The top-most text should be the farthest from the bottom text. Don't be discouraged if it takes a long time to achieve the desired results, but we recommend that you don't try to align 20 layers of text for the first time. Start small.

Add pictures directly from your phone to Instagram stories

Stickers and GIFs are fun, but you can also paste your own pictures. If you are promoting posts with multiple photos, this is a great way to show off their full charm.

1. Select the photo to use from the device. Click the Share button and select Copy. If you don't see it, it's because some versions of Android don't support this feature. This feature is available to all iPhone users.

If you are using native Android, you can only do this by copying images directly from the network using a browser, because Google's operating system does not allow you to copy images as a sharing option. If you want to do this, you can visit Google Images or directly access the website containing the photos you want to use, click it to select, and then click Copy .

2. In the Instagram Story Editor, open the Text Tool and paste the photo in as if it were text. Now you have a sticker that you can drag and resize at will.

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