Secrets of Perfect Instagram Design: The Key to Sales and Popularity

Many people are convinced that Instagram is a social network for teenagers who happily post their selfies and photos of food there.

But while one part of people blindly believes in the uselessness of Instagram, another part earns big money on advertising campaigns and their own name.

Statistics won't let me lie that Instagram is a gold mine for those who want fame, popularity and high income.

Are you still doubting whether you need Instagram?

I won't write and try to persuade you, I'll just ask you to look down at the infographic below – this is the number of Instagram visitors per month, starting from 2013 up to June 2018:

As you can see, the growth is simply colossal.

On top of that, over 2018 the number of Ukrainians on Instagram increased by half (!) – there are already 11 million of us.

But here's the mystery of this social network's popularity – everyone thinks that most Instagram lovers live in the capital, although that's not the case. In first place for Instagram's penetration into people's everyday life is the city of… Chernivtsi (73%).

Yes, there are a great many bloggers and stores there that became popular across the whole country precisely thanks to Instagram.

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Second place is taken, as you've already guessed, by Kyiv (68%), and rounding out the top three is Ternopil (64%).

Based on the data, we can conclude that competition on Instagram is growing not by the day, but by the hour.

So what's stopping you from becoming one of the best?

Read about 11 methods of Instagram promotion in 2026.

If a desire has awakened in you to grow on Insta, read on.

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Why bother with design on Insta?

Beautiful appearance always has been, is, and will be the guarantee of, if not success, then a proper first impression.

And since Instagram is a miniature (and for some, a substitute) of real life, it's precisely the proper design of a profile that plays a key role in how potential clients and buyers perceive you.

It's no secret to anyone that Instagram is a visual social network, which means the emphasis here is on the picture (that's exactly why pretty slim girls without higher medical education are more popular here as nutritionists than Aunt Valya with a doctorate degree).

To understand the topic in more detail, I'll answer the most frequent questions:

• “Design on Instagram – that's just photos, right?”

Not exactly. Design is the totality of all the visuals.

It's the nickname, and the username, and the avatar, and the pictures in the profile, and even (!!!) the texts.

• “Who needs to deal with designing an Instagram profile?”

EVERYONE – yes, yes, both stores, and experts, and even cleaning companies.

Of course, if there's a goal to acquire one more sales channel.

You can read about the importance of content in this article.

• “If we're a big company and we don't have time to take photos and write long texts, what should we do?”

There are 2 options here – if you have fame and popularity (let's say, like the company Balenciaga), then you can not bother at all and run Instagram for fun – post funny photos, the background of your work, just cute pictures – and call it “signature style”:

But if you're still less popular, then it's still worth bothering – you can find Insta freelancers for a small amount of money who will do everything for you – photos, texts, and even publish them on your behalf, or assign one employee who will soon become an Insta guru.

• “Photos in one style – that's so hard. And plus I don't have that much graphic content. What should I do?”

Let's take it in order: photos in one style – it's not easy, but everything comes with practice.

After a couple of weeks of daily work, your profile will be transformed.

And if you're short on photos, for that there are free photo stocks and templates for posts – which helps a lot and saves you in the early stages.

About these services – a little later.

• “How do you run Instagram properly?”

The answer is simple – the way you want.

This is a space for your creativity.

Of course, it's desirable for it to be beautiful and interesting.

But the main thing is to enjoy the very process of blogging.

We've sorted out the general concepts, and now – in more detail about each component of our profile.

Nickname and username

When we create something (write a book, carry out a project, open a store, etc.), we think for a long time about what to call it.

We want the name to reflect the inner content, attract the attention of the right people, and be easy to remember.

It's the same with an Instagram profile – as you name the ship, so it will sail: the name and nickname are far from the last things that will immediately determine whether your business will be successful or end up on the list of failures.

Well, first of all, they're not the same thing :)

The nickname is the name of the page in English letters – it can be absolutely anything: numbers, letters, dots, underscores – all of this is allowed.

People often use their names, but memorable phrases characterizing the profile are becoming more and more popular.

As you can see, everyone names their ship the way they want.

But there are a few tips that will help users find you faster and remember the page name more easily:

• The nick should be memorable. You shouldn't name an Instagram profile @annushkakrasavica12011976 – it's long, doesn't sound good, and isn't memorable at all.
• Try to avoid the sounds “sh”, “shch”, “ch”, because in English transliteration the spelling is a bit different, and a phrase that's simple for us like “shyshky vid myshky” (cones from a bear – for example, for a cooking blog) will look something like this: @shyshkyvidmyshky. It may sound cool, but the spelling…
• Don't use several underscores in a row, because they're practically impossible to count, which means it's impossible to find EXACTLY you in search. Allowed: @_auto_market_ua, but NOT ALLOWED: @___auto__market__ua. A test for the most attentive – how many underscores are in the last nick? :)
• If you have such an opportunity, come up with your own name that doesn't appear across the expanse of Instagram. For example, if a store is called “Sonechko” (Little Sun), I give you a 100% guarantee that the logins @magazin_sonechko, @sonechko.magazin, @sonechko.shop will already be taken, and who knows, maybe behind one of these pages your competitors are hiding, and clients looking for you will switch to them?

Username

So as not to beat around the bush for long, I'll just say – it's the little dark letters under the nick.

In the picture, accordingly, the usernames are “MASKS|TRAVEL|FLOWERS”, “Nastya Karpchuk”, “Wedding/family photographer”.

As you've noticed, the username and login in some cases don't match.

I'll now explain why that is:

• The username is exactly what Instagram uses for search. That is, if you type “wedding photographer” into search, there's a very high probability that Instagram will show you pages, among which will be @zheliba_photo.
• If you haven't yet become an opinion leader, and your name isn't very well known, it makes sense to put exactly the search query you answer in the username (not “Masha Ivanova”, but “Personal coach”). But remember that you only have 70 characters, so it's desirable to fit all your talents into one line :)

A few more tips regarding the username:

• Use the language in which you write posts and communicate. You shouldn't write “Tasty recipes, delicious food” if your blog is in Ukrainian, because no one will search in English expecting to see Ukrainian-language blogs.
• Try to indicate something catchy (you'll agree, you'd more willingly subscribe to a blog with the name “Earn 1 million with me” than “I'll teach you to work and earn” – because everyone knows how to work and even sort of earn, but almost no one gets millions).
• If you use emojis in your name, be sure to add a space from the text, because Instagram is set up so that it will perceive this as continuous text, which means your search visibility will decrease many times over.

And most importantly – don't be afraid to go beyond the boundaries and come up with something unique – whether it's a username or a login – Insta fans love extraordinary personalities!

Recommended reading:

1. 2 secret ways to use Instagram from a computer (uploading photos, videos, stories)
2. TikTok: what's the reason for its popularity (4 ways to promote)

Profile photo

Everyone knows that the visual on Instagram is the most important component, but not everyone pays attention to the profile photo, because it's small and sometimes even inconspicuous.

And that's a mistake. What to choose for your page's cover, why bother about the profile photo, and what the significance of that very photo is – read below.

Although we're judged by the cover, on Instagram that very cover, or more precisely the profile photo, isn't the most important thing – you can't enlarge it, or like it, or view it.

But that doesn't mean you can completely ignore this detail.

Why is the profile photo so important?

• When you subscribe to a person, they receive a notification where only your nickname and photo are visible, and the attractiveness of your avatar can either play into your hands or push potential subscribers away.
• The photo is a kind of branding. If you're a store owner, you shouldn't put a selfie as your profile photo, because hardly anyone knows you. But if you add your logo, then you'll immediately grow in the eyes of potential buyers (“That picture is cool, I should drop in, maybe the products there are cool too”).
• An interesting avatar combined with a cool nick is the path to profile visits (read: “new subscribers and sales”).

Examples of unsuccessful profile photos:

• A logo-inscription.

The letters merge, it's impossible to read, and overall it's not very aesthetic.

• An abstract picture.

Of course, if we're talking about accounts with painting, then why not, but if we're talking about selling, educational channels or blogs, then abstraction is completely inappropriate here.

It needs to be bright, colorful, and clear.

Winning options for profile photos:

• An interesting logo.

Original, non-trivial, and memorable.

• A photo of your product (if we're talking about sales) or service.
• A funny photo (suitable for viner-bloggers or simply outrageous personalities).

Profile bio (header)

“Say something to me so that I can see you” – with these very words of the classic you can characterize the bio of an Instagram profile.

150 characters to describe yourself as best as possible and make people move on to the photos.

150 characters for a first impression that can't be changed.

About the underrated importance of the profile bio – below.

A very important and often the most failed point in many profiles.

To begin with, let's figure out why we need a profile bio?

First, even if a person has come to an Instagram profile, that doesn't mean they'll immediately run to read all your super-useful and informative posts.

A person, just as in offline life, needs to be hooked and made interested – in the username there are only 70 characters for this (which, you'll agree, is very little for describing all your talents and capabilities), but in the bio, where we have twice as much at our disposal – 150 characters – that's just right!

Second, the bio is the place for our unique selling proposition (the so-called “USP”) – our distinguishing feature from millions of other pages on Insta.

Third, it's precisely the profile bio that will “decide your fate” – whether a simple visitor to your page becomes a buyer, a follower, maybe even a fan, or returns to scrolling the feed.

Tips for creating an atypical profile bio:

• Most importantly – remember that you won't get a second chance to make a first impression, which means in the bio you need to describe as much as possible the information that's key for everyone who comes to visit you.
• Modesty only adorns those who have nothing else to adorn themselves with. Don't be shy about writing about all your talents, your advantages over competitors – people love those who are confident and know their worth.
• Don't be lazy about bothering with emojis. They shouldn't take up all 150 characters, but a couple, to dilute the text, you can and even should put in.
• Don't forget about paragraphs. Unfortunately, Instagram doesn't like paragraphs and indents, and very often the text slides into one big sheet, but smart people figured out how to avoid this – they created a free Telegram bot (type @text4instabot in Telegram search).
• Indicate how you can be contacted in various ways – write your phone number and the messengers in which you prefer to communicate, in the profile bio itself, and separately make quick-access buttons from Instagram.

The algorithm for adding contact buttons (only for business profiles):

1. Open your Instagram profile and tap “Edit Profile”.

2. Choose “Contact Options”.

3. Add an email, address, and phone number and tap “Save”.

What to write in the profile bio:

• First and last name, if they aren't indicated in your username. But if this information is already there, you shouldn't duplicate it. We need our 150 characters to be enough for all the information we want to fit there.
• Who you are, what you do. If you are, for example, a practicing psychologist, you need to write about this in the very first line, so that people coming to your profile immediately learn how you can be useful to them.
• Specialization – this concerns commercial accounts. A shoe store specializing in large sizes? Excellent – so write it! That's your USP.
• Special offers. If you hold free consultations, if you have free products, write about this. It's one of the most powerful attention triggers (and preferably the word “free” in capital letters).

For clarity, let's analyze a few profile bios:

From the bio we understand that before us is a flower shop.

And the profile photo not-so-subtly hints at this too.

It all seems fine – the address, the city, and a brief description, but the unusual font turned each line into one merged text.

You shouldn't do that :)

Here everything is concise and clear – there's no USP, no differences from the rest of the millions of mommy-bloggers, but judging by the number of subscribers, Nastya doesn't need that – everyone knows her anyway.

But there's a link to her own clothing store and a Telegram channel – very reasonable from a marketing standpoint and convenient for all subscribers and page visitors.

Although the nickname and username are practically 100% duplicated, at the end of the nick there's “mua”, which means “make up artist” – that is, it immediately becomes clear to us (well, to girls for sure) that we're dealing with a makeup artist.

The bio is also very good – there are emojis, but not too many of them, information about training, and a link to the salon where this master creates beauty.

A concise and slightly unclear bio – raw food, and music, and butchers, and the Maidan – but that's exactly what hooks us – you want to look at what this person shares with their followers?

Maybe raw-food recipes?

Or is it a vocal blog?

Or about Kyiv?

Here the variety of information in the profile bio is that very emotional trigger that makes you stay on the page.

In short:

• The bio is a kind of greeting for visitors to your Instagram profile.
• There are only 150 characters to prove that you're worth reading, following, and loving.
• Show your uniqueness to the world, and you'll gain followers.

Instagram in one style

Everyone wants Instagram to look at minimum tidy and at maximum gorgeous.

It's precisely on this issue that nothing other than a unified profile style helps.

But fortunately, replacing the single (usually orange) filter on all photos comes the popularity of bright accents and interesting rules for publishing posts.

Just a year ago, all Instagram bloggers' profiles differed little from one another: a cool palette, pastel shades, everything very fairy-tale-like and not real.

Thanks to the trends for Instagram in one style :)

In the photo there are 3 profiles of three different girls, for what it's worth:

Now the relevance of a unified style on Instagram hasn't passed, but everything has become more personalized – you can make a bright profile, or a pastel one, with shades of beige, with blue, white colors, or you can even alternate photo styles by season-mood-your own wish.

Instagram in one style has been, is, and will always be popular – this is unchanging.

One thing changes – the styles themselves.

If before, one style meant using the same filter on all photos, now everything has become much more varied and sophisticated.

Interesting ideas for designing Instagram in one style:

1. Choose one main color that will be present in all photos in the profile.

If you're not ready to dye your hair red, it's enough to take a contrasting scarf and take photos in it – a bright accent that creates the style and atmosphere of the profile.

2. Make a mosaic.

What are the pros?

• It's convenient for readers, because it's immediately clear what the post will be about.
• The profile doesn't look monotonous.
• In the first option you need half as much photo content, it's enough to add captions on a white-blue-pink background.

What are the cons?

• You'll have a strict posting schedule and you won't be able to add a cute selfie “out of turn”, since the overall picture will fall apart.
• All posts (and especially those that have no photo, only a caption) must contain powerful text, because the emphasis is precisely on it.

3. Take all photos against one background and add a logo.

What are the pros?

• The overall picture of the profile is concise, neat, and in one style.
• You don't have to bother with searching for locations.
• Your posts are branded – even if someone wants to steal your content, it will be practically impossible to do, since your watermark will point to the original source.

What are the cons?

• Basically, it's only suitable for product shoots; photos of people can't always be taken against one background, and even if you manage, the profile will be boring – the same background, the same faces.
• You won't be able to add many details, all the photos will be roughly similar and identical in their structure.
• If at some point your company name or logo change, then you yourself will become a hostage of your own branding.

4. Captions on photos.

As you can see, the overall style is sort of preserved – the same white stripe at the bottom of the photo, but this is rather an anti-example (how not to do it) than an indication of a beautiful style.

What are the pros?

• Any photo will suit you. You chose a selfie-portrait-landscape, added a caption, and that's it – the photo fits into the profile!
• It's immediately clear what the post will be about.

What are the cons?

• Let's be honest – this isn't one style, these are different photos with the same caption styling on them.
• I can't say that this is fashionable and on-trend.
• Again, you need to think through the text for each post, because in this situation the emphasis is precisely on the texts.

5. A stylized stripe.

In my opinion, the most successful option (I'll reveal a secret, my Instagram profile is designed exactly this way).

It looks stylish for readers and isn't very hard to implement for the page owner.

What are the pros?

• There's a style, which consists precisely in this stripe.
• Unlike a mosaic, you don't need to alternate a stylized post with a free one – in this option you can publish 2 of any posts, and the stylized one will be the third in order.
• If you're not sure that every one of your posts will be useful and informative, this option is also for you – no one forbids posting 2 selfies in a row and after them 1 cool, interesting, stylized post.

What are the cons?

• To some, the stripe might seem primitive, but this is easily fixed by styling the layout itself. You can make a collage of 4 identical photos and add captions on them (that's exactly what I do):

These are the most popular and most on-trend options for designing Instagram profiles.

But who said you can't experiment and add something of your own?

And if you want to start earning on Instagram today, then read about easy money on Instagram.

Saved stories

The disappearing and seemingly unremarkable little circles in your profile are your key to the trust of reader-buyers and to increasing the overall attractiveness of your profile.

Why everyone so abruptly rushed to design covers for saved stories and why it's worth doing today – read below.

Instagram stories appeared quite a while ago, but at first no one took them seriously – some photos and videos that disappear after a day – mere child's play.

But now everything has changed dramatically – the results of many surveys show that more than 70% of Instagram users look at stories first, not posts.

On top of that, so-called “permanent stories” appeared – the ones you can save, and access to them will be open always and to everyone.

The covers for such Insta stories are located under our profile bio, which means they too play an important role in the design of the account.

So what to do?

• Shoot Insta stories.

Yes, that's the main piece of advice.

Stories are the best place for creativity!

A photo doesn't fit the profile's style?

No problem – there are stories!

Want to tell your subscribers something short, literally for a couple of seconds?

Off to the stories!

Want to ask your subscribers something? Stories!

• Come up with permanent categories for stories.

For example, if you have a cooking blog, you can make stories with cooking food, answers to questions, and, for example, buying groceries.

• Make collections of pinned stories.
• For each collection, create its own cover.

There are many services that allow you to style covers for Insta stories, but I prefer the free resource canva.com – everything is clear and accessible.

Examples of cool covers for Insta stories:

As we can see, here there's an alternation of stylized covers – a concise blue color with drawings inside, and one's own photos. But overall it looks pretty good.

This is an example of “fully polished” Insta stories: everything against one background, in the same palette, on each one a symbol revealing the essence of the story – in a word, cool! You can see the person tried – it's not sloppy, and it's pleasing to the eye.

And here's how not to do it: there are no stylized covers at all, practically all the names are the same and it's completely unclear what these stories will be about.

Although the profile is stylish and beautiful.

But you'll agree, the overall picture is lost because of the stories?

Briefly about saved stories:

• Spend the time once to make cool covers – this plays a very important role in how the account is perceived.
• Saved stories aren't a pointless waste of time, but an investment in a trusting relationship with your readers and a path to growing Insta popularity.
• In stories you can and should add everything that, for whatever reason, isn't in the profile.

Conclusions

• Designing an Instagram profile is very important.
• Your Insta profile is your face online.
• Don't tie yourself to the first and last name given to you at birth when creating an Instagram account. More creativity and imagination!
• You need to take beautiful photos, and a lot of them. Can't take photos? Ask a friend. If that option isn't for you either, there are many photographers who specialize in photos for Instagram.
• The Insta profile bio is your business card for all the people who land on your profile for the first time. Make yourself a cool business card you won't be ashamed of!
• A stylized Instagram is not easy, but it immediately shows your striving for visual beauty and your effort to stand out from the crowd.
• Don't be afraid to communicate with your subscribers – shoot stories and be sure to save them, because they're like the pages of your Insta book.
• Work on your Instagram, and very soon it will work for you!

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HOOKING CLIENTS WITH GREAT PHOTOS: SETTING UP TARGETING ON INSTAGRAM (GUIDE)

2 SECRET WAYS TO USE INSTAGRAM FROM A COMPUTER: UPLOADING PHOTOS, VIDEOS, STORIES

16 SERVICES FOR AUTOPOSTING ON SOCIAL NETWORKS: AN OVERVIEW

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