Instagram features are regularly updated, but attractive images are still important for this social network. It will be difficult to promote your business without a well-designed profile. A beautiful page will allow you to create a brand aesthetic and attract users. At the beginning, think about the colors and decide how you will plan the graphic content and structure of the feed.
And the initial stage of creating visuals is selecting hues and their combinations. Here’s how to do it intelligently.
What a Color Scheme Is
Let’s break down what color combinations there are and how you can learn how to make them.
Color Wheel
As far back as Isaac Newton offered a model for systematizing hues. But the most popular scheme was the color circle of the Swiss artist Johannes Itten. His system became the basis of modern color theory, and is studied and used by artists and designers.
At the center, there is a triangle of blue, yellow and red. These are the primary tones, and by mixing them you can get any other shades. The next row of triangles are secondary colors: green, orange and purple. They come from mixing the two primary hues.
The outer spectrum includes three primary and three secondary colors, as well as six tertiary tones, which are derived from the combination of adjacent primary and secondary colors. For example, purple and red give a red-purple hue, while yellow and green give a yellow-green hue. A total of 12 colors make up the outer circle.
The circle is arranged so that contrasting colors are farther apart and close colors are adjacent to each other. It can also be divided into warm and cold halves: from red to yellow-green are warm hues, and all other colors are cold.
How to Choose a Color
The selection of colors requires not only a knowledge of coloristics – but also try to understand the psychology of colors. After all, the color palette of your Instagram account sets the mood and evokes associations in the user.
Determine the Mood
Think about what emotion your page should evoke? If you are close to the aesthetics of melancholy and philosophical reflection, choose muted tones without bright accents.
Light white, beige and cream shades will create a sense of calm, harmony and contentment. This is a win-win for a professional blog in almost any subject matter.
Want a more energetic profile that encourages subscribers to take a specific action? Then go for contrasting combinations and bright tones! They have an energizing effect on the psyche.
Learn the Meanings of Tones
Decide on the ideas and meanings that your account will be broadcasting – these are the ones that can determine the color scheme of your Instagram. In marketing, the primary colors already have certain meanings attached to them:
- Black is associated with premium products. It is chosen for the design of pages of expensive goods, for accounts dedicated to sports, cars, gadgets. So you can see a lot of black accents in ads that suggest you to try new blackjack or buy an expensive car.
- Red is a shade of energy, courage and self-confidence. It can also be perceived as a signal of danger, pain and threat. Red also stimulates appetite, which is a good color to choose for a restaurant or food page.
- Orange is also associated with energy. It gives positive emotions, is associated with sunlight and love of life. It is chosen for the design of accounts of goods from the mass market, or for topics related to children or animals.
- Yellow has a similar semantic content. This is a good color for products and services from the sphere of pleasure and entertainment.
- Green is reminiscent of the natural environment. It symbolizes life, health and ecology. In this color should lead Instagram, if you want to emphasize the principles of a healthy lifestyle, environmental friendliness of the goods and services offered.
- Blue and blue speak of safety, tranquility and logic, associated with purity and freedom. This is a good choice for the personal profile of a psychologist, teacher, lawyer, for the page of a technological brand, payment systems or banks.
- Purple is perceived as an exotic and mysterious shade. It is best used for a creative blog.
- White means purity and simplicity. It is loved by eco-brands and jewelry shops.
- Gold and silver. Shades of precious metals allow you to emphasize the high value and exclusivity of a product or service.
Highlight the Main Color Shades From the Photo
There is a different approach to creating a color scheme for Instagram. You can evaluate the graphic material that you already have. Try to highlight the main colors from the images you plan to use. They will be the basis of your palette.
Match the basic tones with the shades that are close to them. Use the resulting gamut when planning further visual content.
How to Integrate Colors Into Your Page
Once you’ve decided on the tones, think about how you’ll use them in your layout.
Research Visual Trends on Instagram
The social network is very dependent on popular trends. Look through beautiful examples of visuals on Pinterest, see what bloggers are doing, what techniques competitors are using. This way you can understand what’s in fashion and what’s already anti-trend.
Make Smooth Transitions From Dark to Light
Another way to form a color layout for Instagram is to arrange frames so that shades of different saturation alternate with each other. This is the gradient technique: let each row of three photos in the feed be one or two tones lighter or darker than the previous one.
Don’t Be Afraid to Add Color Accents
Color creates interest, so we don’t recommend decorating the profile in gray-white or beige only. If your visuals are too neutral, dilute it with photos with colored details. There should not be a lot of such images: a couple of bright pictures for every nine photos is enough.
