Want your brand’s Instagram Stories to look clean, sleek and consistently stylish? Instagram Stories templates are the way to go.
The truth is, many of your favorite brands probably already use them. But it’s not really surprising that they want their Stories to look good: half a billion users engage with Instagram Stories every day, and 58% of people say their interest in a brand or product increases after seeing it in Stories.
If you’re not using this Insta feature to take your best pitch, you’re going to miss it.
In this post, we’ll show you how to use Instagram Stories templates to wow your audience and showcase your best content. We’ve also included a designer pack of 72 customizable templates that will instantly enhance the look of your Stories.
Why should you use Instagram Stories templates?
While Stories may disappear after 24 hours, they will still reach a large number of eyes during this time, as we know from these impressive Instagram Stories stats.
Plus, now that you can turn Stories into “Highlights” on your Instagram profile, this ephemeral content actually has the potential to have a much longer shelf life.
It can also make it look beautiful, right?
But there are tons of other reasons to use Instagram Stories templates.
look professional
Yes, Instagram Stories are primarily known for their charmingly unpolished apps (anyone else oddly addicted to watching Go Clean Co. scrubbing?). However, as in all social networks, the level of professionalism that users expect from brands is increasing.
Brands often use Instagram Story templates to create a consistent aesthetic in their Stories: an aesthetic tied to their larger visual identity or brand voice. Subtle (aesthetically pleasing) additions of branded fonts, colors, and logos all help build familiarity and trust with a brand.
Jewelry design studio Melanie Auld Jewelry uses templates to share editorial content in their Stories, like this profile of wellness and travel blogger Julianne Barbas. It’s almost like a digital magazine feature, with shots crafted with artistic and elegant text. Profess!
Save time (and money)
Since most content in stories disappears after 24 hours (unless you post them in Highlights), it doesn’t make sense to professionally design each shot or video.
But if you know you’ll be posting certain types of content regularly, designing a template to accompany each will save you time (and the cost of hiring a professional) in the future.
Pro tip: With Moyens I/O’s Instagram Story Scheduler, you can create, edit, and schedule your Instagram Stories ahead of time.
Feature non-visual content
Instagram is a visual platform where brands that invest in good photography stand out. But not everyone on Instagram is selling something visually exciting like optical illusion makeup or gruesome ’80s living rooms.
The Washington Post (which is TikTok, btw, oddly good) uses eye-catching animated text and simple descriptive graphics to get people to swipe up on their news. While it’s less flashy than glitter eyeshadows, it stands out in a Stories feed full of shiny visuals.
Or maybe you just need to post a Story that doesn’t necessarily require photos, like a landing page for a slideshow of delicious treats in the Minimalist Bakery style.
Stand out from the competition
It’s easy. Instagram Stories templates are a quick and simple way for your brand to differentiate itself as viewers navigate the sea of Stories.
A stunning graphic design (hopefully!) will grab their attention and reinforce your brand’s style in the process. It’s also a way to show that you’ve put time and thought into your content.
Brit and Co.’s stories are instantly recognizable when they pop up in your feed: images and videos are always on a glossy backdrop with brand-appropriate colors, shapes and textures. They’re different from the standard look you get when creating a Story directly in the Instagram app: they’re definitely eye-catching.
72 free Instagram Stories templates
As a thank you to our dedicated readers, we’ve designed a pack of 72 customizable Photoshop Instagram Stories templates that will instantly enhance the look of your Stories. The templates are divided into nine different story types, with four to 12 styles per category.
Choose the format that best suits your purpose and customize it in Photoshop to suit your brand (instructions below) or use as is. The possibilities are endless!
Do you want them all? No sweat. Download them here!
Happy Birthday Instagram Story Templates
AMA Instagram Story templates
Quotes from Instagram Story templates
Instagram Story ad templates
Instagram Story bingo templates
Instagram Story donation templates
Music Instagram Story templates
This or that Instagram Story templates
About Me Instagram Story templates
Instagram Story template size
If you’re going to DIY your own Instagram story template, you’ll probably want to know the dimensions.
Instagram Stories 1080 pixels wide and 1920 pixels high.
For best results, your Instagram Story should have an aspect ratio of 9:16 and a minimum width of 500px.
If you’re curious about other social features, here’s our handy social media image size cheat sheet!
How to use Instagram Stories templates
Here’s how to customize these templates for your brand and then upload them to your Instagram Stories. You will need Adobe Photoshop to get started.
1. After downloading and compressing the Photoshop files, double-click the image you want to customize to open it in Photoshop.
2. To edit the text: double-click the text you want to edit. You can change the fonts and colors from the menu on the left.
3. To edit a color block: double-click the color block you want to edit. Change the size or use the menu on the left to change the color.
4. To edit a photo: double-click the photo you want to edit and click add new image. Resize the image as needed.
5. To save a single Story template: Select the Story you want to save and go to Save>Export As>Files from Artboard. Make sure to save as .jpg or .png.
6. To save all four Story templates: Save>Export As. Make sure to save as .jpg or .png.
7. Email the finished image file(s) to yourself and download to your phone.
8. Upload to Instagram Stories one by one.
Instagram Story template apps
If this monster template pack still doesn’t quite suit your needs, that’s totally awesome. You can create a custom Instagram Story template for yourself using Photoshop or one of the apps below.
If you don’t have Photoshop or don’t need a lot of customization skills, check out these other resources for Instagram Stories templates.
Adobe Spark
Adobe Spark’s free library has not only thousands of beautiful templates, but also built-in photo editing functionality – so you can make your visuals stand out as well as graphic design.
Photoshop
As mentioned above, you can use Photoshop to fine-tune our Moyens I/O templates; but Adobe has some simple starter templates for you too. Put your own spin on things and be experimental!
open
Download the Unfold app for iPhone or Android to access a huge library of ready-made Story templates right from your phone. A monthly or annual subscription will offer even more options.
A Design Kit
An enduring favorite of the influencer crowd, A Design Kit’s designs let you add elements, change colors, texture and more. More than 30 fonts offer the opportunity to truly stand out from anyone who posts with Instagram’s minimal selection.
easy
The free version of Easil includes over 2,500 templates to play with, but if you want to kick yourself out, the platform’s brand kit feature is pretty cool: it lets you store your color palette, logos, brand images, and fonts in one place. their stylish templates. There’s also a handy collaboration feature so you can tag a Story with a teammate if you need an extra hand.
GoDaddy Studio
Unfortunately, the GoDaddy Studio tool (formerly Over) actually has some pretty sweet design options. In the end, it’s tempting to try to get you to sign up for web hosting services, but you can score some nifty-looking templates for free.
mojo
Mojo’s specialty is animated Stories: throw your photos or videos into one of its dynamic templates and customize the timing, music and text effects for an eye-catching message. New templates and styles are added every month.
Crello
With Crello’s free plan, you can download five designs each month; A subscription plan provides more options for taking advantage of design libraries.
Creative Market
Okay, all of the Instagram Stories templates you’ll find on the Creative Market are paid options… but if you have some money in your social media budget, you can get something unique in the $30-$70 range. Buy a compatible pack that appeals to your brand and you’ll have plenty of options to play with. Most kits have hundreds of variations on a theme to keep your Stories in place but not repetitive.
Now that you’re ready with some beautiful visuals, it’s time to pull yourself together and focus on creating great content to match. Check out our list of 20 creative Instagram Stories ideas or our must-know Instagram Stories hacks guide to get the inspiration flowing for your next post.
Save time managing your Instagram Stories using Moyens I/O. You can schedule posts and post directly to Instagram, respond to comments and DMs, measure performance, and run all your other social media profiles from a single dashboard. Try it for free today.
