Are you creating aesthetic stories for your personal brand? Stories on most platforms is meant to be casual, but with templates and all the ways to make your stories fancier, why not do it? It took me a long time to feel like my stories matched my personal brand. I’ve changed the way I story, changed fonts used, I’ve done a number of things, but since being introduced to animated stories, they always ends up being my favorite.
Ever since my rebrand I started using a custom Daily Dose of Luxury sticker. One question I get asked a ton is “are you handwriting this yourself?”, “how are you adding your signature to your stories?”. PNGs which are higher res image files are able to be used as a sticker essentially for your stories. The graphics I use are completely custom and completely hand written, but now a days with apps like Canva and Photoshop, you could really make your own easily. Let’s get into 5 ways to create aesthetic stories.
Story Templates
2 years ago stories were just what they were and we had the standard features offered to us. Now there are apps for story templates, animated and still, and they really add so much to your brand. Aesthetic stories may not be a big deal since it is casual, but a lot of my affiliate partnerships have come by way of using animated story templates. It’s simple to just swipe up and that of course works, but to add a little razzle dazzle to it, it really changes how my stories look. Aesthetic stories is important to me and while I’m a little more flexible with it, I will most likely have a template or something to make my stories stand out.
My favorite apps for story templates are:
- Mojo
- Story Luxe
- Canva
My most used is Mojo, I’ve customized some templates to my liking and I love how much of difference it makes when sharing things; especially when sharing things multiple times. It also is that little bit of over delivery when working with brands and I love that. A little something unique just for them. Along with story templates, I love using custom pngs and stickers like I mentioned above.
Custom PNGS or Stickers
PNGS or stickers are great ways to create custom aesthetic stories. If you’ve been following me for a while you may have seen my Daily Dose of Luxury signature, I use it more in my reels now, but in my stories I have a bunch of different sayings now and they are so fun. It really adds something to my stories.
PNGS and/or stickers can technically be of anything, as long as they are in the proper format, you just copy the image from your photos and paste into/onto your stories. Is it a lot of work? Maybe, but if you create a folder for all of your PNGS or sticker images, you won’t have to search for them; that’s what helps me use them so frequently. Give it a try.
Gifs + Animations
I used to be anti-gifs. I thought they were so corny, but after a while, I was like “wait these are so fun and it’s a care free way to add something to your story. I will say the options on Instagram have dwindled down, there used to be so many more, but of course I found a way around that.
Pinterest being the amazing search engine it is, I’ve found that people create their own unique animations and graphics for stories, but none of us know because we don’t know what to search for. The ones that I’ve come across are much better for aesthetic stories than the standard options from the gram. I’m always looking for something that people aren’t looking for to some degree, a way to do something different that isn’t easily replicated.
Another form of animations to create aesthetic stories is the new animated font feature on Instagram. I was pretty happy about that feature, it definitely adds an element of something fresh to stories. Since my stories are often times animated, I’ve reduced my use so the quality doesn’t suffer, but I do like that the option is there.
Use Brand Color Palette For Story Backgrounds
The easiest to create aesthetic stories is by using your brand color palette. There is no need to guess what colors or patterns you should use when that is nailed down. Even if you just use white or black, I did that for a good while. Once I rebranded I embraced my colors of browns and neutrals more and started to use that for my backgrounds*.
*When I say background I mean when you share posts to your stories or when you write text on your stories.
Depending on the colors in the photo, I’ll match the story background to that because it adds to the aesthetic that said photo is giving. This is the most effortless way to create aesthetic stories. If you decide you don’t want to copy and paste images or use gifs or animations, this is the bare minimum you can do. Stories are meant to be fun and you should have fun when creating aesthetic stories, but people notice when there is uniformity.
Custom Branded Fonts or Signatures
Last, but certainly not least, custom branded fonts, submark logos and/or signatures are a cool way to create aesthetic stories. The moment I started using my Daily Dose signature, I immediately noticed how elevated my stories looked. It just wasn’t something I was seeing and I loved, still love, the idea of using something custom to my brand.
I have a secondary logo that I could use as well, but the signature felt just right. If you have a unique brand font try using that. Maybe it’s a short phrase that you always use; maybe it’s your hashtag, there is no right or wrong way to do it, but play your brand up. Keep your eye out for little ways to elevate the things you do and share; similar to what I mentioned in 3 Tips for Taking Aesthetic Photos, when you like what you do and find little ways to spice it up, you become more confident in what you share. I know that I give ya’ll quality and aesthetic stories. I do it, yes for those watching because stories are also ad space, but I do it for me. I like to watch my own stories.
In case you missed it:
Loved this blog post & I love your stories
Xx,
Jackie
Author
Thank you for reading Jackie!! I appreciate it!