Hello, New Small Business Owner!
You’ve recently started your Instagram page, and you feel like you’re missing something. Is it the design? Is it the pictures? Not quite. The answer is, it’s all of them. You’re missing the finesse of Social Media composition and the principles of composition.
What exactly is Social Media Composition and why is it important? It is the alignment of online-produced content made with the different principles of composition.
The principles of composition include:
- Unity
- Rhythm
- Color Consistency/Pattern
- Contrast
- Proportion
- Balance
- Focus
- Motion
The composition application used to create professional social media can make or break the social media presence of a business. Above all, it will determine the overall cohesiveness of the brand within the feed, grid, and profile.
We interviewed small business owners and managers to learn how they use the principles of composition in their social media pages. First, we interviewed Angelie Rasmussen, the owner of @theselfcaredare Instagram page where she posts inspirational quotes and graphic designs about self-care. We also interviewed Hayley Perez and Lilianna Ramirez, the Social Media Manager and Creative Director at Love Olive Co. Love Olive Co. is a small boutique located in Rexburg, Idaho, and they use social media to promote their clothing and new releases.
Let’s see what advice they have to give you in this venture as a new business owner discovering social media composition and the principles of composition.
Principle of UNITY
We know you are probably feeling overwhelmed, don’t be. We are going to walk you through each principle and explain how to implement each one into your content and social media.
The first of the principles of composition we’ll talk about is Unity: is when all content is similar but not exactly the same.
Unity is the first vital principle in creating an aesthetically clean grid on your Instagram account. It is important to keep all your content consistent when establishing your brand and business. A key way to create unity within your brand is by trying to stick to your brand’s colors.
@theselfcaredare does a great job of keeping its visual content consistent. In an interview, Angelie noted,
“If you really stick with the same aesthetic, people can scroll, and they’ll stop without even seeing my name- oh, that’s Self Care Dare. You don’t even have to check, ‘Oh, who’s posted this?’ When you have such a specific style, use the same colors, or have the same overall feel, you’ll become a recognizable brand- such as McDonald’s.”
@theselfcaredare shows this perfectly within their content:
Another example of keeping unity within your brand, while still having consistently different content, is shown by Love Olive Co. a small clothing boutique for women and children. They establish unity within their content by keeping their focus on their products as well as keeping their models, editing, and overall aesthetic consistent. Their content creator mentioned the importance of having consistent, long-term models. This helps create familiarity when viewers see their content.
Love Olive Co’s Creative Director, Lilianna said,
“Our models make a huge difference. We have consistent models that have been coming for a long time, and it helps the feed look more cohesive because we have different clothes every week.”
As a new small business owner or social media marketer, know that it is necessary to have unity within the content. This creates a structured theme for your target audience and desired demographic. You don’t want there to be too many videos, reels, portraits, or group pictures; you need a little bit of everything. Love Olive Co. provides a great example of implementing the principle of unity within its content.
Take a look at this example:
The lighting within each picture, and color theme in the edits are consistent throughout each picture and carousel post.
Principle of RHYTHM & PATTERN
Rhythm, or motion, can create fluidity within your content. Creating a pattern with your grid creates rhythmic motion that makes it pleasing to the eye.
Pattern: creates motion on your grid and within your content through a strong theme created by a series of elements.
These elements can include fonts, shapes, colors, and the overall layout of the design.
There are plenty of patterns to follow to create rhythm. Angelie shared,
“I just don’t like [similar content] to stack next to each other or on top– that’s just me. There are a few different grid patterns you can do… I just prefer the balanced checkerboard look.”
Principle of Color Consistency/Pattern
To explain in more detail what Angelie is talking about, a pattern can be defined as any visual element that is repeated consistently throughout Instagram posts, a feed, and any other social media pages. Color consistency can be defined as a pattern of colors that can also be used in posts, grids, or feeds. So, you ask yourself, “How and/or why does this apply to my small business?”
Well, let’s take a look at some examples- elements that can be repeated are lines, shapes, and textures.
On Instagram, users can also use patterns in their posts, stories, and captions. Another major form of pattern is color consistency, and Angelie shows you an example of her profile using the same main color throughout her profile as a theme of the pattern.
Since we’ve been talking a lot about what you should be doing, let’s take a look at what you should not be doing. As we can see in this Instagram feed, it follows no apparent pattern, no color scheme, no repetitive strokes in design, and no lighting or editing within the pictures.
Angelie continues to share with you how she uses patterns by making sure that colors are right next to, or on top of each other on her profile grid.
She advises, “An odd number of posts have to be in between [each post], so I have to plan [the layout] that way.”
She uses, the principle of composition, patterns to space out the colors on her grid, and this shows how patterns can be aesthetically pleasing and visually appealing to the viewers of her page. Patterns of the advice she is giving can be achieved through diagonal, vertical, or set-of-three patterns.
With these statements, she also explains that using no pattern, or the misuse of a pattern, can create an unappealing design for viewers. Social media creators and users need to have a balance between no pattern or too much pattern. For example, having a pattern of straight yellow posts can be uneasy for the eyes.
However, if the posts and colors are spaced out with some sort of pattern, then it makes the grid more attractive. For a small business that’s trying to create a presence on social media, it’s important to use patterns correctly and in moderation. This allows the social media page to look organized and on-brand with its theme and mission statement.
Principle of CONTRAST
Now, while it’s important to have a consistent pattern throughout your feed, you can’t have everything look the same. This brings you to the principle of composition: contrast.
Think about some of the best images you’ve ever seen. Chances are, the most memorable photos you’ve seen contain a highly effective use of contrast. To achieve composition on your social media, it’s important for you to have diversity within your content.
Contrast is defined as, “the state of being strikingly different from something else in juxtaposition or in close proximity to a previous post.”
Contrast in images catches the attention of your audience and draws them in. You can create low or high contrast in your content by contrasting warm and cool colors. You can also change your lighting or the editing of your photos to add variety.
Hayley, says, “Contrast [is] what makes your product stand out…”
She continues by explaining that contrast in composition can be achieved by mixing up the content that you post. For example, she shares that you should post some close-ups and some far-away images, as well as incorporate other perspectives. It’s also important to photograph contrasting products, such as bathing suits and sandals.
As the examples below indicate…
Principle of PROPORTION
Proportion is another way that you can improve the composition of your content.
Proportion: the way elements in an image relate to each other.
The focal point of your photo should be your product. Whether it is deep in the photo, or it looks like it is almost touching your camera, it is important to keep proportion. So why should you care about proportion? Proportion is more than an aesthetic design principle. How the different elements of an image relate to each other can affect the mood and tone of the image and of your grid.
Being aware of proportion, and the techniques to use it properly will help you create content that demonstrates the messages you want to share. Once you master the principle of proportion, you’ll be able to confidently set the tone for everything you post. If you’re creating your own images, take this advice from Angelie Rasmussen. “I usually will get a reference photo for proportions, because I can’t stand unpreportional things. Unless it’s on purpose, like some surrealism. You know, giant eyes or something.”
The images you create don’t have to be perfectly proportional as long as you do it intentionally. Always be intentional when breaking the rules or trying something new. Hayley Perez also gives some advice regarding taking photos.
“[Proportion is] something we try to pay attention to making sure nobody looks awkward or gets cut off.” Even though your focal point may be in the image, don’t forget to check where the rest of the image is getting cut off.
For example, you can use a wide angle to distort the image creating space in the edges of the image. The edges of your image can say as much about the image as the focal point, so be aware and intentional. Once you’re aware of proportion, you’re well on your way to creating images that fit your feed!
Principle of BALANCE
Balance: creating space between objects, posts, content, and people in order to distribute the visual weight.
Just as weight is distributed on a scale to make something balanced, it’s important to make sure that all of your posts follow the principles of balance which are: color, position, and size
Color:
In your post, it’s important to remember not to have too many bright colors within one square. Bright colors usually carry a lot of visual weight. So, the ideal balance within a square would be to include a bright and a muted color together. This way, both colors equally distribute the weight and are more appealing to your audience.
Position:
When creating a post, it’s important to position your content elements proportionally. This prevents creating visual barriers within a certain amount of space. For example, the screenshot above displays how to implement a balance between words and graphics.
Size:
It is normal to account for different-sized content within your grid. I.e., reels, videos, IGTV, and images. No matter what type of content you publish, remember to create white space within the square to create balance. Let’s look at one account that does not follow the balance principle guidelines:
When looking at the profile grid, it is easy to see that none of the posts distribute the weight of color, position, or size. There is no visual distribution when comparing the posts, and it makes the account look unprofessional.
It’s a great time to take a breath, so think about what you want your vision to be and the “why” behind your account. This will help you connect and keep all of the principles of composition we have covered so far.
Principle of FOCUS
Now that you have your color scheme and the why in mind, you can now understand the next principle of composition: focus.
Focus: is the focal point for your audience.
Pretty simple right? We all have an idea of what focus is. Different things grab our “focus” every day. We have to focus on a customer that we might be helping, or focus on a decision that we have to make. Every day we have times when we have to focus on different things.
With having your brand on Instagram you are going to be creating posts that are focused on your audience, product, or service. So how do you make sure
that your audience is focused on the right thing? How do you help your audience’s eyes land on the “important” part of the picture?
Liliana Ramirez shared:
“During the photoshoots, if they are showing shoes, they are going to have the models lay down and then boots up in the air and take a picture of the boots in the air. You can tell that the boots are the focus because there aren’t other things in the picture that call your attention.”
“The ultimate goal to help point the focus is how to make the clothes stand out in the photos, shared Hayley Perez.
She said that their main goal during photoshoots is to have the clothing they are showing stand out so that their audience gets excited to try it on or even buy it.
A great example is from Love Olive Co’s Valentine photoshoot. They used heart shaped balloons to create a theme that was easily recognizable and chose a sweater that matched the theme and made them focus on the sweater.
“So you can put something in the center to make it focused, but we should also frame it,” explained Angelie from, The Self-Care Dare.
Angelie makes sure that there is something in the photo or image that makes your eye drawn to the focus of the photo. A perfect example is her “Big Changes” post. Your eyes go straight to “Big Changes” because of her use of color and the leading lines that the airplane wing creates. However, the other text and colors complement the focus of “Big Changes”.
The most important aspect of focus to remember is that you know the purpose and focus of your post, but double-check that your audience knows as well!
A quick rundown:
Make sure you have a background that complements and helps point to the
- main focus
- create themes
- use colors that complement the focus,
- and make sure it is in focus!
Principle of MOTION
Don’t worry, we are almost done. The last of the principles of composition is motion! You don’t want your grid, or the content within, to be flat or dull. We know you may be worried of overcrowding your profile with content that is too loud or contrasting. So, how do you create motion that’s perfect for your brand? Let’s first identify what the principle of motion is within the element of composition.
Motion: is either an intentional or unintentional curated focus of a piece of content to incorporate movement in your design
In social media composition, this is also called the “flow” of your design and/or grid. The flow entails elements that draw your eyes from one point to another- all done by implementing and correctly utilizing the above principles of composition- focus.
But, you’re probably still wondering how to create motion. Angelie has you covered.
Her advice is, “Frame your focus.”
This applies not only to your individual pieces of content but it’s done by looking at the design of your grid as well. Something Angelie advises against is stacking your brand colors one on top of another. It creates a barrier in the flow of your grid. This barrier disrupts your composition.
As you can see, each post has a focus, so there’s motion from square to square.
Start thinking about what the focus of each of your posts will be. What are you trying to show your audience? What is the message or product you want them to recognize? As you first create your focus, motion will naturally be curated throughout the elements on your grid. There is motion in the way Angelie frames each square. There is movement in contrast, as well as rhythm.
CONCLUSION
So New Business Owner, how did it go? Do you feel that you gained a better understanding of not only how your Instagram feed should look, but how you want it to look?
Let’s recap what exactly social media composition is:
It is the alignment of online-produced content in accordance with the different elements of composition.
These are the 8 principles of composition:
- Balance
- Contrast
- Focus
- Motion
- Color Consistency/Pattern
- Proportion
- Rhythm
- Unity
Now, as you study how you can apply each of these principles of composition based on the advice given to you by design professionals, keep this brand equation in mind:
Business mission statement + business persona = content piece produced
Remember, starting a new business may be daunting, but how you organize your content and how you create it doesn’t have to be!
If you liked this blog post, check out our article “5 Ways to Create Scroll-Stopping Images on Your Phone“
Happy Social Media Composition Creating!
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