Instagram Grid: The Complete Guide for 2024 – Planable

Are you looking to create a gorgeous Instagram grid that capture attention and steal hearts? With the right combination of colors and formats, you can not only keep your IG grid layout in order, but also plan the perfect feed for a lasting impression on first-time visitors.

Planning your Instagram feed should be an essential step of your social media strategy. That’s why our guide covers everything you need, from IG grid maker tools and layout examples to post scheduling tips, giving you all the essentials for crafting a stunning grid that will make your feed stand out in 2024.

What is an Instagram grid layout?

An Instagram grid layout is the visual arrangement of your photos, videos and reels on your profile, in a way that makes your feed look organized and visually appealing. Each square on your grid represents one of your posts, but when planned creatively, these squares can form patterns or a bigger picture.

People, especially influencers, brands and agencies, use tools like Instagram feed planners to design these layouts. This helps them keep their profile looking consistent and stylish. With a little planning, you can use an Instagram grid layout planner to turn your feed into something eye-catching and unique!

Creating a grid takes a bit of effort and time at first, but if built well and using right tool, it can be a lot simpler than you might think.

Quick Note: Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri, shared that the platform is testing a new rectangular grid layout with a small group of users, focusing on better displaying vertical content like 4:5 photos and 9:16 videos. While it suits today’s posts, it might challenge creators who’ve perfected their square grids. For now, Instagram is gathering feedback before wider rollout.

Planning Instagram grid layouts with Planable

Are you already imagining a fresh Instagram grid layout with a new color scheme? I want to put your mind at ease that feed planning can be quite easy and fast.

With Planable, you can arrange and re-arrange your grid, test different layouts, and achieve the perfect Instagram feed.

Here’s how your Instagram Grid planning can look like

Your IG feed is about to get ten times better with an Instagram grid maker to plan your layout in advance.

Planable has a bunch of nifty features that can help you plan the perfect feed with just a few swipes:

Instagram grid maker in Planable

What do you like best about Planable?

“Instagram post planning can be viewed by grid and calendar.”

Irwan E., verified G2 review

5 steps to create an Instagram grid layout of your dreams

Consistency is key, and when working with photos and videos, it can become challenging to create cohesion, especially if you’re dealing with managing multiple accounts. That’s why planning ahead always help maintain a seamless flow across your posts.

Step 1: Define your brand’s personality

Personal or business account, you always need to define your visual brand. Which one are you? If you represent a business, create a suitable social media aesthetic. If you’re looking to develop a personal following, think about what your friends say about you and (most importantly) what authentically represents you.

Step 2: Pick an Instagram grid layout

Horizontal or vertical lines? Maybe diagonal or a puzzle effect? The layout you choose will help guide your efforts. It tells you what type of content to prepare, when to publish it, and where to place it. Play around with ideas to create an Instagram grid with your brand colors, add borders, and sprinkle in some quotes.

Step 3: Choose your colors

I mentioned your brand’s aesthetic at step one. Your brand colors should be prominent in your layout. If you don’t have the colors yet, pick no more than three shades that fit your brand. Give it time and make sure you’re going with the right colors, as they will become the visual personality of your account.

Step 4: Decide on a filter

A quick trick for maintaining consistency is to apply the same filter for every post. This filter should work with your chosen colors and your brand personality. If you don’t want to create your own filter, try using a preset option. Test them out until you feel like you found the one.

Step 5: Post in order

The order of your posts is also part of maintaining consistency, especially if your grid layout is more sophisticated. But don’t get anxious, you don’t have to put much effort into this arrangement anymore. With an Instagram layout planner, you can easily drag and drop your posts and rearrange everything until you reach perfection.

1. Planable: best Instagram grid planner for social media teams and agencies

Planable is an awesome Instagram management tool and social media scheduler that helps you create the perfect IG grid. You can collaborate and plan on content, see a pixel-perfect preview, get it approved, and schedule it all from one place.

The platform’s Instagram grid planner lets you easily drag and drop upcoming posts. This is great for playing around with different arrangements until you’re happy with your own feed. Experiment with different grids and reshuffle posts to achieve a specific color theme or pattern.

There’s a desktop version and a mobile app – both of which let you collaborate on everything you need to achieve a stunning grid for your Instagram profile. When everything is ready, simply schedule your content to go live.

What do you like best about Planable?

“The grid view because I can see my feed before posting.”

G2 verified review

With an Instagram feed planner like Planable, each dedicated workspace has its own media library where you upload your files. This is fantastic for social media managers or agencies handling multiple Instagram accounts. It keeps all your files organized and, once a file is uploaded, you can access it for reposting or repurposing it at any time.

One thing I always look for in any Instagram tool is an easy-to-use photo editor. I’m not a design pro, so I need something simple for my Instagram photos. Planable hits the mark for me. You can easily view and edit images to enhance your visuals and ensure they look amazing before sharing them with your audience. You can crop, add filters, annotate, resize, and much more. It even works for trimming video content. Plus, if you’re a Canva fan, there’s a seamless integration between the two.

Want to see your IG content schedule? Simply switch to the social media calendar view. From there, you get a visual planner for your upcoming Instagram content. You can drag and drop to make changes, just like the grid view – but keep in mind the order your posts need to be published to keep that grid looking glam.

Instagram social media content calendar

Features

Drag and drop your posts to play around with different layouts and see pixel-perfect previews of how your grid posts will look when they go live. Click on any post to make edits, approve, or schedule.

• Social media calendar view

Plan and schedule when your grid posts will go live using simple drag-and-drop and see a visual overview of your content plan. Apply filters and color-coded labels for more organized views.

Planable comes with a feed view that mimics the feel and flow of Instagram. You can see comments and feedback in context alongside each post. Plus, approve and schedule content from the same view.

• AI-powered content creation

Planable has an unlimited AI assistant integrated in the post composer. It can create & rewrite copy, suggest ideas for new posts based on your previous content, and even generate captions from your images or videos.

• Custom approval workflows

Each workspace comes with a customizable content approval flow, allowing social media teams and agencies to get approval on Instagram posts without all the emails and chasing.

Social media teams can work with external stakeholders in one place. Add your copy and hashtags to posts, give feedback in real-time, and leave in-context comments, annotations, and suggestions.

Instagram posts collaboration in Planable

• Instagram content scheduling

Planable allows you to plan, create, and schedule your Instagram posts from the same place – including direct publishing and scheduling for both Instagram Reels and Instagram Stories.

• Intuitive social analytics

Track the reach and engagement of your IG content, and create professional reports. You can also monitor your accounts’ performance with key metrics like follower growth and profile visits.

2. Canva: versatile free tool with Instagram grid templates

Canva is a great tool for creating visuals when you’re just starting out. It may not be as powerful as Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, but it comes with some awesome free templates and it’s super easy to use. You can use Canva to build your Instagram grid online, without downloading or installing any app.

Simply type ‘Instagram grid planner’ in the search bar and hit enter. Choose a template to start from, delete the preset images, and start adding your own. You can also create a blank grid and add your images one by one.

Features

• Huge library of materials. Canva provides you with millions of templates and stock images, including Instagram grid planner templates.
• Social post scheduling. Canva integrates with most major platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
• Collaboration with team members. You can work together on designs with the ability to assign tasks and leave comments within projects.
• Social media analytics. Canva’s Content Planner lets you see key metrics for your posts like impressions, clicks, likes, and comments.

Pricing: Canva has a free plan for those who are happy with basic design features. Paid plans have a 30-day free trial, then start at $15/month per person.

Drawback: No Instagram feed preview or Instagram profile mockup to see your content in context before you publish.

Takeaway: Canva is a perfect tool for small teams or those flying solo. You can sign in and quickly use a template to create a mockup of an Instagram grid.

3. Hootsuite: complex social management tool for large businesses 

Hootsuite is a proven option for large businesses and creators who want to manage their social media efforts from a single platform. You can set up a Hootsuite Stream feed to show your scheduled Instagram content. This displays your scheduled posts and Reels in chronological order, with the next piece of content to go live at the top.

While there is no native Instagram grid planner in Hootsuite, it does offer its own Instagram grid integration as a free app. Once installed, the add-on lets you plan out a grid layout of nine images. You can also set the scheduling order for the images in the grid.

Features

• Classic social media calendar. Plan your social media content and see heat maps to tell you the best times to schedule your posts.
• Social listening tools. Follow what people are saying about your brand or competitors online and stay on top of trends within your industry.
• Social media inbox. Respond to all the messages and mentions you receive across your social media accounts from a single, centralized inbox.

Pricing: Hootsuite has a 30-day free trial period. Its three paid plans start from $99/month for a single user to manage up to 10 accounts.

Drawback: Hootsuite falls on the more expensive end of the spectrum for social media management tools, so it may only be suitable for larger businesses.

Takeaway: Hootsuite is a proven solution for managing your social media accounts. Just remember that you’ll need to install the extra app for the Instagram grid planner.

4. Sked Social: social media management platform for including user-generated content

Fun fact: Sked Social used to be called Schedugram. Yes, the name change was a good idea. And the platform has evolved too. What was once an Instagram-specific tool is now a comprehensive social media management platform.

Sked’s initial Instagram focus means it does come with a built-in Instagram feed planner. Just like Planable’s you can drag and drop images to rearrange content until you find the perfect layout.

Features

• Drag and drop grid planner. Prepare your Instagram grid with a visual planner that lets you drag and drop images to easily rearrange things.
• Import user-generated content. Sked Social takes social listening an extra step by allowing you to import and repurpose social content that mentions you.
• Multi-channel publishing. Optimize your posting schedule and automatically publish social media content to 10 different platforms.

Pricing: Sked Social offers new users a 7-day free trial. Its paid plans start from $59/month to manage three social media accounts.

Drawback: No feed view and basic features like content approvals are not available in the Essentials plan.

Takeaway: Sked Social provides all the features you need to plan out Instagram grid posts at a mid-range price point. But if you want approvals it gets costly.

Three main reasons to use an Instagram feed planner

Whether from a visual or editorial perspective, you want your Instagram content to pop and leave an impression on visitors.

It goes without saying, but following a tight-knit plan instead of doing the ol’ create-and-dump will do wonders for your Instagram feed.

Considering your feed as a whole instead of individual posts will give you the global view necessary to experiment without deviating too far off the course.

In other words, an Instagram feed planner enables you to produce high-quality content consistently (more on that later).

Plus, you can save time by batching your content creation and scheduling Instagram posts in advance instead of doing everything on the fly.

Instagram grid inspiring examples

Deciding you want to plan your grid is just the tip of the iceberg. Figuring what type of grid layout style you want is going to take hours of research, one night to sleep on it, three friends to advise, and five stakeholders to approve.

Here’s what Kumba Dauda, Freelance Social Media Manager, Blogger and Influencer Outreach Specialist, thinks about achieving the perfect Instagram grid layout:

If Instagram had a spirit animal, it would be a chameleon. It is the one platform that is constantly learning to adjust to what’s trending.

Running Wholehearted Social, a Social Media Agency I have worked with a real variety of influencers and brands where we have experimented with so many different ideas based on current and forecasted trends as to ‘stay relevant’ on the gram.

Before sharing some inspiring IG grids, here are some well-known types of IG layouts that many creators have experimented with over time:

• Checkerboard grid: Alternate between two colors, themes, or content types to create this eye-catching Instagram post layout.
• Row-by-row grid: In this Instagram feed layout, each row of three posts follows a specific theme or tells a part of the same story.
• Puzzle grid: A very popular Instagram grid design where multiple posts come together to form one larger image.
• Column grid: Similar to the row-by-row layout, but this time each vertical column has its own consistent theme, like text, images, or colors.
• Border grid: Posts have a consistent border or frame around them for a clean, uniform look within your IG grid.
• Diagonal grid: Diagonal lines or patterns are formed by similar posts across the grid, creating an aesthetic IG feed.

Nowadays, a lot of agencies, big brands, and creators don’t always stick to these types of Instagram grids. Instead, they go for a more real and simple look, focusing on authenticity over perfection.

Now, let’s explore six awesome Instagram feed planning ideas to try as part of your social media strategy.

Marketing agencies

There are lots of ways you can set up an aesthetic Instagram grid as a marketing agency. Just look how Wolff Olins uses a row-by-row grid to highlight its ‘Life Is Good’ campaign and how is arranging square logos alongside compelling imagery. On the flip side, The Twelve Twenty Agency maintains a black-and-white visual identity to set itself apart.

Instagram grids are particularly useful for those who own businesses and want a cohesive brand image to be projected within their page to make that initial great impression.

– Kumba Dauda, Freelance Social Media Manager, Blogger & Influencer Outreach Specialist

Travel agencies

As a travel agency, you have so much to work with when it comes to choosing an aesthetic Instagram grid layout. I love how SmartFlyer makes use of a column grid here with all of its text posts. You could take this one step further with a column of text posts and the other two posts on the row related to the same destination, showcasing your photography skills to inspire travelers!

Horeca agencies

Who doesn’t love an Instagram post layout full of fabulous food and striking locations? Check out how these horeca agencies serve up visual treats. The Palomar restaurant creates a stunning IG grid by spotlighting its plated food among the backdrop of more warm-lit and ambient images.

One trend that seems to always be underlying within Instagram is the classic Instagram grid. I believe this was born out of the idea that the trend on Instagram at one point was a ‘perfect’ feed which had to cater to a certain aesthetic.

– Kumba Dauda, Freelance Social Media Manager, Blogger & Influencer Outreach Specialist

Real estate agencies

When you’re showcasing properties as a real estate agency, you need an Instagram layout that reflects your portfolio – whether it’s modern minimalism or vibrant villas. Can you see how Fantastic Frank creates a subtle,  but effective, checkerboard effect in its Instagram feed layout? I think it’s genius.

Beauty brands

Skincare and beauty brands often use a mix of product imagery and model close-ups with a fresh and clean feel. But how you position these within your Instagram layout makes all the difference. For example, look at how Dermalogica uses an offset diagonal pattern with a consistent color theme in its IG grid.

Social media influencers

Instagram grids are a fantastic way to present information in a visually appealing way. I can’t get enough of the three examples here from Pretty Little Marketer, House of Social, and Sunny Social Collective. The aesthetic Instagram grid ideas are clear to see, with PLM using a diagonal feed layout, while HoS and SSC are opting for a checkerboard effect in their Instagram grids.

What’s your next move?

If you got here, it means you’re ready to ditch experiments and create the best Instagram grid one can ask for in 2024. And if you do, please show it to me, because I can never get enough of them gorgeous layouts.

You picked the layout, learned a thing or two about consistency, built the tool stack. Now lay back and see how engagement grows row by row. Try it with Planable. It’s free.