Instagram story maker

Stories are full-screen and vertical: 1080 × 1920 pixels, a 9:16 ratio. The same size works for Instagram and Facebook stories, Reels covers and full-screen status updates in messaging apps.

The app draws its own interface on top of your story. The profile picture, name and progress bar sit at the top; the reply field and buttons sit at the bottom. The editor marks a safe zone for this: about 250 px at the top and 250 px at the bottom are left for the app, leaving a 1080 × 1420 area in the middle where text and buttons stay fully visible.

The editor opens with a story template already placed inside the safe zone, and the gallery has more: announcements, quotes, sales, event countdown-style designs and photo-first layouts. Change anything: text, fonts, colors, gradients and backgrounds, or replace the photo with your own JPG, PNG, WebP or HEIC file.

A design made for a post can become a story too. Switch the size to 1080 × 1920 and the layout adapts automatically; then check that nothing important falls outside the safe zone.

• Leave room for interactive stickers. If you plan to add a poll, question box or link sticker in the app, keep an empty area for it in the middle third.
• One idea per frame. A story is seen for a few seconds; split longer content into several frames.
• Large type. Text that looks big on a desktop screen is small on a phone; preview at phone size before you download.
• Contrast: use a highlight background behind text on photos, or a solid or gradient band.
• Faces in the safe zone, not at the very top where the profile bar covers them.
• Consistent series: duplicate your first frame and change only the text so a multi-frame story looks like a set.
• Vertical photos work best. A horizontal photo leaves empty bands; zoom it to fill the frame or place it on a colored or blurred background.

• Announcements: a new product, a new episode, an opening date. One headline, one photo.
• This or that: two photos side by side with a poll sticker added in the app.
• Tips in a series: three to five frames with one tip each, numbered so viewers know how many are left.
• Event reminders: Tomorrow, 7 PM in large type, with the place underneath.
• Quotes and reviews: a short customer quote with permission, on a brand-colored background.
• Behind the scenes: a photo with a short caption bar at the top of the safe zone.

Duplicate a finished frame to make the next one; the fonts, colors and positions stay the same, so the series looks planned.

Highlight covers are the small circles under your bio. Make them in the story size with a simple icon or a one-word label centered in the frame, because Instagram shows only a circular crop from the middle. Use a single background color or gradient from your brand kit across all covers, so the row of circles looks tidy. Duplicate the design, change the icon or word, and download each cover separately. Simple line-style icons built from shapes, or a single sticker in a contrasting color, read best at that small size. Avoid photos with lots of detail; they turn into a blur inside a small circle.

Save your colors, fonts and logo in the brand kit and apply them to any template with one click. Your work saves automatically in the browser, and you can save a project file to continue on another device.

Download a PNG for crisp text, or a JPG for photo stories. There is no watermark, no sign-up, and nothing is uploaded: everything runs on your device, including on a phone with touch editing. For feed posts and carousels, use the Instagram post maker.