How to Change the Background Color On An Instagram Story

Your Instagram stories matter more than you think. According to data, people engage more with Instagram stories than posts. Instagram stories make your personal or professional brand stand out more than anything else.

The easiest yet most effective hack to make your stories more attention-worthy is to make them aesthetically pleasing. One way to do this is by changing the background color. While it sounds pretty basic, it can uplevel your entire Instagram game.

3 benefits of changing background color for Instagram Stories

Makes your Instagram aesthetics more coherent

When you don't change the background shade of your Instagram story and leave the default color, there is no uniformity in your aesthetics. To create an aesthetic that is unique to your brand, you need to ensure that the background shades of your Instagram stories follow a scheme. It creates a better impression on your Instagram followers.

Makes your Stories more shareable

Instagram app is a highly visual social media. People chiefly want to engage with and share stuff that is eye candy. If you want to use Instagram to share your stories, you have to focus on making them appealing. Changing the background color of your Instagram story is a great way to do this.

Provides uniformity with brand colors

If you are a professional brand, you probably have a specific color palette to represent your brand. To build a unique identity for your brand on Instagram, both your feed and stories must be in sync with your brand's color palette.

Changing the background color of an Instagram Story without photo elements

To a solid color

Tap on the "Aa" icon/ the font icon on the left-hand side of the screen on your Instagram story. It appears the same on both Android and iPhone (iOS).

Then tap on the draw icon at the top of the screen.

If you want a solid color, select the pen tool, but if you want to go for an opaque look, select the highlighter brush. With the slider at the bottom of your screen, select your preferred shade from the multiple color options.

Tap and hold the post for a few seconds and then add other elements like text or GIFs (if you want to).

Save the changes.

To a transparent color

Click on the pen option at the top left corner of the screen and select the third option.

With the slider on the bottom of the screen, choose the shade you prefer.

Hold your finger on the screen to create the transparent background color you want by adjusting the shades.

Changing the background color of a Story when you have a story photo

When you share an image or a post via your Instagram stories, the default color is already selected.

Tap on the draw tool at the top right of your screen.

If you want a solid background, select the pen icon.

Use the slider tool at the left to choose the shade you want for your story.

If you prefer an opaque background, choose the highlighter brush and follow the same process as above.

Tap and hold on to the post/image for a few seconds, and the color of the whole post/image will switch to the one you selected in the above steps.  

Use the eraser icon near the top right corner to rub off color from the post/image to reveal it. Change the size of your brush using the slider option on the left-hand side of the screen.

Rub off the shade from the top of the photo element using your finger.

Changing the background color of a Story using a pre-built background

If you want to use a new background/template that you have specially customized for your Insta story instead of going for a plain color, follow this tutorial:

Download that background on your device's photo library. Once you click on the "Create Instagram Story" option, tap on the photo gallery icon on the bottom left-hand corner of your screen.

Select the pre-built background image you want to use for your story. Enlarge the background using two fingers so that it covers the whole screen. You can further add GIFs and stickers (if you want to)  and then save the changes.

Latest Instagram Story trends for 2022

Your brand identity depends a lot on how you present your Instagram stories. The elements, aesthetics, background- everything on your Instagram stories shape a unique identity for your account. Here are some popular Instagram graphic trends that you can incorporate:

Seasonal color palettes

Using seasonal hues for your Instagram stories is one of the most underrated ways to uplift the aesthetics of your stories. For instance, you can use soft pastel greens to indicate the spring arrival and use dark, rich browns to create an autumn vibe. Make these transitions subtle, seamless, and gradual.

Gradients

The most popular color trend on Instagram is using an aesthetic background gradient for your Instagram stories. The perfect gradient shade makes the image/ text on your story pop and highlights any extra elements you add better. Instagram already has six built-in gradients, but if you want to explore more gradient angles, blend amounts, and specific shades, you can use a third-party app.

Moodboard

Creating a Moodboard for your Instagram stories will help you design a visual concept, idea,  and style for your Instagram account. Choose images for your mood board that conveys the kind of vibe and aesthetics you want for your Instagram stories. You can seek inspiration by analyzing visuals and researching trends on Pinterest or competitor accounts.

Pastel or muted shades

The millennials and Gen Z's are obsessed with pastels or muted earthy tones. These hues create a lot of stir in the interior and fashion design space and appeal to a creative audience. Creating an Instagram story color palette out of these shades will make your stories appear easy on the eyes and prettier.

4 Instagram Story hacks to beautify your posts

If changing to the new background color of your Instagram story doesn't seem enough for you, here are some more cool hacks to make your stories visually interesting:

Use "Hidden" Instagram Story Filters

Scroll down on your Instagram story options to find the "Browse Effects" option. Tap on it, and you will discover a large gallery of options with several effects. These stories features can visually highlight your Instagram stories.

Add Multiple Photos to Your Instagram Story

If you want to add multiple photos from your camera roll to the same Instagram story, you can go to the sticker option. Select the "multiple photos" option to layer several photos on the same slide as stickers. Or you can even create a collage of the photos by layering several photos on the same slide as stickers.

Add Custom Fonts to Your Instagram Stories

Instagram already gives you a range of font styles to choose from when you click the "Text" button. But if you want to customize your text style even more in terms of text size, color, gradient, line spacing, etc., you can go for so many third-party apps like Phonto or Typorama.

Pin Stickers, Emojis, Texts, and GIFs to Your Instagram Stories

To pin text or stickers to your new story, first tap on the Sticker icon at the top row of the text option to insert text. Select your preferred sticker or text style from the range of options. Long press on the sticker/text you selected, and a slider will appear at the bottom of the screen.

You can pinch and drag your two fingers to resize the text/sticker. Once you place the text/sticker on the desired spot, tap on the pin option. You can also pin a GIF/emoji to your Instagram story in a similar way.

Tap and hold the screen until a little bar appears at the bottom called "pin." Tap on it when you place the GIF at the preferred spot on the story.

Top 5 examples of creative Stories to seek inspiration

So many brands on Instagram are crushing it in terms of dreamy aesthetics, creative visual concept, and strategic stories. Let us have a look at our top five among them:

1. Ritual

This vitamin brand promotes customer testimonials, health tips, and product features on its Instagram stories. It leverages Instagram's interactive stickers and creative tools to keep its followers engaged. The brand has also created its own Instagram Stories GIFs like a customized call-to-action or the swipe-up button.

Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream's

This ice cream brand has a color palette of dreamy pink and creamy pastel shades that gives a visual hint that it sells ice creams. It uses color gradients and keeps the background shades of its stories as subtle and muted as possible which goes with the brand's color palette.

Summer Fridays

It is a big skincare brand where bloggers Lauren Gores and Marianna Hewitt have created a face mask. The brand's Instagram aesthetic is so dreamy and candid that it seems straight out of a fairytale color palette. It has created a popup that enables fans to snap a pic and experience the brand in real life.

Otherland Candle

This brand's perfectly curated feed and Instagram stories are a treat to the eyes. It launched a series "Coffee Table Confidential" on its Instagram Stories that features and reposts design tips, coffee table essentials, etc.

Marine Layer

It is a clothing brand focused on sustainable fashion through recycling old outfits. It creatively uses different elements on its Instagram stories, such as GIFs, stickers, Q&A, polls, etc., to communicate the brand message effectively.

Now change the background color on your Instagram story and beautify it

Your brand's Instagram stories are as crucial as your feed. Do not commit the blunder of ignoring stories! Designing an aesthetic Instagram story will pop out and distinguish your brand more than you can imagine. So go ahead and explore all the ways we have discussed here to make Instagram stories more appealing.