Instagram Trends 2018: How to create a beautiful Instagram

If you are trying to make your Instagram visually pleasing, make sure to check what are the Instagram 2018 trends to stay up-to-date.

1. KEEP IT NATURAL! 

Sharpening your pictures to make every detail visible? That is so 2016.  2018 is all about the natural look, taking photos which are aesthetically pleasing with a focus on simplicity. Right shapes are the new trend, which means you will probably have to stroll around the city to find this perfectly straight rooftop, but hey, we can do everything for a good photo nowadays!

You don’t need to pose 

Well, this one is not 100% true: you still do have to pose, but to pretend like you’re not doing it. This means you have to run, laugh, eat, and do all your daily activities while someone is doing the shoots of you. Honest pictures are always the best ones though, as they capture the right, genuine moment perfectly! However, I personally think this one can be tricky since I have seen girls trying to look natural so hard that It was way too obvious that it was fake. Therefore, if you are not able to look natural, then just pose a bit, as I think that is still better than a bad picture!

Look at these pics from Mimiela, they look so natural that it really makes me wonder whether they are posing or not!

You are beautiful without these filters, too 

The same rule of natural look goes for editing your face. Facetune indeed was a big trend and it did make your face look flawless, but let’s be honest, you did fear a bit whether your followers would recognize you in real life without all the filters. Don’t get me wrong, Face tune is still acceptable if you want to remove the small imperfection, still, try not to over-do it!

This brings us to the topic of shading. Before, you could see ‘cold profiles’ or ‘warm profiles’ where the users would base the whole Instagram on the same tones. It did, indeed, create a consistent look.  However, nowadays, you are encouraged to play around a bit with the settings. This time, everything is about the liveness of your photos so make sure to adjust them by setting the exposure, contrast, and saturation. Even though the one-shade IG profiles were the big deal, their monotone style made them a bit boring after a while.

Here is a fun fact: a recent study shows that the more followers you have, the fewer filters you use! I would definitely have not expected this, but it does, actually, make more sense. Influencers have better quality images which don’t need that much edit. I assume that most of them are using a professional camera which makes every shot look great!  

Check out my favorite Instagram profile- Matilda Djerf.  She is a fashion blogger from Sweden and according to her, she only uses Lightroom CC to correct lighting on her photos! She is also taking most of her pictures from her iPhone which proves that filters are not necessary for a great look.

Pro Tip: Even though many people think you have to pay for it, you can actually download Adobe Lightroom on your phone for free!

2) IT IS ALL ABOUT INSTA STORIES NOW! 

Re-sharing content 

This is definitely one of the biggest trends of Instagram this year, and you should make sure to use all of IG’s stories features! If you want to grow your Instagram engagement, re-share your Instagram post on your story as well! This feature is not only great for promoting yourself, but also sharing posts of other people you like, or brings you support- such as, for instance, sustainability fashion brands!

Insta stories are also great for sneak-peaks, a feature popular amongst fashion brands! I really love the way Mango does it, so check it out if you’re a fashionista looking for some inspiration! As a story lasts only 24 hours, you can always keep it by saving it in your highlights, which are visible to everyone.

Customizing highlights 

A recent trend which has been popular amongst influencers, but also the rest of us who unfortunately can’t manage to get over 10k followers, is customizing the highlights.

You can do it by adding an image with the description of your highlights and upload it to the specific highlight. You can easily create this using the Canva website!  It is very easy to use and with its cool fonts and are a good choice for adding text or frames to your photos!

Nowadays, a nice feed is not sufficient, at least if you care about your followers. Therefore make sure to make your Stories pretty as well, using the best filters such as  ‘Oslo’, ‘Lagos’ and ‘New York’. Personally, I love posting a lot of stories because I love engaging with my audience, and I did notice a higher engagement when using coherent filters.

Ask me anything you want 

When I thought that engaging with your audience can’t grow further, Instagram dropped the ‘Ask me a question’ as a feature of IG Story! It enables you to reply to questions your followers ask you, showing both on your story, becoming the new IG hype! 

Even though IG won’t display who asked you a question on your Story, you indeed will get the notification with the exact name. So, if you thought about asking your ex a tricky question, my advice is: just don’t! It is not anonymous!

3) WE STILL LOVE FILTERS  

And Vintage is back! 

When all the vintage photos started appearing on your IG homepage, you were probably wondering where the cool filter came from. One of the most popular apps for this year was definitely the HUJI app, which gives your photos a perfect retro touch!

If you, however, prefer sticking to the filters offered by Instagram, here is the list of the most popular Instagram filters by different categories!

Fashion- Kelvin

Food- Skyline

Nature- Valencia Filter

These are the specific filters for categories, but the topic 3 most popular filters in general are:

1) Clarendon: it is Instagram’s classic, a safe choice: it can make lighter areas lighter and darker bits darker, accentuating the most dominant color on the image

2) Juno: it is mostly used by companies for editing events photos, and for outdoor pictures of people and animals. It produces a clear, sharp look, brightening the photo and creating a clear appearance. It accentuates warmer tones giving a vibrant glow

3) Gingham: want to get more likes and comments? Then Gingham should be your choice! A study conducted last year in the UK showed that this filter creates feelings of nostalgia in people and inspire them to engage with the content. This explains why so many brands use the filter!

And this was it about the 2018 Instagram trends! While some of the trends might fade away before this Christmas, I am sure other new ones will appear. But isn’t this ever-changing visual appearance one of the best features of Instagram? I definitely think so!
 Now that you’ve got a good re-cap of this year’s buzz, you are able to make your IG as trendy as possible! However, make sure to always keep your unique touch and try not to blend within thousands of the same looks. You should use IG as a platform for expressing your creativity, and not to emulate other profiles. Because after all, aren’t trends here so we can break them? ;)

Love,

Una

Xxx