Canva Tutorial: Perfect Instagram Reel Covers and Portrait Posts
Are you tired of your carefully crafted Instagram designs being cropped awkwardly on your grid? When you're designing portrait-sized posts or reel covers on Canva, it’s crucial to avoid common mistakes to ensure your designs look flawless in both the scroll feed and the grid. This tutorial will guide you through the essential steps to create Instagram designs that maintain their integrity after cropping. Let’s dive in!
Why This Matters
Using the wrong dimensions can lead to awkward cuts on Instagram, affecting how your content looks and how it’s perceived. By following this guide, you'll learn how to keep your designs looking professional and aesthetically pleasing, maximising engagement and appeal on your profile.
1. Understanding Instagram Cropping
Instagram crops images and videos to square dimensions on your grid, regardless of the original size. This often results in unintended cutting of important elements. Being aware of this helps you plan your layout accordingly.
2. Start a New Design on Canva
When creating a new design, either for a portrait post or reel cover, ensure you begin by selecting the right dimensions:
- Portrait Post: 1080x1350 pixels
- Reel Cover: 1080x1920 pixels
3. Use Rulers and Guides
To ensure your designs fit well within the square crop:
- Go to File in the Canva toolbar.
- Select View settings and check Show rulers and guides (or use Shift+R as a shortcut).
- Rulers will appear at the top and side of your design canvas.
4. Create a Square Guide
Using the ruler, draw a square guideline:
- Draw a square shape on your design.
- Hold down Shift as you resize to keep it perfectly square.
- Ensure this square is centred on your design canvas.
5. Align with Ruler Guides
Place guides precisely where your design will be cropped:
- Use your drawn square to drag ruler lines down, marking the top and bottom boundaries.
- Ensure all crucial elements of your design fall within these lines.
6. Design with Consideration for Margin
Avoid placing text or crucial elements too close to the edges:
- Maintain a consistent margin for clean, uncluttered designs.
- Make sure all important parts are within the square centre.
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7. Finalise and Review
Once your design fits well within the guidelines, disable the ruler to assess the overall look. Your design should appear balanced both as a whole and within the square crop area
8. Apply to Reel Covers
For reel covers, the process is identical:
- Design a full-sized vertical cover but prioritise the visual hierarchy within the square.
- Ensure that text and core images appear within the cropped guidelines.
9. Test and Adjust as Needed
Preview your designs in Instagram settings or in the Canva preview to ensure aesthetics and alignment are perfect. Make any necessary tweaks to ensure balance and visual appeal.
Conclusion
By following this tutorial, your Instagram reel covers and portrait posts will not only fit perfectly within your profile grid but also maintain a strong visual impact. Through strategic use of Canva’s tools, you can ensure your creative work stands out beautifully on Instagram. Keep designing with confidence, and let your posts engage more effectively!
Jacqui Naunton // White Deer