How to Customize an Instagram Template for your Brand

Templates are by far THE most helpful tool for speeding up your content creation flow… and they also help you keep your brand looking cohesive so you can get recognized more often (hello, lower marketing costs!).

But it can definitely feel daunting to invest in templates that don’t match your brand colors or fonts.

So, we created this video to show you how easy it is to swap out a few elements to make our IG templates match your brand vibe.

1. Open your template in Canva

Canva has made it so easy for everyone — designers AND non-designers — to create great looking graphics.

Not only can you easily edit colors, fonts, and photos, but you can add graphic elements, gifs, and animations.

Make sure to grab our Instagram Template Pack to dive right in and get started in Canva!

2. Swap out to your brand colors

Once you open your template in Canva, you’ll want to swap out any color blocks with your brand colors.

If you don’t have brand colors yet, you can browse color palettes using a site like Coolors, or you can upload a photo into a tool like this Image Color Picker and it’ll pull out a color palette for you.

Once you have the color codes (also called hex codes) you want to use, you can type them directly into the Canva color search box. Each color code will be six digits, often shown with a hashtag (ie. #2596ab).

3. Use your own photos

The best way to make your brand look unique is to use your own photos. Getting a brand photo shoot is one of the first things we recommend all brands invest in, so they have custom imagery to use on their website and on social.

However, if you don’t have your own photos yet, stock photos are the next best thing!

Try to collect photos that are similar in color, tone, and style, so your brand stays looking cohesive.

Our favorite sites for free stock photos are Unsplash and Pexels, and if you’re willing to invest a little in your photos, we love Stocksy for individual photos and Social Squares for a photo membership.

Last, there’s also an option to access photos through Canva, and an even bigger library if you’re a Canva Pro user.

4. Change the fonts

Last, don’t forget to swap out the template fonts to your brand fonts.

If you don’t already have fonts picked out for your brand, you can browse free fonts in Canva to find ones that represent the vibe you’re going for with your brand.

If you have a custom font you want to use, you can upgrade to Canva Pro to upload your own fonts.

Keeping the momentum

Our #1 tip when getting started with templates is… 

Don’t overthink it! 

Simple graphics do best on Instagram, so you don’t need fancy layouts or a bunch of extra elements.

Use simple layouts, swap out to your brand colors + fonts, and use photos that match your vibe.

We’re getting ready to retire our Instagram Template Pack to make room in the shop for some new goodies, so if you’ve had your eye on it, now’s the time to grab it!

This pack includes 40+ of our favorite templates, optimized for engagement & conversion. These are the exact templates we use in our own business, made to be easily customized to fit YOUR brand.

They’re also 100% customizable in Canva (which is FREE)!

Grab yours before they’re gone!