Before I give you any context, I just want you to look at the image and make some mental notes. What is the first thing that catches your eye? What colors are you seeing? Is this something you enjoy looking at? Can you figure out the sub-industry that this influencer fits into? These are some of the questions that viewers will be subconsciously asking themselves when visiting your profile, so they're important questions to be asking yourself, especially when you are looking for inspiration or analyzing a competitor's feed.
This profile belongs to Mary Lawless Lee, also known as @happilygrey on Instagram. She is a fashion influencer and blogger based in Nashville, TN. I chose Lee's profile as my example because throughout all of the years that I have followed her, I have noticed two major themes: variety and consistency. Now, I know those two elements may sound contradictory, but both are key when it comes to curating cohesive visual content.
The first thing about Lee's profile that I want to point out is her color palette. While most of the images contain different colors, the images are not overly contrasted to one another. Lee achieves a "clean feed" by using primarily grey backgrounds, including other neutral elements, and applying the same filter to her images. This color consistency is also helpful in identifying her style and taste.
While her colors are consistent, her feed appears anything but dull. She brings in a pop of color, creates a sense of depth, and emphasizes the subject of her images by utilizing the small details in her content. Attention to detail is required when creating (in this case, shooting) content, but it's even more important to be thorough in your editing and organization process. Although we cannot see the raw images, we can still tell that Lee isn't afraid to shoot with brighter colors. Thanks to her editing style, those colors never appear overwhelming. (Note: Editing, especially with a lot of colors, is one of the more challenging aspects of this process and it requires practice, so if you're just starting out, I would keep it simple for now.)
The screenshot above is also from Lee's feed, but it contains some of her older content. While her feed still looks good here, her colors are quite a bit more contrasted and edited differently. By comparing her older content to her new content, you can see that her feed has become even more cohesive as she has gained more experience and as her brand has grown. This should encourage you to stick with a plan, but be open-minded. In other words, you will learn a lot as you go!
The last thing that I want to point out is Lee's use of a "content cycle." The second screenshot of Lee's older feed includes four distinct types of visual content: solo content, product content, filler content, and personal content. A variety of content keeps viewers intrigued and, ironically, helps create cohesion.
Lee's feed exhibits her minimalist style but includes elements of liveliness throughout, showing that she, or rather her brand, is far from boring. Feel free to refer back to my previous post, Five Steps to a Better Feed, to learn more about some of these tools seen on Lee's profile!
