HeadoutHanded off 2026

IG story tool + design

The tool

Starting with the final result: A tool.
Again? Seriously?

Yes, but I have reasons, and they are threefold.

  • Simple but repetitive work/changes, in BULK
  • Often got delayed when designer was unavailable
  • Brand marketing peeps sad (sorry Gargi and Kevin 🙏)

“Bhaiya iske features kya kya hai?”

“Brother what are its features?” commonly asked by customers at a car showroom.

Fetch photo from any linkJust bring the link of the image. Rest all set.
Auto gradientColour picked from the image, within the correct range.
Portal coming up!A very important brand element, showcasing the experience.
Content with the contentJust caption / also a subtext / also copyright info.
Partners’ logoTo highlight the OGs we work with.
Readjust imageReposition/resize the image within.

Impact

20+Stories live each week
1 minCurrent design time/story
100%Smiles working with brand mkt. team

Stuff i did

OK now, the journey we took to this design.

The old design had these problems:

Less real estate to image.
Colour block took up a lot of the space.
Layout fatigue: we needed a design renewal.

So we decided to look into another direction.

Looked at the requirements from the team, what worked best for our audience, the constraints of stories in instagram, and what other companies are doing. Here’s a few things we decided.

The image leads.

Edge-to-edge, nothing decorative competing.

Designing for the worst image.

The key learning was that a template can’t depend on a “good” image, so we’ll deliberately test with difficult ones.

Limited words and characters, always readable.

Contrast never relies on the image.

Brand through type, colour and the portal.

Not decoration.

Respect Instagram’s safe zones.

Top 7% and bottom ~15% stay clear.

If the tool can’t automate it, cut it.

Then we explored.

Portals + cutouts

Strong branding, flexible.

Portal strokes

The image breaks through the portal.

Name cards

Keeps the image dominant.

Ticket shapes

Also used for urgency treatments.

Progressive blur

Protects text contrast.

Tiled layouts

For tiled product stories.

Polaroids

Too much obstruction.

Search bar

Too limited a use case.

Shadows

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Luggage tags

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Different lockups

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Gradients

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Typography

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Cards

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Final design: analysis