Instagram Story Time

My name is Kimberly Ramírez, and I am a junior majoring in advertising and graphic design at the University of Florida. This blog is for my MMC 2100 class. This blog is all about Instagram stories: how to make yours look great and how to take advantage of its features! Enjoy.

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Tutorial: Glitter & GIFs decorate your Instagram story

Good news: You can put GIFs in your Instagram stories! The acronym GIF stands for graphic interchange format. However, in simpler words, a GIF is a moving image. You can easily decorate your story with quirky and humorous GIFs! Below is a screenshot of how the Instagram app looks when you search for GIFs. 

However, if you want to make your photo look extra glittery or want extra texture, this tutorial is just for you!

Here's how you do it:

1. Open your photo and click on the 'additional media' button.

2. Then, click on the GIF button (you will notice it; it's the only button that is moving!).

3. Type 'glitter' in the search bar and look for your favorite GIF.

4. Click on the glitter of your choice. I chose the third one in the top row. Place your glitter wherever you desire! I picked the same GIF three times and overlapped them in my image to get even more glitter. Remember: always play around with each element. You can rotate, resize and stack GIFs on top of one another. Here's the final result: 

This is a great way to decorate your images and literally add some razzle dazzle! GIFs are great ways of bringing your images to life. Connecting elements from your photo and a GIF so they interact is one of the best ways to grab the viewer's attention. The more creative you get, the more likely you are to get more viewers on Instagram.

Don't know what GIF to use? There is usually a GIF for any keyword you type in the search bar, and Instagram provides a "Trending" section to see which GIFs are being used by other users worldwide. For example, the picture below shows a GIF of the World Cup trophy (first one from left to right in the third row). The FIFA World Cup is happening right now and is relevant in social media, so why not post a story with that GIF? It's easy to get creative with GIFs and start a conversation with your followers!

If you are a designer or you enjoy creating original content, you can make your own GIF and put it on your story! Here is a great link that will help you do that. How do you use GIFs to bring your stories to life? Comment below!

Photos by Kimberly Ramirez

Sources:

https://bigcatcreative.com/blog/how-to-create-animated-gifs-for-instagram

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Instagram stories are now your favorite marketing tool

Instagram has become one of the most used social media vehicles due to its ability to increase consumer engagement with a company and its products. Here's an article that expands on Instagram's marketing potential. Stories and posts increase consumer engagement by allowing followers to see what the company is up to with just one click.

Stories, just like posts, are packed with content. However, posting a story is not as serious as posting a picture or a video, which is on the profile forever and is subject to likes and comments. A story is a quick and easy way to engage with your followers on a day-to-day basis. Posting a story everyday is one way of keeping your account relevant if you do not post pictures or videos frequently.

One way of increasing your social media reach and presence is by adding hashtags to your story. Hashtags can be used to gather a bigger audience and make the story easy to remember. It works like an interactive catchphrase; the consumer can read it, click on it, and see what the community says about it.

Stories have polls. This is crucial for informal market research. It allows your audience to give you input on anything! For example, if a candy company posts a story asking its followers to decide whether or not they want a new flavor and 97% of all voters say yes, the company knows there is a possibility that the product might satisfy a consumer need. Here's how polls look:

The company can see the results immediately as people start answering the poll.

And, here is how the company views the results.

A common way of using stories is to make announcements. Instagram influencers, which are people with a significant amount of followers on the platform, are known for posting a story whenever they posted a picture or a video on their profile. This is a great way of announcing a new post since the viewers can preview the post by seeing a small part of it. This creates intrigue, which makes the followers click on the profile and look at the newly posted content. 

To create this effect, I used the second drawing tool from left to right and covered the whole area of the image. Then, I used the eraser to write "New Post". If writing on your phone is not your forte, try a stylus!

This strategy increases social media presence and keeps followers updated on the account's content so they don't miss anything. The story also serves as a measurer to see how many people viewed the story vs. how many likes the post gets.

Instagram provides these simple tools to allow the owner of an account to measure how well that profile's social media presence is doing. These strategies are used by marketers and social media influencers, so why not try it yourself?

Photos by Kimberly Ramirez

Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2017/03/28/why-instagram-is-the-top-social-platform-for-engagement-and-how-to-use-it/&refURL=https://www.google.com/&referrer=https://www.google.com/

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/shop/iphone-stylus

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How to: Format an Instagram story

Visual clutter: we all hate it. Our eyes detest looking at an image and feeling overwhelmed when heaps of information and colors are thrown at us quickly. It is easy to let GIFs, stickers and text pile up on your story. They are just so fun to use! But, this is where it is important to remind yourself that simplicity is good. Less really is more when you are creating an Instagram story. Remember, your followers only have a limited amount of time to look at your story, and they can quickly and easily ignore it if they wanted to.

As a design student, I learned that simplicity is great for creating content that is meant for other people to see. Important factors to consider are: your audience's literacy, their eyesight, and how fast they can read. If you have text that is so small it is almost illegible, people will find it hard to read it. You don't want this! You want your followers to notice, read and comprehend what you say. 

Instagram has features that allow the user to write on a story, draw, make a poll, add a GIF or a sticker, add a location and much more. However, if you have 4 GIFs and 5 stickers along with a poll and some text, your story will seem cluttered and hard to read.

One way to avoid this is to keep some space in between each element. Also, choose a blank space within your image to put the stickers and text. Here's an example: 

A simple text with a mention and a sticker is just enough to get the point across. 

In design, it is important to establish what is the center/bigger element in the composition and what are the secondary/smaller elements. When the hierarchy of the elements is established, positioning them is the next step. Instagram has automatic aligners for each element. Take advantage of it because it helps with having every element of your story properly placed and centered within the frame of your phone. This is the easiest way to avoid clutter.

Here's the feature in action:

While Instagram lets you post horizontal photos, vertical photos look the best. Here's one hack that can help you if your photo has one background color.

Paint over the leftover area outside of the photo, and VOILA! Now you have a vertical photo.

Making your stories look aesthetically pleasing is what makes your followers come back to check your content. Another way of creating glamorous stories is to personalize them using apps! Here's a link that helps choose the right app for the right job.

Comment below if you have other ways of making Instagram stories look neat and stunning!

Photos by Kimberly Ramirez

Sources:

http://www.katiesbliss.com/2018/01/the-best-apps-for-customizing-instagram-stories.html

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Your Instagram story toolbox: Fonts

One of my favorite features of the Instagram stories are the different typefaces (fonts) that it offers. It has five to choose from — although there can be some variation when you start experimenting with them. Here are the five typefaces that the app offers:

One of the most effective ways to use typefaces is to understand what they can do. For example, the typeface Strong is meant for strong, powerful phrases that need extra attention. Typewriter is more subtle and can be used for simple phrases because of its vintage look. Neon is my favorite. It is one of the newest typefaces (added in February 2018), and it has a curvy, delicate, girly look that stands out with any background. Modern can also be used for bold and strong statements, but it still looks thin and elegant. Modern is plain and appropriate for writing long information. 

One way you can make your text stand out and look funky is to lay 2 different colored words or phrases on top of the other. This adds dimension and color to your story! Try using it with two analogous colors. Here's how it looks:

Some fonts have variations where you can put a background to the text, and you can change the color of the background by using the eyedropper (located next to the colors to choose from)!

Another way to impress your followers with your Instagram story skills is to use negative space in stories. Negative space, defined by ThoughtCo., is "the space within, between, and around objects." The concept of negative space is one that was hard for me to grasp in my graphic design classes: I did not comprehend it quickly. However, when I understood it, I knew it is one of the best tools I have as a designer and as a lover of Instagram stories. Here's an example: 

I placed black text over the image of pluto (courtesy of NASA). The continuity of the black text that is placed across the planet is what created the negative space. One can still see the planet and the text at the same time; the two objects are recognizable.

Since you can choose the color for your text and Instagram provides gradient color palettes, it is easy to create a story that looks like this. Simply choose colors that go from light to dark and copy paste the text.

These are simple but creative ways to put text on your story that will have your friends asking you "How did you do that?!" Remember, there's no limit to how creative you can be when it comes to Instagram stories. If you are serious in creating gorgeous stories with fonts other than the ones Instagram offers, this app can help you! It has a variety of fonts to choose from, as well as cool filters for photos.

Comment below if you have any more tips!

Photos by Kimberly Ramirez

Sources:

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1626731/8-instagram-introduces-new-type-mode-feature-stories/

 https://www.thoughtco.com/negative-space-definition-2573838

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/a-design-kit/id1292829069?mt=8

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Getting started with Instagram stories

Hi everyone! My name is Kimberly Ramírez, and I am a junior advertising and graphic design major at the University of Florida. Welcome to my blog! In this blog, I will be giving tips on how to make the best out of your Instagram stories. 

Here I am surrounded by my art and using my laptop to create an illustration that I will later post on my Instagram story.

Since I am a design major, I know a thing or two about layouts and making stuff look good! I have taken typography, visual methods, drawing and digital art classes in UF, and I always look to integrate my creative knowledge in other fields. In my free time, I document my life as creatively as I can. One of my favorite ways to do this is by creating Instagram stories.

Instagram, the social media platform, is becoming a huge success with approximately 800 million active users. Almost everyone has an Instagram, and if you do, you know how fun it is! The app lets you post videos and photos, but it also offers Live Streaming, Boomerangs and other fun ways of creating social media content and expressing oneself.

The app's newest addition of Instagram stories is giving users a reason to keep the app. Instagram stories are a great way of creating content without the pressure of posting a picture or video and worrying about likes, comments or user reach. Much like Snapchat, stories on Instagram can be videos or photos. 

But first — before we jump into how you can make your stories look amazing — let's review the basics of the Snapchat story interface. 

To create an Instagram story, you must click on your icon in the top right corner of your home page.

Most people take a selfie or a picture by pressing on the circle in the bottom, but personally, I like to post an image that has already been saved in my Camera Roll. You can do that by pressing on the square in the corner.

Choose a cool picture from your phone's camera roll. 

After you choose the picture, here are the different buttons you can use to add text, drawings, GIFs, and more! 

You have plenty of options for adding additional features! You can let your followers know about your whereabouts with the location button, the temperature and the date; you can also make a poll or add adorable stickers to decorate your image.

The pen tool is great for adding handwritten details to your image! Instagram lets you eyedrop the colors inside your image to create color harmony in your image. This is a feature that Snapchat does not have and makes Instagram a much more refined app for creating stories. The eyedropper tool is in the bottom left corner.

Here's the eyedropper in action. It can also be used for typing colored text!

One reason why Instagram stories are my favorite: the fonts are the cutest! You can choose from 5 fonts to write information for your followers. 

Now that you know the basics of Instagram stories, I look forward to showing you how to make great Instagram stories in my future blog posts!

Photos by Kimberly Ramirez

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Rainy mornings are for Karma Cream's ice cream

by Kimberly Ramírez 

Gainesville, Fla. in the summer is not always sunny; sometimes, it rains all day. Cloudy skies hovered over Gainesville at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, June 6th, 2018. Karma Cream, a local ice cream cafe, stands at the heart of the Gainesville community and is ready to offer ice cream and other goodies despite the inclement weather.

Karma Cream has been a landmark for students at the University of Florida since 2009 when it was first established. The venue used to be located near UF but moved to its current location closer to downtown in February 2017, which is 607 W. University Ave. The owner, Kyle Fick, wanted more seating space for customers. (Here's an article from The Independent Florida Alligator that covers the venue's reopening at the new location.) The cafe opens on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. On weekends, it opens from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The venue welcomes its clients by writing out what it offers: ice cream, coffee, baked goods and sandwiches. The cafe offers inside seating, as well as outside seating. However, the weather in Gainesville calls for sitting inside.

Karma Cream specializes in using organic, vegan and fair trade certified ingredients to craft its pastries, ice cream, coffee and sandwiches. Its pastry menu includes: carrot cakes, chocolate chip cookies, Walnut ginger chai biscottis, apricot currant-walnut scones and much more! The pastries available vary from day to day. Pictured above are the Fostess cupcakes.

Karma Cream sells specialty drinks such as beer, tea and coffee. The cafe crafts sandwiches with organic ingredients and locally baked bread. 

"To make every ingredient in our sandwiches vegan, we use tempeh bacon and turkey made from tofu,” said Collin McGill, 21, an employee at Karma Cream since July 2017. He is a junior business administration major in UF from Tampa, Fla. 

McGill holds a cappuccino flavored organic and vegan ice cream in a waffle cone. He said the most popular ice cream flavors are vegan salted caramel and vegan chocolate, which the cafe did not have at the moment. However, there are 12 other vegan flavors to try, as well as 12 dairy flavors. All of which are organic, as well as the toppings offered.

"Karma Cream gets really busy from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on any given day,” said McGill. “A lot of people with dietary restrictions visit our cafe. I am lactose-intolerant myself, so I can enjoy the ice cream here.” 

Karma Cream's success in Gainesville continues to grow as it keep its promise of serving vegan, fair trade and organic treats to students and locals.