Instagram Grid: Size, Layout and How to Plan It

The grid is 3:4 now, not square

Early in 2025 Instagram switched profile tiles from 1:1 squares to 3:4 rectangles, taller than they are wide. It matches how phones shoot photos and how Reels already looked.

The post itself doesn’t change. A square photo still shows as a square in the feed; only its tile on your profile is cropped at the sides to fit 3:4. That is why old text graphics now lose their first and last letters on the profile.

The size that survives both views

Upload photos at 4:5, which is 1080 × 1350 pixels. That fills the feed fully and loses only a thin strip at the top and bottom on the 3:4 tile.

Keep words, faces and logos in the middle two thirds of the frame. Anything near the edges is the first thing the tile cuts off.

Reels are 9:16. Their tile shows the middle 3:4 of the cover, so pick a cover frame whose subject sits in the centre.

Fixing a tile without reposting

Open the post, tap the three dots, and choose Adjust preview. You can drag the image inside the tile frame so the part you care about shows. The post in the feed is untouched.

To change the order of your grid, press and hold a post on your profile and choose Reorder grid, then drag it to its new place. Pinned posts stay on top: you can pin up to three.

Instagram grid layout ideas that are easy to keep up

Rows of three: each row shares a colour or a theme, so the grid reads as stripes. It suits anyone who posts in small batches.

Checkerboard: every other post is a plain text or quote tile, the rest are photos. It works when you post often and want the grid to stay calm.

One colour family: the same two or three tones in every photo, set by the same editing preset. Least planning, still looks deliberate.

Avoid split images that only make sense across three tiles. One post deleted or reordered later breaks the picture, and in the feed each piece looks unfinished.

Planning your grid before you post

Look at the next nine posts together before any of them go out. A row that clashes is easy to swap on paper and awkward to fix once it is live.

A simple habit: write the captions and pick the images for a week in one sitting, check them side by side, then schedule them in order. In Dripost you can write and schedule Instagram photos, carousels and Reels weeks ahead and move a post to another day by dragging it on the calendar.

Do you need a grid maker for Instagram?

A grid maker splits one large picture into tiles that line up across the profile. Dripost does not make split images, and it is easy to get wrong because the tiles shift every time you post. A plain layout that survives the 3:4 crop is easier to keep up. Dripost shows your posts on a calendar, so you can see what comes next before it goes out.

Sources

• Report on Instagram’s grid reordering release, 2025
• Report on editing grid thumbnails, 2025