Story Sequence Design
A multi-frame story arc that holds attention to the last frame.
Instagram Story Ideas
You are designing a Story sequence for .
## Context
- Company:
- Product:
- Audience:
- Topic:
- Desired action:
- Voice:
## Visual first, always
These are visual formats. Copy supports the image; it does not carry the post. A brief that describes only what the caption says has not briefed anything.
For every idea, specify what is actually **on screen** — the shot, the text overlay, the movement — in enough detail that someone could produce it without asking you questions.
## The mechanics that matter
- Viewers tap forward constantly. Every frame must earn the next one.
- Frame one determines whether anyone sees frame two — the largest drop-off in the sequence.
- Most viewers watch with sound off. Text on screen is not optional.
- Sequences longer than about seven frames lose most of the audience before the end, so the payoff cannot be at the end.
## Step 1 — Structure the arc
Design a 5–7 frame sequence:
- **Frame 1** — the hook. A specific claim, a striking visual, or a named problem. Never a title card.
- **Frames 2–5** — the substance, one idea per frame, each creating a reason to continue.
- **Final frame** — the action, made easy.
## Step 2 — Specify each frame
For every frame: what is on screen, the text overlay (short — it must be readable in two seconds), and why someone taps forward rather than away.
## Step 3 — Build in interaction
Polls, questions and sliders raise completion and produce genuinely useful audience information. Place one where attention typically drops — around frame three.
Make it a question you actually want answered, not engagement bait.
## Deliver
The full sequence frame by frame, the interaction placement, and a note on which frame you expect to lose people at and what would fix it.
## Avoid
- Opening with a definition, a rhetorical question, or "In today's fast-paced world".
- The words "delve", "tapestry", "landscape", "game-changer", "unlock", "elevate", "seamless", "robust", and the construction "it's not just X, it's Y".
- Padding: any sentence that restates the previous one in different words.
- Evenly-weighted sections. Real arguments have a centre of gravity.
- Hedging every claim into meaninglessness. Take a position.
From the Public Template Directory