Designing Social Media Posts: Sizes and Rules

Good social media post design starts from how posts are actually seen: on a small phone screen, mid-scroll, with parts of the image covered by the app's own buttons, account names and captions. So get the size right first, then say one thing clearly, then build templates that make your account recognizable at a glance. This guide covers the commonly used sizes, safe zones, the balance between text and image, carousels, and how to handle Arabic text inside a design.

Commonly used sizes

Platform recommendations change from time to time, but a small set of sizes covers most everyday work. Design at a width of at least 1080 px for posts and stories. Apps compress and resize every upload, and a smaller canvas loses sharpness after compression.

A few practical notes on this table:

• 4:5 portrait is a sensible default for feed posts. It takes up more screen height than a square and displays uncropped in most feed views.
• The profile grid may crop posts to a different ratio from the one you designed, so keep the headline and main subject near the center.
• The link preview image (often called the Open Graph image) is set on your website, not on the platform, and some apps trim its edges. Keep text away from the sides.
• Before any important campaign, check each platform's current help pages, especially for ads, because recommended sizes and file limits change. For paid placements, the Meta Ads beginner's guide explains how placements shape your creative.

Sizes are only the frame. What makes a post good is the same set of principles behind all design work (color, type and composition), covered in Graphic Design: The Complete Beginner's Guide.

Safe zones: what the app interface hides

The safe zone is the part of your design that the interface does not cover. In stories and reels, the top holds the progress bar and account name; the bottom holds the reply or comment field, the caption and any call-to-action button; one side holds the like, comment and share buttons. Any text, price or logo sitting under these elements is lost, however good it looks.

An illustrative rule of thumb for a 1080×1920 canvas:

1. Keep roughly the top 250 px free of text and logos.
2. Keep a similar or larger area clear at the bottom, and more for reels, where the caption and account name stretch upward.
3. Keep text away from both side edges. Interaction buttons sit on one side, and their position can flip depending on the app's interface language.
4. Put the core message in the middle third of the screen.

Create a guide layer in your design software that marks these margins, keep it in every template, and hide it on export. More important than any number: look at the design on your own phone before you publish. That simple test catches what a large monitor hides.

Balancing text and image

A post is not a printed flyer. People pass it in a moment, and if the idea is not clear at a glance they keep scrolling. The core rule is one message per post. The details belong in the caption.

• Keep the on-image headline short. Three to eight words is usually enough.
• Let the image carry meaning, not just fill the background: a clear product, a person using it, or a visible result.
• Size text for the phone. Quick test: shrink the design on your monitor to roughly phone size. If you have to lean in to read it, it is too small.
• Watch contrast. Thin white text over a busy photo will not read. Use a calm area of color or a semi-transparent gradient behind the text.
• Make the reading order obvious: something that catches the eye, then the information, then the call to action or logo. This is visual hierarchy applied to a small screen.

Illustrative example: a perfume shop in Riyadh announcing an offer. The weak version crams the product name, the price before and after the discount, the offer dates, the WhatsApp number and the delivery terms into one image. The stronger version shows the bottle, well lit, with a short line such as "Offer ends this weekend" and a small logo, and moves the rest of the details and the chat link into the caption.

Templates and brand consistency

An account where every post looks like it came from a different brand weakens recall. The answer is not repeating the same design but building a template system: a set of fixed layouts whose content changes.

1. List your recurring content types: offer, new product, tip, customer review, occasion greeting, question for the audience.
2. Design one or two templates per type, with a fixed grid, margins and logo position.
3. Stick to the brand colors and no more than two typefaces, as defined in your brand guidelines.
4. Store templates in one shared place with clear names, whether in Figma, Canva or Photoshop files.
5. Review the profile grid weekly. Do the posts look like one family? Is there enough variety in images and color to avoid monotony?

Templates also help whoever runs the account. Once a monthly content plan is ready, producing a post becomes filling a tested template instead of designing from scratch each time. For seasons like Ramadan and Eid, changing a decorative element or a secondary color across the templates is usually enough; you rarely need a new look for every season.

Designing carousels

A carousel is a post with several slides that people swipe through. It suits steps, lists, comparisons and product collections. The principles:

• Slide one is a clear promise: a headline that tells readers what they get if they keep swiping, such as "5 packaging mistakes that cost you repeat orders".
• One idea per slide, with a consistent layout so readers know where to look.
• A cue to continue: a small arrow, or an element that runs off the edge into the next slide.
• The last slide wraps up or asks for action: save the post, message us, visit the link.
• Number the slides so the sequence is never in doubt.

For seamless carousels, where one image flows across several slides, work on a single canvas whose width is a multiple of 1080 px and slice it precisely. Swipe direction is set by the app and may follow the interface language rather than the language of your content, so test the order on a phone and let slide numbers carry the sequence.

Arabic text in designs

Many problems in designs for Arabic-speaking audiences are technical before they are aesthetic:

• Broken or reversed letters appear when the software, or its settings, does not shape Arabic correctly. In Adobe apps, for example, switch on the Middle Eastern text engine in the preferences, and check the result after export.
• Font choice: use Arabic typefaces that stay clear on screen at small sizes, and keep decorative calligraphic styles for short headlines. See Arabic fonts in design for detail.
• Size and spacing: Arabic usually needs a slightly larger size than Latin text to look equally legible, and more line spacing for ascenders, descenders and dots.
• Numerals: choose one numeral style, Western or Eastern Arabic, and apply it consistently to prices, dates and phone numbers.
• Bilingual posts: never mix both directions in one line. Give Arabic its own right-aligned area and English its own area, or produce two separate versions if the account serves two distinct audiences.
• Kashida (letter stretching): use it sparingly to balance a word in a headline, never to fill space. Overuse makes text harder to read.

Exporting and final review

• Export in the sRGB color space. Screens and platforms expect it; CMYK files show up dull or with unexpected colors.
• Use PNG for text-heavy designs and flat graphics, and high-quality JPG for photographs.
• Do not upload a huge file hoping for better quality. The app will resize and compress it anyway, and results are usually better at the recommended size.
• Proofread spelling, prices, dates and contact details. One wrong digit in a WhatsApp number wastes the whole post.
• Check the design on a phone in both the light and dark app themes if you can, and make sure the logo does not disappear in either.

Practical checklist

• Is the size right for the format: 1080×1350 for feed, 1080×1920 for stories and reels, 1200×630 for link previews?
• For paid ads, have you confirmed current sizes in the platform's help pages?
• Are text and logo inside the safe zone, tested on a real phone?
• Does the post carry one message that reads at a glance?
• Is the text readable without zooming, with enough contrast against the background?
• Is the design built on a template from your brand's system, with its colors and fonts?
• Is the Arabic text properly joined and proofread, with one consistent numeral style?
• Did you export in sRGB, in the right format for the content?