Fonts for Instagram Stories

Tap Aa in the Story editor and you get Instagram’s text tool: a row of fonts, a colour picker, an alignment button, a button that puts a solid block behind the words, and animation. Those fonts come with the app and cover ordinary letters. A pasted 𝗕 or ⓑ is a separate character they don’t include, so your phone draws it from one of its own fonts instead, and it keeps that shape whichever font you tap.

Colour and the background block apply to every character in the box, styled or not, so a pasted word can still match the rest of the Story. The font buttons reach only the plain letters. Type “𝗚𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 live tonight”, switch fonts, and the first word stays bold while the other two change.

Tip: To mix styles freely, use two text boxes: one in an Instagram font for the details and one holding the pasted line. Each box can be moved, resized and coloured on its own.

Story text is large, sits on top of a photo or video, and gets a glance before the viewer taps on. Here is “Going live at 7” in the five styles shown first above, with what happens to the number and how each copes on a busy background.

For a time, a price or a date, bold is the dependable choice, since its 𝟳 is as heavy as its letters. Cursive has no digits of its own, so the number stands upright in a slanted line, and wide text turns even a short phrase into a long one.

The parts of a Story that do something when tapped are built from plain text and Instagram’s own stickers. Style those parts and they stop working, however good they look.

• Mentions: type @, start the name and pick the account from the list. If you want a styled version of the name too, put it in a separate box.
• Hashtags: add them with the hashtag sticker or type them plain, then style the words around them.
• Links: use the link sticker. A web address typed into a text box, plain or styled, is just letters on a picture.
• Codes: viewers have to type a discount code themselves, so write it plain, in capitals, and avoid characters that look alike, such as O and 0 or I and 1.

Viewers see your profile picture and name across the top of a Story and a message bar along the bottom, so text placed at the very top or bottom gets covered. Keep styled lines towards the middle, and keep them short.

• Put the background block behind thin styles such as cursive, which makes them readable over any photo.
• Use one pasted style per Story. A pasted style plus two of Instagram’s fonts on one screen looks busy rather than designed.
• Make the styled line the biggest thing on screen and set the details smaller, in plain text.
• Watch the Story once at normal speed after posting. If you can’t read the styled words before it moves on, your viewers can’t either.

Tip: A Story can’t be edited once it’s shared. If a style comes out wrong, delete the Story and post a corrected one rather than covering the mistake with a sticker.

1. Type your words in the box at the top of this page and copy the style you want.
2. Open Instagram, start a new Story and choose a photo or video, or a plain coloured background.
3. Tap Aa, then press and hold inside the text box and tap Paste.
4. Pick a colour and background, drag the text into place and pinch to resize it.
5. Tap Done and look at the whole screen before you share it.