So, you’ve made a killer Reel.
Colours are on point, the vibes are immaculate, you’ve picked the perfect trending audio. Okay, but wait. Why is your text getting covered by buttons?
Nothing’s worse than that moment when your important info gets buried under app icons and captions. But really, it’s an easy fix once you know what to look out for.
Welcome to the world of safe zones – aka. your secret weapon to keeping all that crucial content front and center on mobile, which is especially relevant for an agency specialising in content, like us.
Think of the safe zone as sweet spots, specifically for Instagram assets.
It’s that prime real estate in the middle of your screen where all your key information – text, logos, creators’ faces, the meat of your content – needs to live. Just so they don’t get blocked by things like captions, engagement buttons, or someone’s thumb (tragic).
By this logic, danger zones are thereby the opposite of safe zones.
It’s where not to place your content, visually depicted like so:
1. Top Bar (approx. 14% of the top)
This is where usernames, profile pictures, and the app’s branding have called first dibs position-wise. Put anything important too high, and you’ll get blocked out like a short little kid standing behind a casual 6'4" basketballer in a high-school class photo.
2. Bottom Bar (approx. 20% of the bottom)
Down here is where likes, comments, CTAs, and shares hang out. Captions as well, and these take up space – especially when you keep in mind that users can click to expand if they wish to read more text. So, anything too low? Bye-bye crucial info.
3. Edges (Left & Right)
Okay, no real guidelines here, but mobile padding can cut you off like a bad haircut if you place things too close to the edges. Plus, from a design and aesthetic standpoint, it’s just a little unpleasant when things like text are located touching the sides of your screen. Like, have you heard of borders? tl;dr – Keep your gems front and centre.
In the words of Zedd’s hit 2018 single, why don’t you just meet me in the middle? Dead center, baby. That’s where your key messages need to be.
You’ll be surprised how many brands aren’t doing this now, though it is justifiable given how much info we try to include in a single ad. But the result is often a situation where everything becomes hard to read instead, with some examples below.
Before you hit publish, always give your content a quick test drive on mobile. Trust us, what looks mint on your laptop might be a hot mess on your phone.
Less is more, almost always. If people are squinting to read, they’re gone. Keep it big, bold, and to the point, and try your best to steer clear from clutter.
For accessibility purposes, we rate captions big-time. Unless they’re weirdly placed on a video or simply too low that odds are, they’re about to be blocked.
But as long as you’re leaving room in that lower third for built-in app elements to slide in without ruining your layout, your Reels should be golden. Feel free to reference the below too, where everything in the green is a Danger Zone, but areas in white? Safe.
Safe zones might sound boring, but they’re the unsung hero of killer content. Keep your magic where it belongs – uncovered, uninterrupted, and totally visible.
At Sticki (and our sister-agency DataSauce), it’s already second-nature for us to brief and create assets that have all their important bits nestled safely in the middle.
Even when we engage UGC creators and Influencers, we try to make sure that the bulk of our creators’ movements and product showcases remain in the centre and kept at the forefront as much as possible.
After all, violating safe zones can significantly impact click-through rates.
On average, ads that keep crucial elements within danger zones instead of safe ones see 28% lower CTRs, per studies done by Meta themselves.
So, need more tips to adhere to these unspoken but critical rules? Chat with us.
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