Cora

A day in my life: the big-title mirror selfie carousel

One mirror selfie, one huge rounded title in a colour from your outfit, four plain photos. How to build the cover that carries the post. · 2 min read

You've seen it: a mirror selfie, over it a huge soft title in one colour pulled from the outfit — a / day / in my / life — with a tiny italic line bottom-right, 'as a tattoo artist'. Then four plain phone photos and nothing else. The format is everywhere right now, and it takes ten minutes.

Why it works

The title is the design. One colour, one font, zero graphics — so it reads as a person, not a template. The oversized type turns a phone photo into a poster, and the job in the sub-line is the hook: people tap because they want to see what a lash tech or a vintage reseller actually does all day. The four text-free pages after it feel honest because they are.

What you need

• a full-length mirror selfie, phone up; face relaxed or hidden behind the phone
• four plain photos from one real day: first coffee, you at work, the in-between, the evening
• Instagram's own text tool or any free photo editor
• ten minutes, and the colour of one thing you're wearing

Step by step

1. Shoot the selfie in portrait. Good daylight, mirror wiped, the phone hiding your face is allowed.
2. Open the photo in the Instagram text tool or your editor. Pick the rounded sans (SF Rounded on iPhone, or whatever rounded grotesk your editor has). Never a serif.
3. Type the title in lowercase, one or two words per line: a / day / in my / life. Make it huge — the first line about a third of the frame wide. Stack it on the empty side of the photo, not over your face.
4. Eyedropper one colour from your outfit — the jumper, the bag, the shoes. Same colour every line. No outline, no shadow, no second colour.
5. Add a tiny italic line bottom-right: 'as a tattoo artist'. Small enough to feel like a signature.
6. Slides 2–5: the four photos, no text, same light and colour grade as the cover. Crop all to portrait.
7. Caption: 'a day in my life as a [job] — the unglamorous version'. End on a question: 'and what's yours?'

Make it yours

• Lifestyle: 'as a girl who works from cafés' — the café mirror, then the laptop, the second matcha, the walk home.
• Fashion: 'as a vintage reseller' — the rail behind you, then the steamer, the parcel stack, the outfit you kept.
• Beauty: 'as a lash tech' — the studio mirror, then the trolley, the 7am client, hand cream at 9pm.

Same rule every time: the sub-line names the job, the pages show the boring bits.

Plan it in Cora

Save the card, build the five slides, and drop them into the Plan tab at the slot Cora suggests. The reminder tells you when it's time to post — you just open Instagram and ship.

Cora · hello@coraplanner.com