Choose the Layout for the Place You’ll Share It
Start with the place where the card will be seen. For WhatsApp Status, Instagram Stories and Reels covers, use a portrait canvas measuring 1080 × 1920 pixels, with a 9:16 ratio. It fills a phone screen naturally, so your greeting doesn’t sit inside a sea of empty space.
A square canvas measuring 1080 × 1080 pixels, with a 1:1 ratio, is a dependable choice for Instagram posts and flexible sharing. It also works well when you’re not sure how someone will forward or repost the card. For wide photos, scenic wishes and Facebook-style sharing, use landscape: about 1080 × 566 pixels, with a 1.91:1 ratio.
If you want one design that can travel everywhere, begin with a square card. It’s the easiest compromise, but don’t force it to do every job. When the message contains a name, a longer blessing or a large illustration, make a separate portrait version so the words can breathe.
Best Sizes at a Glance
Here’s a quick reference: WhatsApp Status — 1080 × 1920 pixels, 9:16, for full-screen status updates; Instagram Story — 1080 × 1920 pixels, 9:16, for Stories and many Reels covers; Instagram post — 1080 × 1080 pixels, 1:1, for square feed posts; Instagram portrait post — 1080 × 1350 pixels, 4:5, for a taller feed image; Instagram landscape post — 1080 × 566 pixels, about 1.91:1, for wide designs; printable A6 — 1240 × 1748 pixels at 300 DPI; printable A5 — 1748 × 2480 pixels at 300 DPI.
Instagram portrait posts can use 1080 × 1350 pixels, giving your message more vertical room than a square post. However, the feed preview may crop the design in a profile grid or browsing view. Keep names, dates and the main greeting near the centre rather than placing them close to the top or bottom.
These are dependable working dimensions, not a promise that every app will display every edge forever. Platform interfaces, phone screens and preview styles change. A card can also look different after forwarding, downloading or being viewed on a smaller screen, so always inspect the actual export before sharing.
Keep Important Words in the Safe Area
On a 1080 × 1920 Status or Story card, keep names, greetings and sign-offs away from the top and bottom edges. Profile details, clocks, reply boxes, music labels and sharing controls may cover those areas. As a practical guide, leave roughly 150–250 pixels of breathing room at both the top and bottom.
Keep important text and faces away from the extreme left and right edges too. A repost, sticker, reaction button or different screen shape can make those edges feel crowded. The design may look perfectly fine in your editor and strangely cramped once it sits beneath an app’s controls.
For example, place “Happy Birthday, Aanya!” in the middle third of the card, not underneath the clock or close to the reply bar. Before posting, open the card in the app’s preview and look at it as a viewer would. If a greeting seems hidden, move it inward rather than hoping the interface will leave it alone.
Make Text Easy to Read on a Phone
A good greeting card usually needs one clear headline, a short message and a visible sign-off. Trying to fit a full paragraph into a small digital card often makes the type too small for a quick glance. “Happy birthday, Aanya! Hope your day is full of cake, laughter and lovely surprises. Love, Riya” will work better than six tightly packed lines.
Give the text strong contrast against its background. If words sit over a photograph, add a subtle solid or translucent panel behind them. Cream text on a pale flower, or thin white lettering over a busy family photo, may look pretty in the editor and disappear on a phone.
Preview the card at normal phone size before sharing. If you need to pinch and zoom to read it, simplify the layout or increase the font size. Use larger type for WhatsApp Status and Stories than you might use for a printable card, and avoid thin decorative fonts for names, dates and condolences.
Avoid Cropping and Blurry Exports
Design at the final canvas size whenever possible. Stretching a small image later is a common cause of blur, especially around letters, emojis and fine borders. If the card is meant for social sharing, build it at 1080 pixels wide rather than creating a tiny image and enlarging it at the end.
Export digital cards as PNG when text and sharp graphics matter. Use a high-quality JPG when the card is photo-heavy and you need the file size to stay smaller. After exporting, check that the file is still 1080 pixels wide for social sharing, unless you intentionally prepared a different format such as a printable file.
Messaging apps may compress images, particularly after repeated forwards or screenshots. Try a quick test: send the card to yourself first, open it full-screen and inspect the corners, text, emojis and thin lines. If the first copy already looks soft, a group chat won’t magically sharpen it.
Use Print Sizes That Match the Fold
For a small folded greeting card, A6 is a useful starting point: 105 × 148 mm. A 5 × 7 inch card is another familiar small format. For a larger card, choose A5, which measures 148 × 210 mm. Decide whether you’re printing a single front page, a flat sheet or a folded card with front, back and inside panels before setting up the file.
Prepare print artwork at 300 DPI and add bleed if the printer asks for it—usually about 3 mm on each edge—so colour reaches the cut line. Keep important words inside the trim-safe area, away from edges that may be cut or folded. The printer can confirm the exact bleed, fold and file requirements.
Screen pixels and print dimensions aren’t interchangeable. A 1080 × 1920 Status image is designed for a phone and is not automatically a sharp A5 print. For reference, an A6 file at 300 DPI is about 1240 × 1748 pixels, while A5 is about 1748 × 2480 pixels.
Make One Card Work on More Than One App
Create a master version with the message, name and illustration on separate layers. Then you can rearrange the pieces for portrait, square and landscape formats instead of squeezing one finished image into every shape. A name that sits comfortably on a square card may need a new position on a tall Story card.
For a birthday or festival wish, prepare three exports: 1080 × 1920 pixels for WhatsApp Status and Instagram Stories, 1080 × 1080 pixels for an Instagram square post and 1080 × 1350 pixels for a taller Instagram feed post. If the square card feels crowded in a Story, shorten the message. Don’t simply shrink every element until nobody can read it.
Keep logos, website names and decorative details modest. A personal greeting should feel like it came from a person, not a shop banner. If you need inspiration for the words, Birthday Cards, Festival & Holiday Cards and Friendship Cards can help you choose a message before you begin arranging the artwork.
Final Check Before You Share or Print
Open the exported card on a phone and check spelling, names, dates and contrast. Look closely at the edges and confirm that no important detail sits behind app controls. A five-second check can catch “Happy Birthday, Anya” when the recipient is actually Aanya, which is a small typo with surprisingly large feelings attached.
Send a test copy through WhatsApp to see the real level of compression, especially when the design contains small text or a dark photograph. For Instagram, check both the profile-grid preview and the full post. For printing, request a proof or print one page before ordering multiple copies.
The best size is the one that lets the message be read without effort—especially when someone is opening it between calls, chai and family-group notifications. A clean, readable card will always beat a technically perfect design that makes the recipient squint.