Within the past few months, it seems that Instagram is no longer just a place to post a pretty sunset or a photo of the acai bowl that you ate for lunch. The app has become a place to express one's personality and to showcase your artistic skills. With everyone from popular YouTubers to celebrities, people are suddenly taking on page "themes" (using common colors and similar style photos to create a sense of unity in your posts) and thinking a lot more before they post than they used to.

// some of my favorite Instagram themes //

They look pretty good don't they? If you're looking to step up your Instagram game, here are some tricks I've picked up from looking at themed pages to get you from drab to fab in no time.

1. Pick a color scheme, duh.

If you're going to come up with a pro theme, you have to stick to pretty similar colors. As you can see from the accounts above, it's usually best to either have one main color (such as Claudia's black and white or Lexie's bright pink) or a common tone (like Nordstrom's bright pops of color). That way when people are scrolling through your feed, everything looks uniform.

2. To fade or not to fade?

Decide whether or not you're going to use the "fade" editing effect on your photos before you start posting. If there's too much variation between the clarity of your photos, your feed can start to look messy.

3. Don't just post pictures of you and your friends perfectly posed, because that's boring.

No matter how cute you and your besties looked at last weekend's frat party, ten pictures of you guys with the exact same hand-on-hip, smize-at-the-camera pose isn't very exciting. Throw some random posts in there! Did you go on an awesome run and your workout 'fit just happened to coordinate with the scenery? Post it. What about your latte that had an awesome design in the foam? Click. Keep some variety in your posts to make sure your feed doesn't start to appear too predictable.

4. Post pictures of your outfit, what's in your bag, the flowers on your windowsill, your neighbor's cute puppy, or really anything else that you think will get 100+ likes.

If it is cute, color coordinated, or makes you look like you have your life together, post it. Part of your theme is having it look like you are totally on top of things all the time, so make sure that your photos reflect that. Who cares if you're really sitting in bed watching your fifth episode of Scandal? According to your Instagram, you're really at brunch with your friends, eating a Belgian waffle that just happens to have berries on it that match your blouse.

5. Be realistic and realize that themes are stupid and who gaf if you have one in the first place?

Happy posting!