Vertical video

Vertical video used to be considered a mistake, the result of holding a phone the wrong way. Short-form apps changed that: TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and Snapchat are built around a full-screen vertical player. The standard is a 9:16 aspect ratio, typically 1080 pixels wide by 1920 tall.

Designing for vertical changes composition. Instead of placing elements side by side, you stack them; text is larger and shorter; the top and bottom of the frame are partly covered by the app’s interface, so the important content lives in the central area.

For explainers aimed at phones, vertical is where the attention is. A horizontal video in a vertical feed plays as a narrow band with black bars, and its text becomes small. A video designed for 9:16 uses the whole screen for one idea at a time.

Vertical also suits the “one idea per scene” rhythm of short explainers: one number, one diagram or one title fills the frame, then gives way to the next.

A comparison between two phone plans. In 16:9, the plans sit side by side as two columns. In 9:16, the first plan fills the top half and the second the bottom half, each with a large price, and an arrow between them points to the difference, all in the central area of the frame where no interface covers it.