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Start here: your first 10 minutes
Welcome. I'm Stepan. I've spent 25 years in graphic design, print and marketing, and a good part of it localising TV and online campaigns for global brands. This group exists for 1 reason: a 9:16 video loses about 108 px from each side on a 20:9 phone, and most people find that out after they've posted. 3 things to do in your first 10 minutes: 1. Say hello in the comments below. Tell us what you make (UGC, in-house, freelance, agency) and which platform gives you the most trouble. A few likes on that comment take you to level 2, and level 2 opens the second class. 2. Open the Classroom and download the free Phone Crop Pack in the first class. Put it on a video you made and you see what your phone cuts off. Then read lesson 1 of "Why your video gets cut off". It's 2 minutes. You'll know the difference between covered and cropped, and that settles half the arguments about safe zones. 3. Post 1 frame in Frame check. A screenshot of a video you're about to publish, or one that went wrong. I'll tell you what's cropped, what's covered and what I'd move. How the group is laid out: Spec alerts: when a platform or a new phone moves a safe zone. You read it here before it's on the public changelog. Frame check: your frames, reviewed. Questions: sizes, exports, overlays in Premiere, CapCut or Canva. Wins and fails: before and after. Fails welcome. Build log: what I'm building at Social Media Safe Zones, including the parts that aren't working yet. 2 house rules. Every number posted here says where it comes from: Official, Consensus or Approx. And a cut-off logo gets help here, never a laugh. I've watched plenty come back from post-production. Stepan
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Founding 25: the deal, in plain numbers
The deal is short. The first 25 members join free and stay free for as long as this group runs. I'm calling you founding members, because you'll shape what it becomes. After member 25 the group closes to free sign-ups and goes paid. Everyone who joins after that pays a monthly or yearly fee. Founding members don't get moved to the paid plan. Skool keeps people on the price they joined at, and for you that price is 0. What every member gets, founding or paying: - Spec alerts before the public changelog. - Frame checks. Post a frame, get a written review. - Both classes. The second one opens at level 2. - New-phone overlays early. The first one is the iPhone Duo overlay. - A member discount on the templates. What I'd like from founding members in return. 3 things, none of them required: 1. Post 1 frame in the first 2 weeks. The group is only useful if there's real work in it. 2. Tell me when an alert was late. If you saw a change on your phone before I posted it, say so. 3. Tell me what's missing. The paid version will be built on what you ask for in the next month. What stays outside the group: the full guide and the template files. Those are the product. In here you get the method, the news and the reviews, and a better price if you ever want the files. I'll keep the number of seats left in the first comment under this post. When it hits 0, the price goes on. Stepan
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Frame check: how to post a frame for review
Post a frame, get a review. To make it quick for both of us, copy these 4 lines into your post: Platform and placement: (Reels, Shorts, TikTok, Story; organic or ad) Might it get boosted later: (yes, no, don't know) What must stay visible: (logo, price, face, CTA text) Phone you checked it on: (model, or "none yet") Then attach 1 of these: - The exported frame at 1080 x 1920, or - A screenshot from the app on your phone, or - Both. Both is best, because the gap between them is the whole story. What you get back, in writing: 1. Cropped: what a tall phone cuts off at the sides. 2. Covered: what sits under the app's buttons, caption or CTA. 3. Move: what I'd shift, and roughly where to. I label what I say. "Official" when the platform publishes the number. "Consensus" when it comes from testing. "Approx" when it's my math. A few practical things: Client work is fine. Blur what you have to. I need positions, the artwork can stay secret. One frame per post. The worst frame, the one where your content sits closest to an edge. Other members: please review too. You'll spot things I miss, and that's how levels are earned here. Don't want your frame in the open feed? On the 1st of each month I open a "send me your frame" thread. Reply there and I'll answer you one by one. Stepan
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Frame teardown #3: the headline under the status bar
The top of the frame this time. A headline that starts 95 px from the top, in a frame I built for the test. 1️⃣ That top strip is the status bar, the camera cut-out and the app's own top line. On TikTok organic that's about 108 to 160 px, and it changes per phone. 2️⃣ As a TikTok In-Feed ad it's more: TikTok's own template keeps the top ≈240 px clear. ✅ Fix: start headlines below 240 px. Then the same file works organic and as an ad. 240 is Official (TikTok's template, scaled to 1080 x 1920). 108 to 160 is Consensus. Post your frame in Frame check and I'll take it apart.
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Frame teardown #3: the headline under the status bar
Frame teardown #2: subtitles that sit under the caption
The bottom of the frame today. Again a frame I built for the test, with burned-in subtitles starting at 1700 px. 1️⃣ On Instagram Reels the bottom ≈310 px belongs to the caption, the sound line and the buttons. The subtitles sit right under them. 2️⃣ Run it as an ad and it gets worse: Meta keeps the bottom ≈670 px for the ad text and the button. ✅ Fix: subtitles above 1610 px for organic. Above 1250 px if the video might ever run as an ad. 310 is Consensus (device testing), 670 is Official (Meta). Both are on the free cheat sheet. Got a video with subtitles? Post a frame in Frame check.
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Frame teardown #2: subtitles that sit under the caption
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Free overlay pack: see what 9 phones cut off your video. Frame checks and spec alerts for vertical video.
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