Custom Instagram highlight covers are a great way to enhance your profile's visual appeal, reinforce your brand, and make it easier for visitors to navigate your stored Stories. Making custom covers involves two main steps: designing the cover image and then applying it to your highlight on Instagram.
Designing Your Custom Instagram Highlight Cover
The first step is creating the actual image you want to use as your cover. This allows you to use consistent branding, colors, icons, or text that align with your overall Instagram aesthetic.
Choosing a Concept & Style
Before you start designing, think about the theme of each highlight and how you want to represent it visually. Will you use:
- Icons? Simple symbols representing the highlight's content (e.g., a plane for travel, a fork and knife for food).
- Text? Short labels for each highlight (e.g., "Travel," "Food," "Tips").
- Images? A specific photo or graphic.
- Solid Colors? A minimalist look using brand colors.
Consistency is key for a polished look. Choose a style and stick with it across all your highlight covers.
Design Tools & Resources
You don't need to be a professional designer to create stylish covers. Many user-friendly tools are available:
- Graphic Design Apps (Mobile & Desktop):
- Canva
- Adobe Express (formerly Adobe Spark)
- Procreate (for drawing/illustration)
- Stock Photo/Icon Sites:
- Unsplash (for backgrounds/textures)
- Flaticon (for icons)
- The Noun Project (for icons)
Many of these tools offer templates specifically sized for Instagram Stories, which can be easily adapted for highlight covers.
Creating the Graphic
When designing, keep the following in mind:
- Size: Design your cover image vertically, similar to an Instagram Story (approx. 1080px by 1920px). Instagram will crop it to a circle for the highlight cover view on your profile, so place the main icon or text in the center of your design to ensure it's visible.
- Visibility: The cover appears relatively small on your profile. Use clear icons or bold, legible text. Avoid clutter.
- Branding: Incorporate your brand colors and style elements.
- Format: Save your design as a high-quality JPG or PNG image.
Create a separate image file for each highlight cover you need.
Applying Your Custom Highlight Cover on Instagram
Once you have your custom cover images ready, you can upload them to your Instagram highlights. You can change a highlight cover at any time.
Steps to Change Your Highlight Cover
Here's how to apply your custom design using the Instagram app:
- Open the highlight from your Instagram profile that you want to change the cover for.
- Tap More in the bottom right corner.
- Tap Edit highlight. Then, tap Edit cover, near the top of your screen.
- To use your custom design, tap the photo icon to the left of the default cover options. This will open your camera roll.
- Select the custom cover image you created from your camera roll.
- Adjust the image within the circle frame to position it correctly.
- Tap Done (or the checkmark) to save your new cover.
Reference steps included from source date 12-Jan-2023.
Tips for Seamless Application
- Make sure the custom cover image is saved to your phone's camera roll before starting the process.
- Ensure the main element (icon/text) is centered in your design so it looks correct when cropped to a circle.
Why Use Custom Covers?
Using custom highlight covers offers several benefits for your Instagram profile:
- Improved Aesthetics: Creates a clean, visually appealing, and cohesive look for your profile page.
- Stronger Branding: Helps reinforce your brand identity through consistent colors, fonts, and style.
- Better User Experience: Makes it easier for visitors to quickly understand the content of each highlight and find what they're looking for.
- Professionalism: Gives your profile a more polished and professional appearance.
By following these steps, you can easily create and apply custom covers that elevate your Instagram presence.
