Instagram Highlight covers make a great first impression.
Located right below the bio section of your Instagram profile, they provide a polished look for your Instagram Highlights and draw attention to your best Instagram Story content.
And you don’t have to be a hip influencer to use them. Orgs of all stripes from government institutions to Fortune 500 companies use them to great effect.
Covers are an easy win for any brand that banks on aesthetics. (And on Instagram, that’s everyone.)
The good news is that even if you don’t have access to a graphic design team, they’re easy to make.
We’ll walk you through all the steps to create your own Instagram highlight covers. As a bonus, we have a free pack of icons to help you get started.
How to create an Instagram highlight
How to create a new Instagram highlight from your profile
How to create your own Instagram Highlight covers
5 tips for using Instagram highlight covers and icons
Download your free pack of 40 customizable Instagram Stories Highlights Icons now. Optimize your profile and set your brand apart from the competition.
Create highlights to keep your best Story content at the top of your Instagram profile permanently.
1. In your Story, tap Highlight in the bottom right corner.
2. Choose the Highlight you want to add your Story to.
3. Or, tap New to create a new Highlight, and type out a name for it. Then click Add.
And that’s it! You just created an Instagram highlight.
Have an idea for a new highlight? Or maybe you want to add a few different Stories at once?
Follow these steps to create a new Highlight from your Instagram profile:
1. Go to your profile and tap the +New button (the big plus sign).
2. Pick the Stories you want to add to your new Highlight. Pro tip: Instagram gives you an archive of your stories going back years. So don’t be afraid to do a little digging for those Story gems.
3. Tap Next and name your new Highlight.
4. Choose your Highlight cover, and tap Done.
Don’t have a highlight cover yet? Read on.
Instagram will allow you to use any image you like for your highlight covers.
BUT your brand deserves better than just “any image.”
This space is prime real estate for converting lurkers to followers. You want to leave an impression.
If you’re crunched for time, Adobe Spark has pre-made covers that you can customize and use.
But if you want more control over your Instagram brand, these steps will show you how to easily build a great Instagram highlight cover from scratch (or almost-scratch).
Log into your account on Visme or create a free account on visme.co.
From the main Visme dashboard, click Custom Size in the top right corner, then type in the Instagram Story image dimensions (1080 x 1920 pixels). Click Create!
Download your free pack of 40 customizable Instagram Stories Highlights Icons now.
Optimize your profile and set your brand apart from the competition.
Once you’re done downloading, unzip the file and choose your favorites. (You can use them with or without our professionally designed backgrounds.)
Go to My files in the left-hand menu, click Upload, and select the icons you would like to add.
Once you upload the icon image, click on it. If you can’t see your icon on your canvas after you’ve uploaded it, don’t worry. It’s most likely because the icon is white lines on a transparent background. We’ll fix this in the next step.
Right-click anywhere on your image and click Background. A quick-access background bad will appear in the top left corner of your workspace. Here, you can select a background color, or add a brand color in the HEX code field.
When you change the background color (to anything other than white, your icon will appear).
Name your project. Then click Download in the top right corner. Choose your file type (PNG or JPG are both fine). Then click the Download button.
Download your free pack of 40 customizable Instagram Stories Highlights Icons now. Optimize your profile and set your brand apart from the competition.
Get the free icons right now!
Your cover will be downloaded to your hard drive.
Repeat this process with other cover designs.
Pro tip: Now is a great time to make sure your Instagram account has your Story archive enabled. This is important if you want to go back and see your old Stories without downloading them to your phone.
You no longer have to add an image to your Story (where all your followers will have to swipe past it) in order to make it a highlight cover.
Instead, you can just edit the highlight directly:
Do this for each of the stories you want to add covers to.
Voila! Your on-brand Instagram highlight covers are now gracing your profile and unifying your look. Magnifique.
Now that you know how easy it is to make your own unique highlight covers, we’ve got some time-saving tips to make them as effective as possible.
Your brand has its favourite colours, font, capitalization—and possibly even some favorite emojis. Your highlight covers are definitely the place to show these off.
That said, keep in mind that less is more. Those little portholes are pretty small, after all. Clarity is key.
Your Instagram highlights don’t have to do it all. They can do one thing very well.
For instance, Red Bull’s highlights used to be fairly conventional (e.g., Events, Projects, Video, etc.) But now they give each of their athletes their own highlight. All we get is a face, a name, and an emoji. Intriguing.
Meanwhile, the New York Times takes Stories literally. They populate their highlights with exhaustive yet readable primers on complicated political subjects. They also create fun, snackable Stories about appealing subjects.
Either way, their cover style is perfectly consistent, which helps make the wide reach of their topics more manageable.
There are absolutely no rules when it comes to organizing your Instagram highlights. (Brb, my inner librarian needs to go rail antacids.
)
But, some brands organize their highlights like they would their website (e.g., About, Team, FAQ). Some brands organize by collection or product (e.g., Winter ‘20, New Arrivals, Makeup Line).
I’m here to tell you that however you choose to organize, remember to approach it from your audience’s perspective.
In other words: if they know what they’re going to see, they’re more likely to tap.
Ask yourself what’s most important to your audience. What are they here to see? This season’s collection? Today’s schedule? Or something that is useful for the longer-term, like, for instance, how to pair your flagship earbuds?
The Met, for instance, prioritizes potential visitors. It keeps a helpful guide to this week’s exhibitions at the top of its highlight reel.
With the right covers, you can introduce new eyes to your best shoppable Stories and swipe-up content (if you have an Instagram for business profile with more than 10,000 followers).
Try using our shopping bag icon, for instance.
For more tips on selling products using your Instagram Stories, check out our complete guide to Instagram shopping.
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Alexandra | Feb 9, 2018
Usually, I share Instagram tips to help you plan your Instagram feed like a boss (if you need help, check this).
But today, let’s talk about Insta Stories for a minute.
How can you make these nice circles under your Instagram bio? Easy peas-y!
Use “Canva”. Canva is a (super easy) design tool. You can use it on your computer or on your phone. It’s going to make your life so much easier.
For this tutorial, I’m going to use the app because it has templates for Insta Stories. The computer version doesn’t have templates for Insta Stories. But you can still do it on your computer if you want to. If you are using your computer, select “Custom Dimension” and your Insta Story dimension (example: 1242 x 2208 px for iPhone 6S Plus).
Feel free to open your phone and the Canva app to follow the tutorial with me. It’s really easy.
Follow these steps:
Click here to use it
Open the Canva app. On top you will see all the designs you can make. Select “Your Story”.
This will load templates for Insta Stories.
For this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to design a cover with a background color and an icon. I’m going to start with a blank template (the first one on the list).
Your blank template is loaded.
Now that you have a background color, you can add an icon, emoji or text. It’s up to you.
For this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to add an icon.
If you want me to show you other designs with photos and text, let me know and I’ll make another tutorial.
To add an icon to your cover:
Add pages to design more coversYou can continue to design more covers for your Insta Story Highlight.
Design another cover with another icon. Repeat the process to design more covers.
Once you are done, you can save your Insta Story covers on your phone.
Before you share your covers on Instagram, make sure you turn on the “Archive” feature.
Post on your Insta StoryYou have to do this step in order to set a cover for your Highlight. Your covers need to be added in your Insta Stories first, before you can use them as covers.
Now you have 2 options:
If you already have an existing Highlight, select the one that needs the cover.
This is how you create an Insta Story Highlight:
Your new Insta Story Highlight will appear at the bottom of your Instagram bio.
You can edit the cover:
Here you can change cover images.
And you can also resize your cover image. For example, if your icon is too small in the circle, zoom in with your fingers to make it bigger.
I hope you found this article useful. Have fun creating your covers! Leave me a comment below if you have any questions.
Click here to use it
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Therefore, it is important to observe the style in every detail and not to make a hodgepodge of everything that gets into the camera out of the account. The “Relevant” section on Instagram is one of the important points, the design of which should be approached with responsibility and creativity.
First of all, the Instagram highlight section is useful for navigating through the account's posts. It helps to organize the pinned stories in the right order. So that subscribers immediately understand what each collection is about, give it a title and choose a suitable cover. nine0003
The harmonious design of Instagram not only attracts attention, but also makes the profile more harmonious and professional.
First of all, "Relevant" is the section of the Instagram account where already published stories are posted. Many users are used to sharing life moments, impressions and emotions in Instagram Stories.
An example of a competent design of the "Actual" section.
But, unfortunately, stories disappear after 24 hours. And I want as many people as possible to see them. And just in this case, Instagram Highlights will help us. Collections of pinned stories are displayed under the header of the bio account. nine0003
For harmonious design, covers are created in the same style and harmonize with the Instagram profile avatar. First you need to determine the dominant colors in the profile.
Adobe Capture will help you with this. With this application you will define your color scheme.
To do this, take a screenshot of the profile and upload it to the application. The program will do the rest. Having found out which colors prevail in your Instagram account, start creating a cover. nine0003
We have made a selection of applications in which you can create icons for Instagram Highlights.
Canva is the number one app for creating beautiful and vibrant images for Instagram Highlights. Creating a design in this service is a pleasure.
There are also collections of colorful designs for posters, presentations, stories and other social media formats.
All the tools are provided here to create a highlight cover, so it's easy to create visually appealing Highlights. How to do it:
Position it in the center of the created image. Another cool application that helps you create aesthetic and harmonious covers for the current. The app is available for both iPhone and Android. How to create a Highlights cover:
You can buy new collections of stickers and badges by opening the "Shop" section (located in the form of a small bag). The app frequently updates sticker packs and is a pretty handy way to create a nice caption for your photo.
Don't want to bother and want an easy way to create a beautiful Instagram cover? This is where Pinterest comes in handy! nine0003
Here are ready-made collections of covers for Instagram for every taste and color. Hundreds of different options: from plain to colorful, with and without inscriptions.
You should enter what you are looking for in the internal search engine, and in a couple of seconds Pinterest will show inspiring examples.
We advise you to use this service more often to develop your visual awareness. This way you will be creative and create designs better than competitors on Instagram.
nine0008 The program that completes the list of applications for creating current templates. A simple application where you will find:
Instagram is a way to express yourself, for both business and personal purposes. Even with the help of covers in the current Instagram, you talk about yourself or your personal brand. nine0003
Experiment with photos, collages and icons. Use bright and interesting trendy covers to make your Instagram profile more popular!
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If you want to know how to create your own Instagram moments, you've come to the right place. Keep reading to learn all about the best ways to make your own Instagram covers.
Instagram highlights are easy to make. All you need is the Instagram app for Android or iOS. Follow the links even if you already have the app, because you should get the latest app updates. nine0003
Windows programs, mobile applications, games - EVERYTHING is FREE, in our closed telegram channel - Subscribe :)
The next thing you need is Instagram stories. If you just created an Instagram story, here's how to add your highlights to it:
Note that this has nothing to do with IG groups. In this context, a group refers to a selection of highlights (you can create many of these on your profile).
Here is an alternative method you can use to make Instagram Highlights. This is probably more efficient because it allows you to add multiple stories to the selection at the same time. Follow these steps:
nine0062 If you don't have an Instagram highlight cover, you should get one. You can use a simple image as your cover image, but that won't help if you want to use Instagram professionally. If you use Instagram for any kind of advertising, be sure to use the cover for that purpose.
You don't have to be a digital designer, you can use many free apps that even have free templates. Of course, knowing Photoshop won't hurt you. nine0003
If you have a PS on your computer and know how to use it, you can easily create your own Instagram cover. Search the web for a free package for the best Instagram stories and download the icon you want in Photoshop. Place the icon in the middle of the canvas and right click on the layer to rasterize it.
You can then change the colors, layout, play with brushes, and compose the image. it's entirely up to you and your Photoshop skills. nine0003
If you're not a Photoshop wizard, don't worry.
Some great third-party apps and sites can help you create your Instagram highlights cover. Let's take a look at the instructions for some of the best apps you can use.
Above is one of the most popular free tools that you can use to promote your Instagram profile. This app is available for free on iOS and Android devices. Download it from the link above and start using it for your Instagram highlight covers:
If you have a brand, adjust the brightness to resemble it. Canva is a great alternative to Over. It is a free tool with the same function as Over. Follow these steps to create Instagram Highlight Covers with Canva:
com and register an account (free). These files will be archived. Be sure to unzip them and send them to your mobile gallery so you can use them as Instagram covers. On Instagram, visit the profile page and click on the highlights you want to edit.
