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How to create cute instagram highlight covers


How to Create Beautiful Instagram Highlight Covers (40 Free Icons)

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).

Step 1: Log in to Visme

Log into your account on Visme or create a free account on visme.co.

Step 2: Create a new image that is sized for Stories.

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! 

Step 3: Get our free icon set

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.)

Step 4: Upload your icons to Visme

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.

Step 5: Create your background

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).

Step 6: Download your highlight covers from Visme

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.

Step 7: Edit your existing highlights to add your new covers

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:

  1. Go to your Instagram profile.
  2. Tap the highlight whose cover you’d like to change.
  3. Tap More in the bottom right corner.
  4. Tap Edit Highlight.
  5. Tap Edit Cover.
  6. Choose the image icon to access your phone’s photo library.
  7. Choose your beautiful cover.
  8. Tap Done (actually, tap it three times.)

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.

5 tips for using Instagram highlight covers and icons

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.

Show off your brand’s aesthetic

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.

Don’t be afraid to experiment

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.

Be consistent in your organization

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.

Highlight the Stories that matters most

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.

Convert your audience to customers

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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How to Make Beautiful Insta Story Highlight Covers (custom icons)

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

1. Open Canva and select “Your Story”

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).

2. Choose a background color

Your blank template is loaded.

  • At the bottom of the screen you can choose a background color for your cover
  • Press “+” if you want to choose your own color
  • You can also type your own color code (great if you want to stick to your brand or Instagram theme colors)

3. Choose an icon or add text

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:

  • Select the “+” button on the bottom right corner of your screen
  • Select “Graphics”
  • You can scroll to discover all the graphics they have, or you can search for a specific icon (example: “heart”)
  • Press on the icon you want to use for your cover
  • Choose the color of your icon

4.

Add pages to design more covers

You can continue to design more covers for your Insta Story Highlight.

  • Press on the “+” button on the bottom right corner of your screen
  • Select “Pages”

Design another cover with another icon. Repeat the process to design more covers.

5. Save the images on your phone

Once you are done, you can save your Insta Story covers on your phone.

  • Press “Share”
  • Select “Quick Look” (iPhone) or “Upload to Photos” (Android)
  • Press the export icon (bottom left corner)
  • Select “Save image”

6. Make sure you turn on the Insta Story “Archive”

Before you share your covers on Instagram, make sure you turn on the “Archive” feature.

  • Go in your Instagram settings
  • Select “Story Settings”
  • Turn on “Save to archive”

7.

Post on your Insta Story

You 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.

  • Share your covers in your Insta Story
  • Press on the “Highlight” button

Now you have 2 options:

  1. Create a new Highlight
  2. Add cover to an existing Highlight

If you already have an existing Highlight, select the one that needs the cover.

This is how you create an Insta Story Highlight:

8. Create an Insta Story Highlight

  • Select the “+” button
  • Give a name to your Highlight

Your new Insta Story Highlight will appear at the bottom of your Instagram bio.

9. Edit the cover

You can edit the cover:

  • Hold your finger pressed on a Highlight (a circle)
  • Select “Edit Highlight”
  • Select “Edit 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

4 applications where to do ? covers for Instagram highlights

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Contents

  • 1 Cover design for Instagram highlights
  • 2 How to make Instagram highlights
  • 3 Applications where to make covers for Instagram highlights
  • profile view is the face that creates the first impression of the company. A potential subscriber visits a brand page and the design of the content directly affects his loyalty. nine0003

    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.

    Instagram highlight cover design

    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

    How to make Instagram trendy

    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

    Applications where you can create covers for the current Instagram

    We have made a selection of applications in which you can create icons for Instagram Highlights.

    • Canva.

    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:

    1. Log in to your account in the service or register.
    2. You need to create a personal design with individual sizes or use ready-made templates (we recommend choosing a template for Instagram Stories).
    3. Select a background from the Elements section, or add any image from the Photos section. If you can't find a suitable one, upload your picture through the "Downloads" section. nine0062
    4. Open the "Elements" section and search for the desired icon by keywords. For example: "price", "review", "address" will help you choose a schematic image. Position it in the center of the created image.
    5. You can also add any text to the selected background, while changing its font, color, size. Canva's font library offers over 700 font options.
    6. Click the download arrow and save the resulting design in the desired format.
    • App for type.

    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:

    1. Open the application.
    2. Click the "New art" button to create a new art.
    3. Choose the design size.
    4. By clicking the "+" icon, select a picture for the background from the smartphone gallery.
    5. By clicking on the first button in the panel in the form of a sticker, select a sticker to add. Add captions to photos. App for type already contains more than 750 calligraphic signatures for the Actual. nine0008
    6. Adjust its size and location.
    7. Save the resulting image to your phone's gallery.

    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.

    • Pinterest.

    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.

    • Highlight cover maker. nine0008

    The program that completes the list of applications for creating current templates. A simple application where you will find:

    • Over 100 texture backgrounds: watercolor, marble, gradient and even more Instagram profile inspiration.
    • Over 40 aesthetic fonts and cool text design.

    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!

    Share with friends:

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    How to create your own moments of the BOSTENT. . For this reason, every serious business, influencer, and celebrity has their Instagram highlights. All your best Instagram stories combined into your best Instagram moments.

    nine0003

    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 101

    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:

    1. Step 1 Log in to Instagram and click on your story.
    2. Step 2 Select Select in the lower right corner of the screen.
    3. Step 3 Select the Highlight group you want to add this story to. nine0062
    4. Step 4 Alternatively, you can select New to create a new Highlight group. Name it and click "Add" to add your story to the last "Highlights" group.

    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).

    An Alternative Method for Creating Instagram Highlights

    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:

    1. Step 1 Launch the Instagram app on your device.
    2. Step 2 Click on your profile (the icon in the lower right corner of the screen).
    3. Step 3 Select the Create option (plus sign).
    4. Step 4 Select the stories you want to appear in the selection (New Selection window).
    5. Step 5 Click the Next button in the upper right corner of the screen.
    6. Step 6 Rename the selection as you wish, select a selection skin and click Done to confirm. nine0062

    How to create an Instagram highlight cover

    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

    Use third-party applications

    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

    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:

    1. Step 1 Find the icon pack online and download it to your phone or tablet.
    2. Step 2 Run on your device.
    3. Step 3 Click on the image if you want to import a cover, or choose from a wide range of covers (see the Layout Collections section).
    4. Step 4 When choosing a case, you need to adjust its size. Select the "Layers" menu and select the background layer. Finally, click on the Instagram Story cover dimensions. nine0062
    5. Step 5 Feel free to experiment with cover colors. Select Background and use the roller to change the color. If you have a brand, adjust the brightness to resemble it.
    6. Step 6 You can then go back to the Layers menu and delete everything you don't need (any extra words, etc.).
    7. Step 7 When your background is ready, click on the image and select an icon from the device gallery.
    8. Step 8 Center the icon (feel free to resize it by pinching it with two fingers). You can add your icon to your favorites to make it easier to find it next time. nine0062
    9. Step 9 Alternatively, you can use text instead of icons. Choose "Text" instead of "Image" and choose a font.
    10. Step 10 When you're done, confirm with a yellow checkmark: click "Export" and then "Save". Your new Instagram Highlights cover will be saved to your device's gallery.

    Canva

    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:

    1. Step 1Visit canva. com and register an account (free).
    2. Step 2 Click Create Design and select custom sizes.
    3. Step 3 Resize it to 1080 (width) by 1920 (height) to fit the Instagram highlights.
    4. Step 4 Upload your icon from your computer. You can easily find a lot of images online if you don't have one prepared.
    5. Step 5 Select Upload image or video. Select an icon image. nine0062
    6. Step 6 Choose a background (there is a wide selection of Canva images you can use or use natural colors).
    7. Step 7 Click Add New Page to copy the cover. You can upload new icons and create multiple covers.
    8. Step 8 When you're done, click Publish and then Upload. Select the file type and confirm by clicking Upload.

    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.

    Learn more