How to make 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:
- Go to your Instagram profile.
- Tap the highlight whose cover you’d like to change.
- Tap More in the bottom right corner.
- Tap Edit Highlight.
- Tap Edit Cover.
- Choose the image icon to access your phone’s photo library.
- Choose your beautiful cover.
- 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 coversYou 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 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.
- Share your covers in your Insta Story
- Press on the “Highlight” button
Now you have 2 options:
- Create a new Highlight
- 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
Beautiful covers for stories on Instagram
Covers for stories on Instagram play an important role in the design of a profile on a social network. They can be made in the same style or in different styles, but it is recommended that they match the overall look of the page. You can create beautiful covers using special applications, the functionality of which in most cases is available for free. Let's analyze the most common and effective options.
Contents
- What are highlights on Instagram
- How to create a beautiful cover for the current
- App for Type
- Highlight Cover Maker
- Where you can download the covers for
what are the highlights in Instagram
for more convenient navigation for more convenient navigation The account page uses "eternal" stories, which can be divided into sections.
Each of them can be decorated with beautiful covers. This method allows you to arrange the highlights in the desired form.
The album title and cover give users an idea of what's inside.
Properly selected backgrounds give the impression that the profile belongs to a professional. This attracts new subscribers, makes them stay on the page longer and explore the content. "Eternal" stories are used not only by bloggers, but also by people of various professions, helping to show creative projects or works, offer their services or products, and publish customer reviews.
"Eternal" stories, or current, contain stories that have already been published. But unlike them, they do not disappear 24 hours after publication, but remain in the profile until the user himself decides to delete them.
How to create a beautiful cover for the current
Users are attracted by harmonious and beautiful Instagram profiles.
The avatar and the feed of publications can be complemented by covers for stories that match the general style. If there are difficulties with determining the color scheme of the page, then you can use special software - Adobe Capture . After uploading a screenshot of the main page, it automatically determines the prevailing shades that are best used when creating pictures for stories.
Let's look at some of the most popular tools that will help you make beautiful and unusual covers for Instagram stories.
Canva
Canva is one of the most popular and functional applications that allows you to create bright and original highlight covers and backgrounds for Instagram stories. In addition to the mobile version, a desktop version is available in the form of a convenient and understandable site. The service provides built-in filters, templates, additional elements, as well as basic tools for processing graphic files. To use the service, you must register.
To create a cover, you can choose a ready-made design with the desired dimensions or make your own version. It is possible to overlay text, icons, background on the picture.
Canva has over 700 fonts and elements. The finished project is available for free download.
Download for Android
Download for iOS
App for Type
App For Type is another app available for Android and iPhone to create cool covers for Stories or Instagram backgrounds for Highlights. Despite the English-language interface, it is convenient to use the tools, and the navigation is clear even for an inexperienced user.
Built-in App for Type allows you to overlay cool icons or labels with beautiful fonts. Moreover, the sticker packs are regularly replenished. A free collection is available, but if necessary, additional photo stickers can be purchased at a special store.
Perhaps the only drawback is that there are no Cyrillic fonts.
Download for Android
Download for iOS
Highlight Cover Maker
Highlight Cover Maker offers a wide range of backgrounds and fonts to cover your Instagram Stories. The collection includes over a hundred textured backgrounds, including watercolors, gradients and marbles. Using the software is simple: all the tools are logically located. All basic features are available for free for Android and iOS mobile devices.
Download for Android
Download for iOS
Where can I download story covers
If you can't or don't have time to create beautiful covers, you can download them from special services. Authors post their projects for free use. The most popular resources are:
- Pinterest is a social network where you can find various images, including story covers. Icon sets and backgrounds are available here;
- Icon Icons is a Russian-language service that provides access to thousands of icons divided into categories and styles.
Icons are available for download in several sizes, as well as in various formats, including PNG. - Freepik is a huge resource where you can find and download a lot of icons, images, illustrations. The site is free, but when using works it is recommended to indicate authorship.
Modern tools for mobile devices allow you to create covers for your Instagram highlight. They do not require special skills or knowledge, and the interface is clear and simple. It is also possible to download ready-made icons from free services if there is no time to make your own icon. The sets below are also available on our website.
Instagram highlights: how to add stories, make covers, icons, backgrounds
Instagram highlights is a section where you can save your most important stories. They will be available to subscribers all the time until you remove them from your profile. It’s like a menu on a website – commercial profiles save information about delivery, prices, F.
A.Q. in Highlights, bloggers post thematic collections of stories, experts post instructions, webinar recordings.
We have prepared for you a complete guide on current stories - how to add a story to a section, how to make a cover, how to change it and what to place in highlights.
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Read also : The best Instagram promotion courses
What are the advantages of Highlights
Why bother with the actual, do some covers? We explain:
- relevant on Instagram does not disappear after 24 hours, like regular stories - they hang in the profile until you delete them yourself;
- highlights can be reviewed again and again;
- collections are in a prominent place - between the profile description and the post feed;
- Highlights can replace your website;
- collections help you avoid the same questions in Yandex.
Direct - just post the answers in the current one.
Sections from current stories
What is placed in highlights - collections of photos and videos (for example, stories from holidays, parties, family stories), photos of goods, information for customers (on delivery, availability, prices), instructions and life hacks, portfolio , question-answer, excerpts from lectures.
Let's look at the example of specific accounts — what should be the highlights depending on the type of profile (bloggers, experts, company accounts, personal, portfolio).
Important : everything in the profile should be organic and highlights are no exception. Ideally, the icons should be made in the same style and not stand out from the overall picture.
This is interesting : How to beautifully design stories for Instagram
Bloggers
Makeeva Olesya — food blogger . Created unique covers with illustrations of the blogger.
Highlights include recipes, meetings with friends, sports stories, trips.
What collections to create for bloggers - collections in the direction of the blogger. (A food blogger can post recipes, a beauty blogger can post collections with cosmetics, a weiner can post themed collections with vines, folders with their interests (sports, hobbies, favorite movies), folders with hangouts, travel, meetings with fans.
Bloggers can be creative with names, so that you don’t immediately understand that in the highlights, for example, the blogger Ksenia has such folders - “Dovecote”, “Humor”, “Back and forth”, “Chat”. they can, unless their work is creative related.0003
Experts
Nina Ovchinnikova — business coach . As covers - a photo from stories (that is, the cover does not have to have text or an icon). What collections are posted - trainings, student reviews, personal photos, travel, folders for specific events.
Designer Daria .
In the highlights, she has a customer review, a list of services, promotions, progress (story with the work process) and a portfolio.
What collections to create for experts - collections of events, reviews, folders with information on training / books, folders of personal achievements, travel, a selection of your quotes, a folder with information about who you are.
Company accounts
Loft furniture store. Made highlights with categories of goods - kitchen furniture, office furniture, chairs, racks. The first selection is the cost of goods. Covers of different colors, each with an icon that defines the category, for example, on the cover of the “Chairs” category, a chair is drawn.
Paintings on canvas . All covers are black and white. We made a folder with a catalog of paintings, a video review, customer reviews, what they say about the company in the media and a highlight with prices. Lack of shipping information.
Mosvettorg - online flower shop . Highlights include customer reviews, bouquet selections, a folder with promotions, store opening hours, "Mono-bouquets" and "Compositions" folders, a highlight with company events.
What collections to create for company accounts - product catalogs, answers to customer questions (F.A.Q.), folders with information on prices and delivery, customer reviews, work schedule, events and company news.
Personal profile
There are no special standards for a personal profile, you can peep blogger highlights for inspiration.
What collections to create for personal accounts - thematic collections of photos and videos: stories from travels, meetings, events, images in clothes, food preferences, a folder with pets, family stories.
Portfolio account
These are accounts of photographers, designers, artists, illustrators. Here it is logical to create collections of works divided into categories, for example, if you are a photographer, you can make highlights "Wedding photos", "Family photo session", "Master classes".
It is also worth posting at least one selection about yourself so that subscribers not only get acquainted with the work, but also get to know you more as a person.
Photographer Natalia Makovoz — in the highlights of the folder on the topic of filming: Prague, wedding, wedding, christening, there is a folder "About me".
Photographer Inna Gulyaeva — 3 highlights with awards, photography conditions and types of shooting. In this example, the highlights contain only important information for potential clients, and the portfolio itself is a photo feed.
What collections to create for portfolio account - collections of works divided into categories, working conditions, reviews, awards, backstages + collections about you.
How to add a story to the current Instagram
Stories can be placed in the current using the "Add" button, which is located under the profile. But initially this button is not there, so the first time a story is added through the menu in the story itself.
So, first you need to publish a story. Then you need to open the published story and in the lower right corner between the "Share" and "More" buttons, click on "Select". The tooltip "Highlight to keep content in your profile for more than 24 hours" will appear.
We will be asked to add stories to the current one. By default, the icon will be a story fragment, and below it there will be a “Relevant” field, where you need to write your name, for example, “Important”, “F.A.Q”, “Delivery”. When the collection is named, click "Add". You can immediately view it in your profile or just click "Done".
Now we have an Add button. Even if we delete the current one, the button will remain.
Now you can use this button to create collections of relevant stories. Click "Add" and select one or more stories from the archive, then click "Next". We will see a menu already familiar to us, where you need to write the name of the collection and add a cover.
P.S. Save stories to the archive automatically, so that later it will be easier to transfer them to the current. The setting is performed 1 time - open any story, click "More - History Settings" and in the "Save" section move the slider to the "On" position opposite the "Save to archive" item.
There is the third easiest way to add a story to the highlights - when the story is ready, click "Recipients", then next to "Your Story" click the blue "Submit" button. The item “Where else to share” - “Add to current” will appear. We select it.
Important to know :
- cover size for the current Instagram story: 1080 x 1920 pixels or 1242 x 2208;
- title is 16 characters long, but shorter titles are better;
- Instagram does not yet have the ability to change the order of current stories.
Read also0021 Introducing 4 ways to create covers of current stories in the same style. This is the easiest and fastest way to make a cover — create a static story (select the “Create” section). We make a one-color background of stories. Then go to stickers and click on the "GIF" sticker. We write the name of the icon, for example, "Shop". We choose a gif that fits the meaning and put it in the center of the story. It can be enlarged a little. The content of the cover (name or icon) should be placed in the center of the vertical image so that it eventually fits into the center of the circle. When the picture is completely ready, save the story to the gallery or publish it like a regular Instagram story. How to put the resulting image in the Highlights cover (2 options) : To sign up for the service, go to the main page of the site: canva and activate a 30-day free trial. Later, you can refuse it and use the service for free! Here it is much more convenient to create covers. Showing 2 options: 1. From scratch. Create a 1080 x 1920 px empty white canvas. Fill the background with color. Or select a background image in the "Background" section. The background is ready, you can add an icon or an inscription. The inscription is added through the "Text" tool. If you need an icon, then go to "Elements" and write the name of the icon, for example "Delivery". Add. If necessary, increase and change the color. Save the image in jpg or png format. Important : choose icons for covers in the same style. 2. From template. Open the "Instagram Story" section. We find a template with a suitable background, or immediately go to the “Current history cover” subsection - this option is preferable, since all the elements in it are already located correctly, nothing will be cut off and will not go beyond. The subsection is good because here in each template there are 5 cover options in the same style - you just have to replace the text and icons. You can take one template from the set or all 5. Replace the text with your own and save the image. If we choose another template (not from the subsection with highlights), then you need to remove all unnecessary elements and replace the text / add an icon. In general, any convenient editor will do, not just Canva. It's interesting : How to write an engaging post on Instagram There are special applications for creating covers. It has ready-made sets of icons in different styles - neon, minimalistic, boho, chalk on a blackboard. True, ready-made sets are paid, but in the application you can make covers from scratch. To create a cover, click "Create". First, set up the background - the "Background" button. You can choose a ready-made color from the proposed ones - the palette is quite wide. You can also choose the shade manually using the sliders or choose a background from ready-made selections with pictures. When we have decided on the background, we add a frame or shape - the "Frame" button. The step is optional, but it will decorate your cover. Frames in three different styles. Frame color can be changed by clicking on the music rest icon. The icon can be moved, enlarged / reduced and deleted (cross in the upper left corner). When everything is ready, click "Save" and voila - the picture can be sent to Facebook / Whatsapp or immediately thrown into stories, and then used for highlighting. And all the pictures are saved in a special folder created by the application. Created icons can be found in the "Saved" section. Option 1 - download . If you don’t pretend to be original, and you’re not too worried about the uniqueness of the covers, you can simply download ready-made images from the Internet - go to Google Images and write “Highlights Instagram” or “Story Covers” (try different keyword options). We choose the appropriate option and shamelessly download. You can also search for covers on Pinterest. Option 2 - download/buy PSD template for Photoshop . You can find it by searching "Instagram Highlight Covers Template PSD". But mostly they sell sets with icons in jpg format. Icons for every taste and color can be found on the iconfinder website - this is such a “search engine” for icons, there are almost 5 million of them in the library. There are many free ones. Icons are divided into categories. When we first create a selection of current stories, the cover is set automatically, but then it can be changed. To do this, go to the created folder. Story opens. Until it closes, click on "More" in the lower right corner. In the pop-up window, click "Edit current". You can change the folder name and cover art here. Click "Edit Cover". Click on the gallery icon and select the custom-made cover you want to put.
In the standard editor
The cover will automatically be substituted from the added story. Creating icons for action stories in Canva
Make the design of actual stories in the application
We go to the marketplace (App Store or Google Play) and write “Instagram Covers” or “Instagram Highlights”. Let's take the StoryLight app as an example. 
Next, you need to add an icon or text - "Sticker" or "Text". In stickers, ready-made sets of icons, as we have already said, some are paid, but there are many free ones. Download or buy a ready-made picture / template / set with icons for the current
How to add/change the cover of current stories
