Instagram’s visual platform allows users to showcase their personal or brand aesthetic through various features, including highlight covers. The size of Instagram highlight covers is essential as it ensures that these covers look crisp and clear, providing the first impression to someone visiting your profile. As highlight covers can be a powerful tool to maintain a coherent brand image, their optimal dimensions are 1080 pixels wide by 1920 pixels tall—the same as a standard Instagram story.
Creating and customizing your Instagram highlight covers doesn’t have to be a complex task. With the right tools and understanding of the size requirements, you can easily design covers that resonate with your brand or personal style. The consistent look that highlight covers provide is important for the overall appearance of your Instagram profile. Given the fact that they stay on your profile permanently, unlike stories that disappear after 24 hours, it is worth investing time to get them right.
Instagram Highlight Cover Size & Dimensions
Instagram Highlights are a great way to showcase your best Stories permanently on your profile. To make them look professional, you’ll want to design Highlight covers in the right size and format.
🔹 Official Instagram Highlight Cover Size
- Recommended size: 1080 x 1920 pixels
- Aspect ratio: 9:16 (same as Instagram Stories)
- File type: JPG or PNG
- File size limit: Under 30 MB
👉 Even though the cover displays as a circle thumbnail on your profile, you should still design it as a full vertical rectangle (9:16) to ensure proper alignment.
🔹 How Highlight Covers Display
- On your profile, covers appear as small circles (around 161 x 161 px on most devices).
- Instagram automatically crops the center of your uploaded Story or cover image.
- To avoid cutting off icons/text, keep important elements centered within a safe zone (about 1080 x 1080 px square in the middle).
🔹 Best Practices for Highlight Covers
- Use Simple Icons
- Minimalist icons or symbols work best since covers are small.
- Keep Text to a Minimum
- If you use text, make it bold and centered to stay readable.
- Consistent Style
- Stick to a color palette or theme that matches your brand/profile aesthetic.
- High Resolution
- Always export at 1080 x 1920 px to avoid pixelation.
🔹 How to Add or Change a Highlight Cover
- Go to your Instagram profile.
- Tap and hold a Highlight → Select Edit Highlight.
- Tap Edit Cover.
- Choose an image from your camera roll (you don’t need to post it as a Story first).
- Adjust the crop → Tap Done.
✅ Quick Reference
- Upload size: 1080 × 1920 px (9:16)
- Profile display size: ~161 × 161 px circle
- Safe zone for icons/text: Centered 1080 × 1080 px square
- Formats: JPG/PNG
Key Takeaways
- The optimal size for Instagram highlight covers is 1080 x 1920 pixels.
- Highlight covers are crucial for branding and aesthetic on your profile.
- Customizable designs can be achieved with various online tools.
Creating and Customizing Your Instagram Highlight Covers
Instagram Highlights allow users to group old stories together in a new section on their profile to give followers more insight into their brand or personal life. Customizing these covers helps maintain a consistent brand aesthetic and makes profiles more engaging and professional.
Understanding the Basics
Instagram Highlights function as a curated collection of past stories on your profile. The ideal size for a Highlight cover is 1080×1920 pixels, which reflects a 9:16 aspect ratio. This mirrors the dimensions of a standard Instagram Story.
Design Elements and Aesthetics
A well-designed Highlight cover integrates elements like icon, color palette, and background that align with your brand or personal style. It contributes to the overall look of your profile, using consistent textures and illustrations that stand out to viewers.
Optimizing for Brand Identity
For businesses, custom Highlight covers offer a chance to showcase their products or services, highlight customer reviews, or share frequently asked questions. Vibrant icons and a consistent color scheme are essential for quick recognition of the brand’s Highlights.
Technical Aspects of Designing
Highlight covers should be saved in either PNG or JPG format. The width and height must maintain the ratio to avoid cropping when uploading. Using the ‘Edit Cover’ feature on Instagram, one can adjust the selected cover on the Highlight directly.
Utilizing Design Tools and Apps
Numerous mobile apps and online graphic design tools like Canva and Adobe Express offer templates for creating attractive Highlight covers. These apps often provide free options that simplify the design process for users.
Best Practices for Instagram Highlight Covers
Covers should be clear, easy to read, and eye-catching to effectively communicate the content of the Highlight. Uniformity in style across all covers gives your Instagram profile an organized look. Keep text minimal for clarity and focus on using meaningful icons.
