What is Instagram Highlight Cover? How to Make Customized Instagram Highlight Covers in 2023?

Instagram Highlights are still relatively young, but they have quickly become an integral feature of any successful Instagram marketing campaign. In order to increase interaction with their followers and get the most out of Instagram, brands and marketers employ them in novel and practical methods.

Some people have figured out how to maximize the effectiveness of these Highlights by selecting appropriate covers, although this is far from universal. The ability to choose a unique cover image for one’s Highlights is often overlooked.

If you’re the kind who’s always wondered how your favorite brands manage to come up with such stunning artwork for their packaging, then you’ll love this post.

In this article, we will go over not just how to design a nice cover image, but also the best methods for doing so. As such, keep reading to learn how to create the most eye-catching covers for your Highlights.

What Is an Instagram Highlight Cover?

Instagram Stories that you want to feature prominently on your profile can be saved as Highlights and shown there indefinitely. Cover images for Instagram Highlights are the spherical photos that appear at the very top of your profile.

Because Instagram Highlights appear at the very top of your profile, choosing the best cover images is essential. They should be interesting enough to pique people’s interest and encourage them to watch the entire thing.

Because of their significance in establishing your brand’s visual identity, the cover photos you choose or create for your Highlights should be given careful consideration.

Tips For Creating Good Instagram Highlight Covers

The cover photographs you use for Instagram Highlights should be created in a way that draws people in right away, as was previously said. In addition, as it is a part of your brand identity, it should share the same color scheme and design principles as the rest of your postings.

With that in mind, here are some suggestions for picking out great pictures to use as covers for your Highlights.

Make Them Self-Explanatory

Self-explanatory cover art is a common practice among businesses and marketers. The cover image of your Highlight can be anything, but it should be relevant to the content. You could also just write “Beauty Advice” in white text on a colourful backdrop and use that as your cover image.

This allows your target audience to quickly determine if they want to watch the video or not.

Think of the H&M catalog covers. The pictures show exactly what’s inside, so there’s no need to read the description.

Maintain Consistency

Your Instagram highlights will appear in a horizontal scroll at the very top of your profile. To ensure that your collection of cover art works well together, it’s crucial that you stick to a consistent style across the board.

The profile can look disorganized and chaotic if you utilize different sorts of photographs for different Features.

Have a look at how Daniel Wellington has made sure that all of the covers look the same and match the brand’s logo.

Use Quirky Designs and Icons

Your cover art ought to be enticing to the eye and catch the reader’s interest. Stunning images, icons, and other visuals can do the trick.

How to Make Customized Instagram Highlight Covers?

A competent photo editing app or tool is required to create an Instagram Highlight cover, just as it is for designing any other image for social media. The only thing to remember is to use the correct image size, as the cover photo is automatically cropped into a circular form.

As a result, when designing an image, make sure the most crucial details are front and center, with enough of white space around them. In this way, the image will retain its pristine quality even after being circularly cropped.

The best alternative is to utilize an app that already allows you to design a cover picture in the appropriate size. The size of your images is irrelevant, and there are picture editing tools that allow for exactly this.

Many programs exist to help you make unique Instagram Highlight covers. But, in order to provide a more in-depth explanation of the procedure, we will use the well-known photo editing tool Canva.

How to Design an Instagram Highlight Cover Using Canva?

Here’s how to use Canva to make a cover for your Instagram Highlight.

Step 1: To begin making your image with the Canva app, tap the plus sign.

Step 2: pick an Instagram Stories layout.

Step 3: By selecting the blank template, you will be given the chance to change the colors and/or add photos.

Step 4: Choose a color that fits in well with your brand’s aesthetic, then use it in your design.

Step 5: Choose the plus sign (+) to include images, icons, illustrations, etc. In this example, we’ll look at how to incorporate an icon.

Step 6: Choose “Illustrations” and then “Icon” from the drop-down menu.

Step 7: Customize the size and color of an icon after adding it.

Step 8: Keep the picture on your phone and post it to Instagram as a story.

After posting an image as a Story, it can then be used as the cover photo for a Highlight. If you want to keep your Instagram Stories forever, you must make sure the “archive” option is turned on. All of your Instagram Stories will be saved indefinitely so you can add them to Highlights whenever you like.

If you want your Stories archived, you can adjust this under your account’s “Privacy” settings. In the settings menu, under “Story,” you can alter your current playthrough. Simply enable the “Save to archive” setting, and you’ll be all set.

In a subsequent part, we’ll go over how to upload the image you created to use as your Highlight cover. The purpose of this part is to provide you with a foundational understanding of how to create and publish an image that can serve as your Highlight cover.

How to Upload Instagram Highlight Covers?

You must first add an image to your Highlights before you can use it as a cover for them on Instagram. Putting the photograph you wish to use for your Highlight cover onto an Instagram Story is the first step in doing so. The next step to using a photo as an Instagram Highlight cover is to add it as a Highlight.

Here’s how you may modify your Instagram Highlights’ primary image.

To modify the cover photo for your profile, navigate to your profile and click and hold the Highlight you want to update.
You’ll notice a drop-down menu, from which you should choose “Edit Highlight.”
A button labeled “Edit Cover” should appear near the menu bar’s top.
There will be a gallery of pictures for you to choose from.
Choose a favorite to use as a cover and store it.
If you wish to use a different image for your cover that isn’t already included in your Highlight, you’ll need to add it as a Story before you can use it as a Highlight. To do so, please refer to the steps outlined below.

Share your story on Instagram and give it some extra attention by clicking the heart button.
In order to add a new Highlight to an older Story, navigate to your profile and click the plus sign.

Adding a previously-read Story to your current Highlights is as simple as selecting the Highlight in question, holding down the mouse button, and selecting the edit menu option.
In order to make the new image your cover photo, follow the steps above after the new image has appeared in your Highlight.