As a graphic designer working with a digital marketing agency I’m always busy creating Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn profile pictures and cover photos for numerous clients.
Having spent the last few months ironing out the technical kinks of the whole process, I am going to share the technical in’s and outs of designing a Facebook cover image and profile picture.
At this point you’re probably thinking that this is pretty basic stuff. Well yes and no. For your average Jo Blogg’s Facebook profile it is simple – choose a cheesy mug shot for a profile pic, a pretty landscape image for your cover image, crop, and BAM, you’re done. However when it comes to the world of marketing, things need a little more attention to detail and a purpose built design layout.
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Follow Facebook Specifications
Life is going to be a whole lot easier if you set up your profile picture and cover image exactly to Facebook specifications. For example the profile picture needs to be 180 px by 180 px and the cover image sits at 851 px by 315 px. Having your images set up to size is going to save you a stack of dramas at the other end of things when you upload the final designs. If you’re interested, we’ve attached a FREE illustrator template to help you get started.
Secondly, it pays to figure out where everything sits within the Facebook profile pic and cover image layout. For example have you ever noticed that the Facebook profile picture sits half way over the cover image? Bear this in mind during your design process so you don’t lose any of your marketing information behind the profile picture.
In fact some companies have used this to their advantage and created some really cool ways of making the profile picture and the cover picture interact with one another (see attached images). Have a go at this yourself for a creative approach to your social media design.
If you’re looking for inspiration, check out two of my favourites:
Alternatively I highly encourage you to use your company’s logo as the profile picture and any secondary information should be placed within the cover photo. This will go a long way in enhancing your brand’s presence on Facebook. Remember you cover photo covers a lot of digital “real estate” so use this to your own advantage and sell sell sell! Highlight images of your services, feature quality photographs of your products or include team shots of your staff.
*Here’s one I designed a while back for a wine client:
Facebook Guidelines
Furthermore when designing your companies timeline images, it’s important to know that Facebook has a few legal limitations as to what you can include in your design. A little while ago Facebook came down hard not allowing any information relating to pricing, contact information, calls to action, or encouraging people to like your page. However having revised the restrictions Facebook’s new guidelines state that your cover image cannot include more than 20% text. So technically you can include promotional information/ pricing etc but it can only sit within 20% of the image. Click here for a really nifty tool that will analyze whether your image is within the 20% text restriction.
Once you’ve covered all of the above it is really important to remember to make your images web friendly. Remember to export your images as RGB 72 dpi Jpeg’s or Png’s. If this isn’t done, some terrible colours can be churned out once the images have been uploaded. So keep things low resolution and RGB.
Overall, the creative and marketing possibilities that Facebook timeline images allow are endless. Remember that as your business grows you can always change and update your timeline images. Many companies will change their cover photo to promote new competitions and advertising campaigns.
If you have any other design tips or would like to share with us your Facebook profiles please leave a comment.
Facebook Freebie
If you want a little help, feel free to download this Facebook cover photo and profile template file.
