How to Change Highlight Picture on Instagram

Your Instagram Highlight covers are prime real estate on your profile, so making them look sharp and on-brand is a must. This guide will walk you through exactly how to change your Highlight picture, whether you're updating an old one or creating a new one from scratch. We’ll also cover some best practices for designing covers that grab attention for all the right reasons.

Why Your Instagram Highlight Covers Matter More Than You Think

Think of your Instagram Highlights as the "Start Here" section of your profile. They are one of the first things visitors see, sitting right below your bio and above your feed. A professional, cohesive set of Highlight covers does more than just look pretty - it fundamentally improves the user experience and reinforces your brand identity. Here's why you should give them some attention:

• They Create a Killer First Impression: Disorganized or mismatched Highlight covers can make a profile feel cluttered and unprofessional. On the other hand, a clean, uniform set of brand-aligned icons tells visitors you’re serious and detail-oriented.
• They Act as Navigational Tools: Much like the navigation menu on a website, Highlight covers guide users to the content that matters most to them. Whether you have Highlights for "About," "FAQ," "Shop," or "Reviews," recognizable covers make it easy for people to find what they're looking for without having to dig.
• They Are a Powerful Branding Opportunity: Your Highlight covers are a perfect opportunity to deploy your brand colors, style, and voice. When they align with your overall profile picture and feed aesthetic, you create a seamless and memorable brand experience that builds recognition and trust. No matter what Stories are inside, the cover remains constant, keeping your profile's look consistent over time.

How to Change the Cover on an Existing Highlight (The Quick Method)

If you already have a Highlight set up and just want to swap out the cover picture for a new one, the process is incredibly simple. This method is the fastest way to get a custom image from your phone's camera roll to serve as your cover - without having to post it to your Story first.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Go to Your Instagram Profile: Open the Instagram app and navigate to your main profile page.
2. Select Your Highlight: Find the Highlight you want to update. Press and hold your finger on it until a menu pops up.
3. Tap "Edit Highlight": From the menu options, choose "Edit Highlight."
4. Tap "Edit Cover": At the very top of the editing screen, just below the existing cover image, you'll see the words "Edit Cover." Tap on it.
5. Choose Your New Cover Image: Here, you have two choices.
   • You can scroll through the Stories currently in that Highlight and select one to be the new cover.
   • To upload a custom image you designed, tap the little image/gallery icon at the beginning of the filmstrip at the bottom. This will open your phone's camera roll.
6. Position and Finalize: Once you select your image, Instagram will show you a circular crop preview. You can pinch to zoom and drag to position the image perfectly within the circle.
7. Tap "Done": Once you're happy with the placement, tap "Done" in the top-right corner, and then tap "Done" again to save your changes. Your Highlight cover will now be updated on your profile!

This "Edit Highlight" method is ideal for updating existing Highlights with fully custom covers, since you can pull directly from your camera roll without cluttering your public Story.

How to Create a New Highlight with a Custom Cover

If you're starting from scratch, the process is a bit different. To create a new Highlight, any Story you want to include - including the cover image - must first be posted to your live Story or exist in your Story archive. Don't worry, you don't need to leave your cover design up for 24 hours. You can post and delete it, and it will still show up in your archive.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Post Your Cover Image to Your Story: Create and upload your custom Highlight cover graphic as a regular Instagram Story. Let it publish. If you don't want your followers to see it, you can delete it after just a few minutes. As long as it's been published, it will be saved to your archive. (Make sure you have "Save Story to Archive" enabled in Settings > Archiving and downloading).
2. Tap the "New" Button: On your profile page, below your bio, tap the "+" circle that says "New."
3. Select Stories from Your Archive: This will open your Story archive. Select every Story you want to add to this new Highlight, making sure to include the custom cover graphic you just posted.
4. Tap "Next": After selecting your content, tap "Next" at the top right.
5. Edit the Cover: Just like in the previous method, you'll see a screen to name your Highlight. Tap the "Edit Cover" option.
6. Set Your Custom Cover: Scroll through the selected stories at the bottom and tap on your custom cover graphic. Reposition it within the circle as needed, and then tap "Done."
7. Name Your Highlight and Add: Give your new Highlight a short, descriptive name (e.g., "About Us," "FAQs," "Travel"). Once named, tap "Add" in the top corner. Your new, beautifully branded Highlight will appear on your profile.

Best Practices for Designing Stunning Highlight Covers

Creating effective Highlight covers is about balancing brand identity with clarity. Overly complicated designs will look messy and unreadable, especially at their small display size. Here are a few principles to follow for covers that look clean and professional.

Keep it Simple and Recognizable

At the size Highlights are displayed, intricate details are lost. Simple icons, logos, or single letters generally perform best. The goal is to create something instantly recognizable. Before designing, think about what each Highlight category represents and choose an icon that logically communicates it. For an "FAQ" Highlight, a question mark icon works perfectly. For a "Team" highlight, a simple outline of a person is clear.

Stay On-Brand with Colors and Style

Consistency is everything. Use your brand palette for the background colors and icon colors. If your brand guidelines use specific fonts or artistic styles (like line art vs. filled shapes), apply those to your covers. They should feel like a natural extension of your brand’s visual identity, creating a cohesive look and feel across your entire profile.

Design as a Cohesive Set

Your Highlight covers shouldn't look like they were designed by different people at different times. They should work together as a single, unified set. Use the same background style, icon stroke weight, and general layout for all of them. For example, either use colored icons on a white background or white icons on colored backgrounds - don't mix and match. This creates a visually satisfying rhythm that makes your profile look put-together.

Mind the Dimensions and Safe Zone

Your highlight cover image is uploaded as a full-screen story (1080px by 1920px), but Instagram crops it into a circle. This means you need to keep your main design element squarely in the center. Avoid placing important information near the corners or edges, as it will be cut off. To keep things sharp and not pixelated, start your design with a canvas size of 1080 x 1920 pixels.

Final Thoughts

Updating your Instagram Highlight covers is a small change that makes a huge impact on your profile's professionalism and brand aesthetic. By creating a cohesive, branded set of icons, you make it easier for followers to navigate your best content while strengthening your visual identity almost effortlessly.

We know that crafting a polished, visually consistent profile across various formats is a big-picture challenge. At Postbase, we believe your tools should make that easier, not harder. We built our visual content calendar to give you a clear, bird's-eye view of your entire strategy, allowing you to plan your feed posts, Reels, and Stories so they all tell one cohesive story - just like your beautiful new Highlight covers.