How to Change a Pinterest Banner

Ready to give your Pinterest profile a fresh new look? Changing your banner is a quick, high-impact way to instantly update your brand’s feel, highlight a new campaign, or celebrate a season. This guide will walk you through the simple steps to swap out your banner on both desktop and mobile, and then we'll get into the fun stuff: design best practices and creative ideas to make your profile stand out.

Why Your Pinterest Banner Matters (More Than You Think)

Your Pinterest banner, also known as a profile cover, is the first thing people see when they land on your profile. Think of it as the digital storefront for your brand. Long before someone scrolls through your carefully curated boards and Pins, your banner sets the tone. It’s your chance to make a powerful first impression, communicate your brand’s personality, and tell visitors exactly what you’re all about in a single glance.

A well-designed banner can:

• Establish Brand Identity: Consistent use of your brand colors, fonts, and logo reinforces who you are.
• Promote Current Offerings: Announce a new product, a limited-time sale, or a special promotion.
• Build Connection: A photo of you, your team, or your creative process can make your brand feel more human and relatable.
• Guide Visitors: You can use the space to visually point visitors toward your most popular boards or an important link.

In short, it’s prime digital real estate. Leaving it blank or using a generic image is a missed opportunity to capture your audience's attention and turn a casual browser into an engaged follower.

Pinterest Banner Size & Best Practices

Before you jump into the how-to, let's get the technical details right. A blurry or awkwardly cropped banner can make a great profile look unprofessional. Follow these guidelines to create a perfect banner every time.

Optimal Pinterest Banner Dimensions

For the best results, your Pinterest profile cover image should follow these specifications:

• Aspect Ratio: 16:9
• Minimum Dimensions: 800 pixels wide x 450 pixels tall
• Recommended Size for High Quality: 1920 x 1080 pixels (or greater, as long as the 16:9 ratio is maintained)
• File Type: PNG or JPG
• File Size: Maximum of 32 MB

While the minimum size works, aiming for a higher resolution like 1920x1080 will make sure your banner looks crisp and clear on all devices, especially on larger desktop monitors.

Design Best Practices for an Eye-Catching Banner

Creating a beautiful banner is simpler than you’d think. Keep these tips in mind:

• Keep it Simple: Your profile picture will be overlaid on top of your banner (centered at the bottom on desktop, and sometimes slightly off-center on mobile). Avoid placing important text, logos, or visual elements in this "safe zone" or they'll be covered up. Less is almost always more.
• Use High-Quality Imagery: Pixelated banners are a huge no-no. Use high-resolution photos and graphics that are clear and professional. Great visuals directly reflect the quality of your brand.
• Stay On-Brand: Your banner is a cornerstone of your brand’s visual identity on Pinterest. Use your established brand colors, typography, and logo to create a cohesive experience for visitors who might be discovering you from other platforms.
• Consider a Video Banner: Did you know you can use a video as your banner? Videos automatically play and grab attention instantly. A subtle, looping video of your product in use, a behind-the-scenes glimpse, or a polished brand video can set your profile apart.

How to Change Your Pinterest Banner: A Step-by-Step Guide

The process is straightforward on both desktop and mobile devices. Just follow the steps for the device you're using.

Changing Your Banner on Desktop

1. Log into your Pinterest business account.
2. Navigate to your profile by clicking your profile picture in the top-right corner of the screen.
3. Hover your cursor over your current banner image. A small pencil icon will appear in the top-right corner of the banner. Click it.
4. A menu will appear. Click on "Edit cover image". You will also see an option to choose one of your existing public boards to show your latest pins as the banner. For this guide, we are focusing on uploading an image.
5. Click “Upload a photo” and select the banner image or video you prepared from your computer.
6. Pinterest will automatically show you a preview. You can use the slider below the image to zoom in and out, and you can drag the image to reposition it until it looks just right.
7. Once you're happy with the placement, click the red “Done” button in the top-right.

That's it! Your profile is now updated with your new, stunning banner.

Changing Your Banner on the Pinterest Mobile App

Updating your profile on the go is just as easy.

1. Open the Pinterest app on your iOS or Android device.
2. Tap on your profile picture icon at the bottom-right of the screen to go to your profile.
3. At the top of your profile, you will see your banner. Tap the pencil icon that appears directly on the banner.
4. You can choose an image from your photo library or select Pins from a specific board to create a collage. Tap on your photo library icon to upload the banner.
5. Select the image or video you want to use. You’ll be taken to a preview screen where you can pinch to zoom and drag to adjust the positioning.
6. Once it looks correct, tap “Done” to save your changes.

5 Creative Ideas for Your Pinterest Banner

Stuck on what to put in that big, beautiful banner space? Here are five ideas to get your creative gears turning.

1. Promote a Seasonal Campaign

Change your banner to reflect the current season, holiday, or a major sales event like Black Friday. This makes your brand feel timely, relevant, and in tune with what your audience is searching for. Think warm, cozy aesthetics for fall or a bright, fresh look for spring.

2. Spotlight a New Product or Bestseller

Did you just launch a new collection? Is one product flying off the shelves? Use your banner to put it front and center. A beautifully styled photo of your hero product tells visitors what’s popular and directs them to what they should check out first.

3. Showcase Your Brand's Human Side

People connect with people. Use a photo of yourself, your team, or a behind-the-scenes shot of your workspace. This helps build trust and creates a personal connection that goes beyond just products or services. It shows the real people powering the brand.

4. Feature Your Lead Magnet or Freebie

Are you trying to grow your email list? Design a simple banner that showcases your free guide, checklist, or webinar. Add a short text overlay like "Get My Free Style Guide!" to pique interest and encourage visitors to click the link in your bio.

5. Create a Visual Mission Statement

Use compelling imagery and a few powerful words to convey your brand’s mission or value proposition. If you’re a food blogger focused on simple, healthy recipes, a vibrant photo of fresh ingredients with the text "Effortless Healthy Eating" says it all instantly.

Common Mistakes to Avoid with Your Pinterest Banner

An amazing banner comes from avoiding a few common stumbles. Watch out for these pitfalls.

• Forgetting About the Safe Zone: Always remember that your profile photo will cover the bottom-center part of the banner. Don’t place logos, text, or the most important part of your image there. Preview it on both mobile and desktop to see how it looks.
• Using Low-Resolution Images: A blurry or pixelated visual looks unprofessional and can hurt your brand's credibility. Always start with the highest quality image possible.
• Making It Too Busy: A cluttered banner is hard to read and just looks chaotic. Stick to one clear focal point, whether it's a person, a product, or a succinct piece of text. Simplicity is often more impactful.
• Using Clashing Colors & Fonts: The goal is brand consistency. A banner that uses random fonts and colors that don’t match your website or other social profiles can confuse visitors. Stick to your brand guidelines.
• Setting It and Forgetting It: Your banner isn't permanent. Treat it as a dynamic space to keep your profile feeling fresh. A banner from a Christmas promotion still running in March sends the wrong message. Aim to update it at least quarterly or whenever you have something new to announce.

Final Thoughts

Changing your Pinterest banner is a technically simple task, but optimizing that space is a powerful branding move. By pairing a high-quality, on-brand visual with a clear message, you can turn your profile into a welcoming and compelling introduction to everything you offer.

Keeping your Pinterest banner updated is a small piece of a much larger strategy: building a consistent and engaging brand presence online. We regularly found ourselves juggling visuals for different platforms - a banner for Pinterest, a video for Reels, a graphic for Stories - and realized how fragmented that process can feel. That’s precisely why we built Postbase, a tool designed to help you plan, schedule, and view all your visual content across all your social platforms from one clean, simple calendar. It helps turn scattered ideas into a unified content strategy, without the chaos.