How to Make Instagram Story Covers

Putting polished Instagram Story Covers on your profile is one of the quickest ways to make your brand look professional and organized. It’s like giving your Instagram a fresh coat of paint - it immediately elevates your look and helps guide visitors exactly where you want them to go. This guide will walk you through everything you need, from planning your categories to designing and uploading your brand new covers step-by-step.

What Are Instagram Story Covers and Why Bother?

Instagram Story Covers are custom images or icons that you set as the thumbnail for your Story Highlights. Think of Story Highlights as curated folders that live permanently on your profile, saving your best Stories from disappearing after 24 hours. The covers are the "labels" on these folders.

Without custom covers, Instagram just pulls a random screenshot from a Story within that Highlight. It usually looks messy, inconsistent, and off-brand. By creating custom covers, you transform that chaotic row of circles into a clean, branded navigation bar for your profile.

Here’s why they’re so effective:

• First Impressions Count: Your Instagram profile is often the first touchpoint a potential customer has with your brand. A tidy set of branded Story Covers signals instantly that you’re professional, detail-oriented, and serious about your business.
• Improved Navigation: Clear icons and labels (like 'FAQ', 'Shop', 'Reviews') help new followers find the information they need without having to hunt for it. This makes your account more user-friendly and can help speed up the journey from follower to customer.
• Brand Reinforcement: This is a prime piece of real estate on your profile. Using your brand colors, fonts, or icon style consistently across your covers reinforces your visual identity and makes your brand more memorable.

Simply put, it’s a small effort with a big impact that makes your profile look less like a personal page and more like a credible brand hub.

Before You Design: Plan Your Highlight Categories

Before you even think about opening a design app, you need to map out what your Highlight categories will be. A little strategy here goes a long way. The goal is to create folders that serve your audience and your business goals. Aim for 3 to 6 key highlights so you don’t overwhelm your visitors.

Sit down and ask yourself: "What are the most common questions I get?" or "What's the most important information a new follower needs to know?"

Here are some category ideas for different types of accounts:

For E-Commerce & Product Brands:

• Shop: A direct link to your bestselling products.
• Reviews: Screenshots of customer testimonials and user-generated content (UGC). Social proof is powerful!
• New In: Showcase your latest product drops.
• How To Use: Demos and tutorials for your products.
• FAQ: Answers to questions about shipping, returns, and materials.
• Behind the Scenes (BTS): A peek into how your products are made.

For Service Providers & Freelancers (Coaches, Designers, etc.):

• Services: A breakdown of what you offer.
• Portfolio/Results: Case studies and examples of your best work.
• Testimonials: Raving reviews from past clients.
• About Me: Tell your story and connect with your audience.
• Book Now: A direct link to your scheduling or contact form.
• Tips & Tricks: Share free, valuable advice to build authority.

For Content Creators & Influencers:

• Links: A Highlight dedicated to your affiliate links or collaborations (like an Amazon Storefront).
• Travel: Group trips by destination.
• Q&A: Let your personality shine by answering follower questions.
• Tutorials: Share skills related to your niche (e.g., photo editing, makeup tutorials).
• Press/Features: Show off any articles or mentions you’ve received.
• My Gear: People always want to know what camera, software, or tools you use.

Once you have your list of 3-6 categories, it's time to get creative and bring them to life.

Designing Your Covers: The Essentials

Whether you're treating yourself to a professional design template or going the DIY route, here are a few design fundamentals to keep in mind for clean, effective covers.

• Use the Right Dimensions: You'll be designing these in a vertical format. The ideal size is 1080 x 1920 pixels, which is the standard Instagram Story size.
• Keep It Centered: Instagram crops your Story Cover into a circle on your profile. Make sure your main icon or text is placed right in the center with plenty of empty space around it so nothing important gets cut off. Imagine a circle in the middle of your canvas and keep your design within that invisible boundary.
• Stay On-Brand: Your covers should feel like they belong to your brand. Use your brand’s color palette and fonts if you’re using text. If you’re using icons, choose a set that shares a consistent style (e.g., all line art, or all filled illustrations). This cohesion is what makes the final result look so professional.

The Step-by-Step Guide: How to Make Instagram Story Covers in Canva

Canva is a free, user-friendly design tool that’s perfect for this job. You can create a full set of beautiful Story Covers in less than 30 minutes. Here’s how:

Step 1: Get the Right Template

Open Canva (on your desktop or the mobile app) and in the search bar, type "Instagram Story." This will give you a blank canvas that’s perfectly sized at 1080 x 1920 pixels.

Step 2: Set Your Background Color

Click on the blank canvas. A color box will appear in the top-left corner. Click it to choose a background color. If you know the hex code for your brand colors, you can type it in directly. For best results, use a solid color background. Patterns or photos can look too busy once cropped into a small circle.

Step 3: Find an Icon or Graphic

This is the fun part. Navigate to the "Elements" tab on the left-hand menu. In the search bar, type in a keyword for your Highlight category. For example, if you have a "Shop" category, you could search for "shopping bag," "price tag," or "t-shirt."

Pro Tip: To maintain a cohesive style, add modifiers to your search like "line icon" or "simple icon". Once you find an icon you like, you can often click the three dots on it and select "See more like this" to find similar graphics.

Select your icon, and it will appear on your canvas. Drag the corners to resize it and use the guides that appear to place it perfectly in the center.

Step 4: Customize Your Icon's Color

Most simple graphics in Canva allow you to change their color. With the icon selected, check the top-left corner for a color box appearing next to the background color box. Click it and change the icon color to one of your other brand colors that contrasts well with the background.

Step 5: Add Text (Optional)

You can add text below your icon, but it's often better to let the icon speak for itself. Text can become hard to read in the small circle on your profile. If you do add a label, go to the "Text" tab, select "Add a heading," and type your category name (e.g., 'Reviews'). Change the font and color to match your brand style.

Step 6: Duplicate and Repeat

Now that you have your first cover done, the rest is easy. Look for the "Duplicate page" icon (looks like two sheets of paper with a plus sign) right above your canvas. Click it to create an exact copy.

On your new page, simply change the icon (and text, if you used it) for your next category. Keep the background color and the icon style the same. Repeat this process until you have a cover for every one of your planned Highlights. This ensures every cover is uniform in size, placement, and style.

Step 7: Download Your Covers

Once you’ve designed all your covers, click the "Share" button in the top right corner, then "Download." Make sure the file format is set to PNG or JPG. Select "All pages" and download the files. Canva will save them as a ZIP file. Unzip it and send the images to your phone for easy access.

How to Upload Your Instagram Story Covers

Getting your new covers onto your profile is just a few taps away. There are two scenarios: adding a cover to a brand new Highlight, or changing the cover on one that already exists.

To Add a New Highlight with a Custom Cover:

1. You must post the Stories you want to add to this Highlight first. After they are live, go to your profile.
2. Tap the "New" button with the plus sign under your bio.
3. Select the active or archived Stories you want included in this Highlight. Tap "Next."
4. On the next screen, tap "Edit Cover." Instead of choosing a snippet from one of the stories, tap the small image icon at the bottom. This will open your phone's photo library.
5. Select your beautiful new cover image from your camera roll. Adjust the cropping so the icon is centered, then tap "Done."
6. Give your Highlight a name (e.g., "FAQ") and tap "Add." You're all set!

To Change an Existing Highlight Cover (without adding to your Story):

This little trick is a game-changer. You DON'T have to add your cover image to your public Story to use it.

1. Go to your Instagram profile.
2. Press and hold on the Highlight you want to change. A menu will pop up.
3. Select "Edit Highlight."
4. At the very top of the screen, tap "Edit Cover."
5. Just like before, tap the image icon at the bottom of the screen to open your camera roll.
6. Choose your new cover design, adjust the framing, and tap "Done."
7. Tap "Done" one more time to save your changes. Your Highlight is instantly updated with its new, professional look.

Final Thoughts

Designing and uploading Instagram Story Covers is a quick, high-impact update that instantly sharpens your brand’s presence. It turns your profile into a well-organized and professional landing page that effortlessly guides followers to the information they care about most.

Consistent branding and reliable scheduling are the cornerstones of a great social media strategy, but juggling it all can feel overwhelming. After years of running into these exact challenges, we built Postbase to feel like a sigh of relief. It’s designed for the visual-first world of Instagram Reels, Stories, and TikToks, making it easy to plan your content in a visual calendar and trust that your posts will go live, reliably, every single time.