Are you setting up social network profiles for your business? Or maintaining social media which already exists? Either way, it’s important to make sure your pages and profiles look their best.
If you’re updating your company logos, re-branding, or simply want to change images to give your page a refresh, then it’s important to ensure you know the right image dimensions, file sizes and positioning for each social network. So we’ve compiled the requirements in once place.
When looking at logo designs, always keep in mind that social media generally requires versions which will work in a rectangular landscape format (Cover images), and also a version which will work as a smaller, square image (Profile images).
Facebook Pages Images:
There are two images to maintain for a Facebook page.
- Cover Photo: This should be 851 pixels wide x 315 tall. Smaller images must be at least 399 pixels wide and will be stretched to this larger size. Smaller file sizes will help quicker load times, and Facebook recommended a .jpg which is less than 100kb in size.
They must include no more than 20% text. - Profile Picture: This should be at least 180 x 180 pixels square, which will then be displayed at 160 x 160 pixels. Leave space around your image or text to allow for cropping of the image.
Cover photo guidelines state that you should use a unique image to represent your page which can’t be ‘deceptive, misleading, infringe on anyone else’s copyright or be in violation of the Page Terms. You may not encourage people to upload your cover photo to their personal timelines.’
You should also account for your profile image being displayed on top of your cover photo, which is a 160×160 square starting 23 pixels from the left edge.
Twitter Profile Images:
A Twitter page requires three images to be complete. Photo and Header Images are located under Account settings. Background images are changed under the Design setting.
- Photo Image: The photo image appears throughout Twitter. It’s a 73 x 73 pixel square, with larger files able to be uploaded. File size can be up to 2MB in JPG, GIF or PNG formats.
- Header Image: This appears behind your profile information on your Twitter page. It’s recommended to be 1252 wide x 626 high, and with a maximum file size of 5MB.
- Background Image: The background image can be up to 2MB in size, with no fixed dimensions as you can choose to Tile your image if desired, although we wouldn’t recommend it! In general, a 1600×1200 .JPG image will be the right dimensions for your Twitter background.
When designing a Background Image, remember that the navigation menus on a Twitter profile will take up significant space beside the Twitter feed. Limit graphics to under 200 pixels from the left-hand edge to ensure they can be seen clearly.
Google+ Page Images:
Two images are needed for the Google+ page for your company:
- Profile Picture: These have recently been changed to display as a circular profile image, meaning that your 250 x 250 square dimensions now need to account for circular cropping with plenty of space around the focal point of your image.
- Cover Photo: Cover photos are now displayed in a 16:9 ratio, with a size of 2120 wide x 1192 high to display properly.
Youtube Channel image sizes:
As another Google property, the new ‘One Channel’ designs for Youtube are similar in some ways to Google+. Again, there are two images required:
- Profile Picture: Currently still a square image, so we use a 240 x 240 square which then displays at smaller sizes.
- Channel Art: A single 2560 x 1440 pixel image which can be optimised to display properly on different devices with a safe 1546×423 central area which works across platforms, a wide area for tablets, larger desktop displays, and the full image on TVs. A template is available to download from Youtube’s help page.
Notice that on your page, the Profile Picture will sit in the top left of your Channel Art.
LinkedIn Company Page Images:
LinkedIn requires 3 images for a company page.
- Image: 2MB PNG, JPG or GIF, which must be 646×220 pixels or larger.
- Standard Logo: Max 2MB PNG, JPG or GIF which will be re-sized to 100×60 pixels.
- Square Logo: Max 2MB PNG, JPG or GIF which will be re-sized to 50×50 pixels.
Don’t forget to click Publish after adding your Image, or it won’t be saved.
Flickr Profile Image Requirements:
Photo sharing site Flickr has unveiled a new design effective from May 21, 2013, which now includes a Cover Photo on the profile page for every user.
The selection of photos for both Cover Photos and Avatars are both limited to either new uploads or Recent Photos.
- Cover Photo: There’s no official size guidelines, but looking at how the page displays above, the Cover Photos is approximately 1349 pixels wide by 235 pixels high. The Flickr navigation menu stretches 45 pixels down across the top of the image, with the username, avatar image, and other information stretching up 120 pixels from the bottom.
- Profile Photo: 300 x 300 pixels square
General profile tips:
There are numerous other social networks which we could have also included, ranging from Pinterest and Instagram to Reddit and Stumbleupon. Most simply require a square profile image, but let us know if you’d like to see any additions to our list above.
We’ll keep this page updated with the latest changes, so it might be worth bookmarking us, or following us on one of the above social networking sites to make sure you’re up with the latest designs.
Alex says
You just reminded me that I need to update my Facebook cover page, thank you.
Dan Thornton says
Hi Alex,
Glad we could help – it’s been a handy reminder for us too when organising assets for new and existing pages!
Dan
Nice round-up. It would be nice to see you include the optimal timeline photo size for Facebook. I know it needs to be square, but if it’s too small, they’ll resize it and it looks bad. (and, since you can’t preview, you don’t know until it goes live!)
Hi Jen,
We’ll look to update this post with timeline photo sizes in the very near future! Thanks for commenting…
Dan
Cheers Dan this is useful actionable info. PS Found your post thru GK’s retweet.