How to make Instagram highlight covers
When Instagram rolled out the highlight feature I was excited. I know had a way to store my favorite stories as well as any tips and tricks I shared for fashion, beauty or mom hacks. Making a cover to your highlights helps your page look esthetically pleasing. Its a way for your followers (or potential collab partners if you're a blogger) to see what your page has to offer.
Below I will show you how you can make your very own highlight covers. It's very simple.
Go to Canva and click on create a design. Canva works better when using Chrome instead of Safari if you're using a mac.
Click on Infographic under blogging (if on a computer) if on your phone click Blog graphic.
Click elements on the left-hand side
Click grids and select the first plain picture on the left
Click on backgrounds and select a color or background of choice. You can also upload any picture if you want to use a styled background instead of a solid color. Just be careful not to make it to busy, you want your audience to be able to read what you created. You can customize the color by clicking the [+] box
Click on text then click add heading and slide it to the canvas. Type out the title for your IG story graphic
Pick your favorite font and contrasting color
Click elements again then click shapes
Search the icons you want to use for the highlight covers. My highlight covers are Lifestyle, Natural Hair, Fashion, Beauty, and Self-care. I picked the icons that I felt went well with my cover names. Drag the icon to the center of the post. Canva makes it easy for you to center the icon. You can also change the color of the sample images to match your style. Try to keep the icons a similar size when adjusting them.
One thing I loved about Canva on a computer is that you can duplicate pages(just click on the icon that has two pages) and it makes as many as you want. You can also see the size of the icons so that way they can all be cohesive. The website is super convenient and makes it EASY for you to create images the same size.
Lastly, Click download as .JPG
Now that you have created these beautiful Instagram highlight covers the next move is to put them up on Instagram. I uploaded my graphics to my google drive. That way I can access them on my phone. There are many ways to get your graphics from your computer to phone but google drive has been my go to. Right now the only way to upload your images is through IG stories. so upload each graphic you plan to use and share them on your story. I warned my followers what they would see that way they weren't confused about the graphics they saw in my stories. Once they have been uploaded to your stories you are ready to make highlight covers.
Click [+] NEW on your Instagram profile page. Right under your bio
All of your posted Instagram stories should come up. Click on a cover graphic and any Instagram story you want to add to that highlight. Make sure that you click on the stories in order.
Click edit cover and align the icon how you want it to show as the cover. Then type in the title and click add in the top right corner.
There you have it! Continue the steps with all of the other graphics that created.