Well, Facebook is at it again! They’re always switching things up over there, just to keep us on our toes. The latest news is that they’re rolling out new Facebook cover photo dimensions. Here’s everything you need to know and how to adjust to the change.
The Good
Facebook is just keeping up with the times. And these days most people are looking at Facebook on their phones, which means photos should be optimized for mobile. So in the past when you uploaded your long, skinny cover photo, the sides got cut off when people looked at in on their mobile app. Now Facebook users will see the full photo when on their phones. (Just note that the tops and bottoms will be cut off when people look on desktop!)
The new ideal mobile dimensions just happen to be the same as a lot of other things we’re already familiar with! Which means that you can still use Canva templates, you just have to go to a different section. The mobile dimensions follow a 16:9 ratio, which is the same as a widescreen tv! In Canva you can use the YouTube Cover Art templates, the Presentation (16:9) templates, or the Desktop Wallpaper templates. So many options!
Also, now you can design all of your cover photos using the same dimensions. Business page, personal profile, groups–they’ll all have that 16:9 ratio on mobile with a little bit cut off on top and bottom for desktop.
The Bad
If you design your images in Canva, it usually takes Canva a few months to adjust all of their templates to the new dimensions. Which can be frustrating! (But let’s give them some credit. There are A LOT of templates in there! It’s bound to take some time.) So you’re better off skipping the Facebook Cover template for now. (Use the ones I mentioned above instead.)
Your cover photo will look different on mobile than it does on desktop and different on your phone than it does on your ipad. It’s been this way forever. But that doesn’t mean we have to like it. So make sure if you’re taking a photo to use on your cover image you leave a little extra background room so you can crop it the way you want to and no one’s head will get cut off.
Even though business page, personal profile, and groups all have the same dimensions on mobile now, they’re still slightly different on desktop. Annoying! They’re getting closer to being consistent, though!
The Ugly
As with every Facebook change, the rollout can be slow. So you might not even see any changes yet. And then one day you’ll wake up and everything will look weird. Expect some transition time while everyone adjusts and the changes roll out.
I woke up to this pretty little nightmare–my cover photo for the Hive Facebook group was super wacky! The group cover photos seem to be getting hit the hardest. But with a little tweak and a dash of redesign, now it looks great!
The new Facebook cover photo dimensions
Design all of your cover photos (Whether it’s for your business page, your personal profile, or a group) so that it’s width:height ratio is 16:9. 1920 pixels by 1080 pixels is a good size. Even though Facebook gives smaller pixel numbers, if you upload a 1920 X 1080 image, it will look great even on the fanciest of retina displays.
Keep important info (faces, text, etc) toward the middle of the image. Know that when people look at your image on desktop, the top and bottom will be cut off, so keep that important stuff in the middle and you’ll be golden! (For exact numbers: if your image is 1920 pixels wide, then the middle 731 pixels will be visible on desktop.)
I made a template and video tutorial to help!
Want a little extra help designing your Facebook cover photo? I made you a present! Click here to download my 5-minute video tutorial and a special overlay that you can use on ANY design to check that everything will look good on both desktop and mobile.
Have you noticed the new cover photo dimensions on Facebook yet? How are you handling it? Let me know in the comments!
Facebook Cover Photo
Learn how to optimize your cover photo for mobile and desktop with this super easy tutorial and free dimension guide
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