UPDATE December 2012: Facebook made a change in how it handles the uploaded Profile Picture by default. READ this updated post on creating a cool Facebook Timeline Cover Photo / Profile Picture integration.
ALERT: Apr 27 2012 Facebook has rolled out the new Profile Picture dimensions for all Brand Pages — 160 x 160 pixels.
NOTE:The top of a Page’s Profile Pic is 210px from the top of the Cover Photo. (On Personal Profiles this distance is 193px.)
THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED for the new Profile Picture dimensions (160 x 160px, displayed) and includes a NEW downloadable Photoshop Template, with the new Profile Picture dimensions for Brand Pages.
When Facebook rolled out Timeline for Personal Profiles last year, creatives jumped at the opportunity to make eye-catching and clever Cover Photo / Profile Picture combinations, and I featured a number of these in an article about creative Timeline designs for Personal Profiles.
Now that Facebook is in the process of rolling out Timeline for Pages, the same creative impulses can be applied to Facebook Brand/Business Page mastheads.
Here’s the Cover Photo / Profile Picture integration article for Personal Profiles.
Cover Photo / Profile Picture Tutorial + Downloadable Photoshop Template
This article will show you how to create an integrated Cover Photo and Profile Picture, and I’ve added a downloadable Photoshop template to help you in this effort.
When I say “integrated” masthead design, I mean a masthead where the Cover Photo ( the big image) and the Profile Picture (the image overlaid in the lower left corner of the Cover Photo) seem of a piece, where the Profile Picture appears to be transparent:
HyperArts Fan Page Masthead
Ford Motor Company Masthead
Corona nicely integrates the Cover Photo with the Profile Pic which also makes a good thumbnail icon
or otherwise cleverly integrated to create a unified whole:
Pragmatic Design Masthead
Creating the Cover Photo and Profile Picture images in Photoshop
I have found that the best way to create the images for the Timeline masthead is in Photoshop, although your mileage may vary.
There are several things that make the integration of the two images tricky:
- Aligning the Cover Photo and Profile Picture to create a seamless continuity between the two images;
- Although the Profile Picture renders at 160 x 160px (with an additional 5px border), Facebook requires the image you upload be a minimum of 180 x 180px;
- Your Profile Picture also functions as your icon, on all your Page posts on your own or other Facebook Pages, so it has to work both with your Cover Photo AND function as a stand-alone icon.
Make sure your Profile Picture works well as a thumbnail / icon for your brand!
It’s great to be creative with the Cover Photo / Profile Picture combination, but remember your Profile Picture does double-duty as your brand icon wherever you post comments.
Here is how the above three example Pages’ Profile Picture thumbnails display:
As you can see, the Ford thumbnail doesn’t render too well at the reduced size, whereas the HyperArts and Pragmatic Design thumbnails render better. (Although, I think the Pragmatic icon would look better if it wasn’t clipped at the top.)
Aligning the Cover Photo and Profile Picture to create a seamless whole
I have found that the best way to create your Facebook Timeline masthead is to create one image that includes both elements, so that you work out exactly how the two images will look when rendered on Facebook.
To make your life easier, I have created a Photoshop Timeline for Pages Cover Photo Template you can use to create your Cover Photo and Profile Picture for your Facebook Timeline Page.
NOTE: If you’re using this for your Personal Profile Timeline (as opposed to a Brand Page), use this Photoshop Template.
How to Use the Timeline Masthead Photoshop Template
Because of Faceboook’s requirement that the uploaded Profile Pic image be at least 180 x 180 pixels — which Facebook re-scales to 160 x 160 pixels, i.e., 88.88% of the original size), it’s best to create your entire masthead design at a width that, when re-scaled to 88.88% its size, will be 851px. This width is 958 pixels, and the total height — including Cover Photo and Profile Picture — is 450 pixels (Facebook enforces a minimum height of 399px for the Cover Photo), and those are the dimensions I’ve made the Timeline Masthead Template PSD.
Let’s get started!
1) Download, unzip and open the template file in Photoshop. Notice the transparence where the Cover Photo and Profile Picture will go:
2) Create the main image for your masthead at 958 x 450px — or larger so you can experiment with different positions.
3) Drag your image into the Cover Photo Template, and move the template layer to be ON TOP of your image layer:
4) Add any additional graphic elements:
After you designed your masthead to your satisfaction, it’s time to export the Cover Photo and Profile Picture and upload them to Facebook.
Export the Profile Picture image as GIF, JPEG or PNG
1) With the layer called “TEMPLATE” selected, select the Magic Wand tool — set to “0″ tolerance, “contiguous” checked, and “Anti-alias” UNchecked — and click inside the Profile Picture (the inset box) area so that it’s selected (this will be 180 x 180px).
2) From the top menu, select: Image > Crop
3) Export the cropped image — your Profile Picture — as JPEG, GIF or PNG.
4) Undo (Mac: Command+Z; Windows: Control+Z) until you’re back to the full template image.
Export the Cover Photo image as GIF, JPEG or PNG
Now it’s time to export your Cover Photo.
1) Disable the “TEMPLATE BORDERS” layer;
2) Export your Cover Photo image — which, if you’ve done everything correctly, should be 958 x 450px.
Upload the images to your Facebook Timeline Page
Uploading your Cover Photo and Profile Picture to your Facebook Page is fairly straightforward, and chances are you’ve done this before. Here’s a quick rundown….
- If this is the first Cover Photo you’ve created for your Page, just click on “Add a Cover” to locate it on your computer and upload it.
- If you’re replacing an existing Cover Photo, just mouse over the Cover Photo and click “Change Cover”.
- Repeat for the Profile Picture, mousing over it and selecting: Edit Profile Picture > Upload Photo.
If you’ve followed the above instructions to the letter, it should look just as you planned it.
View our example Timeline Page.
Share your creative work…
I’d love to see what you come up with using our template. Please share in the comments. Thanks!
If only I’d had this template last week I could have spent my time being creative rather than working out the dimensions myself.
http://www.facebook.com/NostellPriory
Thank you for that! I tried it last week and was lost in all the
dimensions tweeking!
Yes, I got lost in that, as well! I created the Photoshop Template to save others the pain and make it super easy to design Timeline mastheads going forward!
Done it! thanks again, it was a charm doing it with your tutorial and themeplate.
Thanks for sharing, you guys are the best!
Thanks for this. I was able to accomplish this before, but it took me hours of “trial & error”
Approved
Thanks for this, Wendy. Good to know!
Thanks for this great add’l info, Debbie!
Great post! used your template for my page: https://www.facebook.com/teinum
Great job! HOWEVER, remember that your Profile Picture (the 125 x 125px square) not only has to work with your Cover Photo (and yours works well), BUT it functions as your thumbnail accompaning your posts on your Page and other Pages, and the “tenium” disappears in that context.
You might want to consider having the company name in the Cover Photo, and just the trees for your Profile Picture, or adding just a “T” … or some other creative solution
Someone knows how to upload covers in high quality? When you upload the photo to Facebook it’s losing quality..
When uploading your Cover Photo it appears Facebook doesn’t give you the “high quality” option. To achieve the best quality, I would experiment uploading your image in different formats — GIF, JPG, PNG — and higher optimization levels (GIF: 256 colors – JPG: 60% or 70%; PNG: 24 bit ) to see what results in the best result.
Great post! You seem to be the only blog I found that got this right. Everyone had the cover photo part, but the avatar is what was killing everyone and was even more frustrating to the non-designers. Thanks!
Thanks!
Thank you so much for featuring Amsterdam Printing’s Cover! Our designer Sarah did an awesome job.
She most certainly did!
Thaks for the tips, works really great on our fanpage
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Compagnie-Meeting/115121761887161
great post. Very nice ! that’s what I did:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/MTMClub-site-pour-parents/180109842029892#
Nice!
here is mine, not much but I like it..I call it “Because F^&K IT
https://www.facebook.com/jzshbhangh
Thank you!! I made this http://www.facebook.com/us562dotcom
Nice job!
Per the instructions, you create the Profile Picture at the full template size: 180 x 180px.
THEN resize the template to 851px in width to export the Cover Photo.
Well done! However, you might consider making the “RMC” a bit larger so it’s more readable as your Page icon.
Thanks I have tried but then the lens flare is to bright for it and washes it out. any ideas? Also having trouble with my personal pages one, the images don’t line up. can;t figure out why
No ideas, but I’m a bit under the weather today. The dimensions for the Cover Photo and Profile Pic and different for Personal Profiles. As I mention in this post:
Brand Pages: the Profile Picture is 75px inside the Cover Photo and 60px below it;
Personal Profiles: 92px inside the Cover Photo and 43px below it.
Is this the lining-up issue you mention?
Such a clear, thorough and immensely helpful post. Thanks once again Tim for your generosity!
Thanks!
Very nice!
You need to download the Photoshop Template for the Personal Profile Timeline which insets the Profile Picture 22px higher into the Cover Photo than the Brand Page Timeline does. That link is in this article.
Thank you so muck for this template and the instructions! It worked great for a cover photo I created for a client of mine: http://www.facebook.com/waynesjerky
Looks good, Kelly!
How can you do this in Corel Photo Pro. I have the background collage and logo, but no magic wand. Thanks.
I don’t use Corel Draw so I have no idea. Sorry!
Tim Ware
t1mware@HyperArts.com
(510) 339-6084
Hi Jana. I don’t have any experience with Corel Photo Pro, so I can’t help. Just use the selection tools for Corel and that should work.
Thanks Tim, I’ll keep playing with it and see if I can get it to work.
Hey! So hopefully you can help me out. I am designing a facebook cover/profile for a client. I have been testing it on there page all afternoon and have not been able to get it to line up. I have followed your instruction to the T! So after testing and testing I didn’t want to keep uploading incorrect pictures that would be seen on there feed, so I created a new page to do testing on, and when I uploaded my images it was a perfect match. Would you have any suggestion or reason why this is happening? Could really use some help and hopefully a solution.
This appears to be a browser-specific issue, affecting Firefox and Chrome. I suspect that Facebook tweaked some browser-specific CSS or other code and it screwed things up. I hope they fix it soon!
Frankly, at this point I don’t know. I created a bug report, but Facebook hasn’t provided the courtesy of an explanation, and many major brands’ Profile Pic / Cover Photo integrations are now messed up!
Yup, it’s bigger if you’r on Firefox. I created a Bug Report.
I don’t understand your request. What do you mean?
Your link to the “Personal” profile timeline cover is broken. Can you fix it please? The current link has it going to http://www.hyperarts.com/blog/how-to-create-a-cool-facebook-timeline-cover-photo-and-profile-picture-combo/Facebook-Timeline-Masthead_Profile_TEMPLATE.psd.zip
Fixed! Sorry about that….
Fantastic tutorial! Thank you. Here are the results: https://www.facebook.com/WeAreTeachers
Very nice! However, you may notice what is either Facebook’s buggy rollout of a new Profile Picture display size OR just a bug. Either way, some browsers display your Profile Pic at 160 x160px which probably messes up the precision of you lovely work.. Here’s my article about this image problem.
Thank you for this, the other templates on other sites don’t work as well. It took a bit of tweaking thanks to Firefox but I managed: https://www.facebook.com/justjimedits
Here’s the updated tutorial for creating a cool Cover Photo / Profile Picture integration for your Page. WITH the updated PSD template, as well!
Thanks Tim! You’re super!
just had a crack at this as is a great tutorial but like KB had same problem where profile pic was bigger
The Page Profile Pics are now settled at 160 x 160px. KB’s problem was when Facebook was clumsily transition from 125px square to 160px square.
You just posted this comment, but this tutorial has been updated to reflect the new info so I’m not sure what your problem is, David.
I’ve not heard of this, so I can’t comment on it. What is the URL of your Fan Page where this is happening?
Here is the URL of the Fan Page. When I use your template, and go to upload the 180 x 180 profile image I get the warning that I perviously stated above. https://www.facebook.com/uidahocaa
Facebook sent out a notification to all users about a month ago that they were bumping to user icon size up to 160×160.
Hi Tim. Great article. I’m having a bit of a problem with the Profile photo lining up with the Cover Photo. I’ve followed the directions precisely and tried it multiple times, looking both in chrome and IE and it looks the same, the profile picture is not lining up as it is in the template as seen in photoshop. I noticed when I opened the PSD Template for the Personal Page, the Image Size is 1233px x 542px. Is this correct?
When selecting the profile pic, cropping, then saving as JPEG, checking the image size it is 180 x 180. When I deselect the template and try and save the cover photo, it is as I mentioned before 1233px x 542px and NOT 958px x 450px (unless I were to change the image size, which yielded the same results). Any thoughts???
I’m not sure how you ended up with the old Timeline Personal Profile template, but here’s the link to the new Personal Profile template.
Where did you access the link that downloaded to larger template?
The link was on this page somewhere, it was under a heading if chaing your Personal Profile Page, use this template. I actually had the 160 one and tried that, it fit with no issues. So I’m deleting the other one and now should be good to go with any future updates I make to it. Thanks for the excellent template and instructions.
This worked like a charm !!! https://www.facebook.com/HvacBeginners
I keep getting 404 errors on your brand page template links.
Sorry! That link is now working.
Hello Tim,
It appears that the link to the new PSD brand cover template goes to a 404 page.
Sorry! That link is now working.
Download links seems to be dead.
Sorry! That link is now working.
Tim, I’m still getting a 404 on the links in the post. Is this the correct one? http://www.hyperarts.com/download/Facebook-Timeline-Masthead_Page_TEMPLATE_160.psd.zip
That’s the URL and it works. Try clearing your browser cache.
Tim Ware
t1mware@HyperArts.com
(510) 339-6084
I used your template and instructions before for my brand page and it worked great. But noticed I this morning that the profile picture is larger and does not line up with cover image any more. I tried to get your new template but the link above is not working.
Sorry Wendy! That link should now work.
The brand template link seems to be broken.
Sorry! That link is now working.
I developped a tool to create cover and profile picture like this, give it a try : http://www.korko.fr/clevercover/
You are brilliant…I found yours a while ago and lost it…and found it here again while searching for it. Thanks man.
Thanx men You are f*king Genuis
i loveeeee youuuuuuu
wont let me move the template layer on top of my image layer…
I’ve not heard that issue, and I don’t know what to advise you. Assuming you’re using Photoshop, you should be able to reposition any of the layers *except* the background layer.
Thanks! The template helped me a bunch! heres my work
https://www.facebook.com/uNrealDrwow
I traweled dozens of these template guides. None of them worked. Yours did! Thanks for an awesome guide and template. I am sharing this with friends!
Thanks, Ivan.
Thank you so much for this! I’m in the midst of trying to move about 1200 of my 1500+ Profile “friends” to my Page and this has helped on both those pages! If you’re interested:
Profile – https://www.facebook.com/katie.davis
Page – http://www.facebook.com/KatieDavisBurps
Very nice, Katie! Great work!
Thanks, Tim! BTW, I’m including a link in my show notes for my podcast next week – I talk about Hyperarts and this template and am including a link to this page, specifically. I usually announce it via Twitter and FB and also by mail if you’re in the podcast. If you contact me directly, I’ll notify you.
Thanks Katie! Yes, let me know and I’ll tune in. Tim
how to make that one?
YAY!!! <3 YOU!
For some reason, when I crop the cover it gets to “958 x >350<" not 450, why's that?
Thanks very much for your help! I managed to come up with this..
http://i.imgur.com/t5RLo.png
Tim! You have done the world a great service with your tutorials! And followed up good with better still – admirable willingness to help others and commendable patience (with folks asking the same questions again and again without seemingly reading the thread to see you had already address the issue). Sincere kudos.
Tim, thanks for the awesome tutorial! You helped me to build my page.
https://www.facebook.com/SounavPhotography#
Thanks once again.
hello, i wanna thank you very much for this tutorial. now i have an awesome facebook cover. here is my art work : http://www.facebook.com/raxon.rex.7
Your tutorial is great! Thanks so much!
https://www.facebook.com/ontheradarshow
Thanks a lot! Great job, and it help me create a nice cover photo for my page. Thanks again!
Here is what I’ve done:
http://www.facebook.com/revolutionofmind
Thank you so much for the great article! Even with my very limited Photoshop experience I was able to create a really nice FB cover. Thanks again!
http://www.facebook.com/Watchoutguys
HOW
I MUST KNOWWWW
Hi Anders, check out this tutorial for animated Facebook cover photos. It may be a hack that gets shut down by Facebook. Give it a try and see how it goes, and share it here!
https://www.facebook.com/XxSTARSHIELDxX
check mine out
and thanks for the template and guide. i did this before i found the template so this definitely makes it easier for future projects
Thanks for the help – I used it for my company’s page! http://www.facebook.com/unitedbyblue
Thanks for the great article – after a day without budging from the computer, I’ve come up with this:
http://www.facebook.com/taoufiq
Nice!
How about mine
https://www.facebook.com/amit3880
Sweet!
Using this template made things so much easier. But when I upload it onto facebook, my cover gets all blurry. All that work gone to waste. Can anything be done?
It sounds like you’re not upload an image with the correct dimensions.
Been looking for a right tutorial for my facebook page. Thanks
Thanks!
thanks for the cool tips and template. works like a charm! check out my page with a picture of a little lizzard. we get tons of these lizzards here in South Africa.https://www.facebook.com/live2photo
https://www.facebook.com/weirdhey
Just a personal picture =)
Very nice, Louis!
I did this, and it works perfectly when viewing it from my computer, but when I view it from the facebook app on my phone, it looks all funky and does not match. Is there a way to make it match on my phone as well?
What kind of phone? Using the Facebook app or the browser? I probably can’t help here. If you followed the instructions closely, that’s the best I can offer.
I’ve noticed that on the iPad the Cover Photo and Profile Pic don’t align to form a seamless image. That’s just how it goes.
Sorry, can’t help there!
Thanks for the template! Here is what I came up with for a non-profit live theater I work for: http://www.facebook.com/ArtisanCenterTheater
This doesn’t work for me, the two images aren’t aligned correctly when I upload them to facebook, I can’t figure out what I’ve done wrong because I’ve followed the instructions carefully. Help?
First, I updated this post yesterday to include a key instruction on editing the Profile Pic thumbnail after uploading, to select “Edit Thumbnail” and then make sure “Scale to Fit” is checked.
Hey, I’ve tried your method to get the cover and profile pics to line up as they should and it worked fine the first time. However I am trying it again with and they don’t seem to be lining up for some reason.
i too made a combination…… without using template ,, if possible hve a look “https://www.facebook.com/physics.addict”
Is there a way that this will work with the Adobe Photoshop trial app download? Thank you.
If the “trial app” has at least basic Photoshop capabilities, it should work fine.