Ready-made covers for VK 1590 400. New VKontakte design - horizontal group cover

Surely you have already appreciated the innovation of the VKontakte network - the cover of public pages and communities. A fairly large photo banner that opens in front of the user the moment he enters the group. What is it for? The banner attracts attention and allows you to briefly and clearly tell about the community, its interests, and features. Often this is the factor that attracts the user to subscribe to the public page and further view its posts in the news feed. But how to make a group cover on VK so that it is beautiful and attractive? We will give you the most useful recommendations.

Correct community header

Before you make the cover of a group on VK, you need to decide: what will it have to express? We will give you some relevant tips to achieve your goal:

Unusuality. The cover is what your current or future subscriber sees first. If it contains a unique feature, surprises with its design, includes an interesting play on words, an intriguing story, then everything indicated will only benefit you. Many people use such an interesting cover format for the VK group as a continuation of what is depicted on it in the attached inscription on the wall.
Trends. The banner must be modern. As a last resort - classic. But not a “accordion” - it contains elements of what was once relevant in the Internet environment. Therefore, it is worth thinking about framing it in the spirit of the latest events discussed, a recently released film, and adding the participation of heroes of memes that are popular today. It goes without saying that the covers in this case need to be updated periodically.
Use easy psychological techniques to help you pay attention. For example, an image of a person looking in a certain direction - where you have placed important information - is quite effective.

What should a hat not be like?

Let's look at how to make a group cover on VK so that it does not evoke negative emotions among community visitors:

Nobody likes spam banners - memes with requests to join a group. In the overwhelming majority of cases, even if the idea is presented in a rather original way, users ignore the calls.
If you want to indicate in the header a list of the services you provide, then the idea is obviously a failure. Maybe it’s worth hinting at them intriguingly with comics, collages, photographs?
Indicating a contact phone number in the banner, or even worse, a link to another site, is tantamount to handing out leaflets at the crossing. No one will retype the link from the image into the address bar. It is better to dedicate a separate post to your contacts, a section that will always be visible to users, from where it is convenient and easy to copy the necessary information.

What should a good cover look like?

So, when creating, photographing or searching for the right stock image, keep the following in mind:

The community hat should contain an unspoken call to a certain action, emotion.
The image must be relevant to your audience.
Choose pleasant, calm colors or, on the contrary, bright, acidic colors - it all depends on the specifics of the group.
Don’t ignore the font either: don’t settle for boring “Word” variations, but don’t go towards writing that, due to its quirkiness, can be difficult to make out.
Don’t forget about the semantic load and the correct hashtags.

Now let's look at more specific variations:

Using an image of a famous person advertising your community or product.
The consonance of the hat with high-profile events, holidays, activities, promotions - both general and related only to your group.
The content of an unspoken attractive call to switch to another resource (make sure that the transition is easy and understandable for the user).
Placement in the header of a special offer, the main news of the public.

About cover size

As you noticed, the banner parameters are not standard when compared with the usual avatars. In order for the image you choose to look good, the size of the VK group cover should be as close as possible to 1590 x 400 pixels. Such parameters for a banner can be set in advance when creating it in a graphic editor.

When creating a collage, you need to consider how the picture will be reflected on subscribers’ devices, so as not to place the necessary information in areas that will be hidden:

In a computer browser - 795 x 200 pixels. The image is not cropped, but only compressed.
As for mobile devices, the header is displayed slightly differently. It is trimmed according to the width of the device screen. For example, if the latter is 400 pixels, then your cover image will be trimmed by 146 pixels on each edge. Add more space allocated for system buttons. Because of it, the banner will become 80-140 pixels narrower on each edge.

Easy cover creation

Let's look at the easiest way to make a group cover in VK:

Take a photo that somehow resonates with your community's theme.
Find a suitable stock image in Google, Yandex.Images, and other resources. Beautiful covers for a group on VK can be found using a similar request.
If you think that the image is too detached, then you can fill it with new elements and text in such popular online editors as Fotor, Pablo or Canva.

Creation in Photoshop

The best program for VK group covers and for visual design in general remains Photoshop. However, you should turn to its help if you are a fairly confident user and know how to create high-quality collages, process photos, cut out objects, work with layers, correction and filters. Otherwise, you risk getting a low-quality cover with a bunch of mistakes, which will not please or attract your potential audience.

So, having entered the program, click on “File”, then “Create”. For the cover it is better to set the following parameters:

Size: 1590 x 400 pixels.
Resolution: 72 pixels in 1 inch.
Color mode: RGB (8 bit).

And then there is room for creativity: create layers from stock or personal images, cut out certain objects, add text, use filters and program tools. The main thing is to have a clear plan in your head for what you want to get in the end.

How to set the cover in a group on VK?

Let's first figure out how to generally change the banner in the community of which you are the administrator:

Under your group's avatar, on the right side of the page, click on the three dots "..."
A drop-down window will appear in front of you. In it, select "Community Management".
An administrator window will open. Find the "Settings" section and click on it.
You will immediately see the line “Community Cover”. That's what we need.
How to add a cover to a VK group? Just click on "Download".
You will see brief recommendations on the image format and size of the VK group cover.
It is worth choosing a high-quality, high-resolution photo.
Here, as when choosing an avatar, you have the opportunity to choose which area of the image to place on the cover: use the mouse to move the bounding rectangle to stop at the most successful area. By the way, the photo can be turned upside down.
Be sure to click on “Save and Continue” on the cover window. Don't rush to close the page!
In the settings window, do not forget to click on “Save”.

Now you can look at what happened!

Editing the cover

We have also prepared a number of tips in case you want to edit, change, or delete an image. To do this, you just need to hover your mouse (if you are an administrator) over the banner. Three schematic prompts will appear:

"Upload" - installing a new photo. You already know how to add a cover to a VK group.
"Edit" - rotate the image, change the area that will be visible in the banner.
"Delete" - remove the existing cover.

We analyzed the creation and publication of the cover in the VKontakte group from idea to concrete implementation. We hope that these recommendations will help you create a wonderful banner!

Beautiful design of the VKontakte community is not a whim, but an important element that builds user trust in you and your company. If a public page or group is designed unprofessionally, your potential clients may quite logically conclude that you are equally negligent in your work. To prevent this from happening, make sure that your VKontakte page is beautiful, neat and easy to use. How to do it? Read below.

Current sizes of VKontakte images

Some time ago, the developers of the social network VKontakte launched a new design. This led to changes in the size and principles of image display. The memo, which will be given below, corresponds to all innovations and contains the sizes that are relevant at the moment.

Now let's go into more detail on each point.

VK avatar size

The minimum avatar size is 200 by 200 pixels. If you try to upload an image that is less than 200 pixels wide or long, you will see an error like this:

The maximum avatar size is 200 by 500 pixels. But, in principle, you can upload images of a larger size - up to 7000 pixels on each side. The main thing is that the aspect ratio does not exceed 2 to 5.

I'll show you with an example.

I have an image. Its size: 200 by 800 pixels (ratio 2 to 8). There are no errors when loading. However, I still can’t use this image, because “Contact” does not allow me to select it completely.

Cover

The cover size for the full version of the site is 1590 by 400 pixels.

Please note: in the mobile version and applications, not the full version of the cover is displayed, but only a part of it measuring 1196 by 400 pixels. See how it is cropped in the mobile app:

To prevent this from happening, position the main elements of your cover within 1196 by 400 pixels.

Attached images

In the updated design of Contact, the width of the news feed has become fixed. This means that the images attached to the post are no longer stretched, but remain as they are. Therefore, if you want your image to fill its entire space in the news feed, its width must be at least 510 pixels. It is best if it is a square or rectangle in landscape orientation.

It sounds a little confusing :) So I’ll show you with an example.

Let's say we have a square-shaped image with sides of 510 pixels. If we attach it to our post, it will look very good in the news feed on all devices:

And this is what a horizontal image looks like in landscape orientation (width 510 pixels):

As you can see, the narrower the image (in height), the smaller it looks in the smartphone feed. To see this, look at the picture below:

It is clear that the difference here is not particularly critical, and smartphone users will still look at your image, it’s just that in the second case they will be a little more comfortable.

Images for posts with links

All this data comes from the Open Graph markup code:

If Open Graph is not specified, the title is taken from the Title meta tag, and the image from the article. At the same time, you can easily change it - or select another image from the article using special arrows:

Or upload yours:

The minimum size of an image that you can use as an announcement for your article is 537 by 240 pixels. However, you can upload larger images as long as the proportions are maintained.

Image for an article created in the editor

The image size for the cover of an article created in the editor is 510 by 286 pixels. It is better if it is dark in color and more or less monochromatic, since the name of the article and community is lost on a light background.

Good example:

Not a very good example:

Photo and video size for stories

The size for photos is 1080 by 1920 pixels. The video size is 720 by 1280 pixels.

Technical specifications for video recordings:

up to 15 seconds;
no more than 5 MB;
h.264 codec;
AAC sound.

Stories must use vertical format photos and videos.

Please note: stories on behalf of communities can currently only be added by large communities for which the VKontakte developers have opened this function. And this is done using the official application. This cannot be done from a computer.

Photo album cover size

Video picture size

1280 by 720 pixels.

Wiki page

The content area width of a wiki page is 607 pixels. If you upload a larger image, it will automatically upload at 400 pixels wide. Example: I have an image measuring 1366 by 768. If I add it to the wiki page, this is what it will look like:

To change the size of a picture, you need to click on it and set the desired values:

I will talk in detail about how to work with wiki pages below. Therefore, we will not dwell on this point here.

How to make sure that VKontakte images do not shrink? The influence of background and size on picture quality.

If you've ever tried to upload VKontakte images (it doesn't matter whether it was an avatar picture or just a photo from your trip), then you probably already know that they tend to shrink. This is especially noticeable on a dark (and especially red) background and when the picture is not too large in size. Example:

How to make sure that the quality of the pictures does not deteriorate?

To prevent the image from shrinking (or rather, shrinking, but to a much lesser extent), it is necessary to make it 2-3 times larger than the desired size. For example, if we need to make an avatar measuring 200 by 500 pixels, we take a picture measuring 400 by 1000 pixels. If you need to make a menu with a size of 510 by 400 pixels, take 1020 by 800.

The image on a dark blue background, which I showed just above, has a size of 510 by 350. I made it twice as large (1020 by 700) and saved it. That's what came out of it:

How to fix it? The answer is very simple - you need to choose a different background. The fact is that pixels are visible better on a dark background than on a light one. Therefore, if you want to achieve perfect quality (although the picture above already looks quite normal), then you need to slightly change the color scheme. For example, make the background white and the text blue:

How to design a page header

The header of your public page or group is the first thing that users see when they come to visit you. In most cases, this place contains a navigation menu for public materials, some interesting posts or important announcements. Let's look at examples of how different companies are using this space.

Cover

Not long ago, VKontakte introduced an update - now you can upload large and beautiful covers (1590 by 400 pixels) to pages. To do this, go to settings and click the "Download" button.

On the cover you can place anything you want: from the name and motto of your company, to all kinds of promotions, offers and even competitions.

I recommend paying special attention to the possibilities of a dynamic cover. Read our article about how it works, for what purposes it can be used and with what services it can be installed.

Examples of dynamic covers:

Cover + community description + website link

Some companies specifically do not pin any posts in the header so that users have the opportunity to read basic information about the page and immediately go to the site.

Description with hashtags

Some companies add hashtags to the standard page description that characterize it. This is done so that the page has a clearer relevance, and due to this, it is higher in the search for relevant queries. Honestly, I don't know if this method works or not. I haven’t seen any cases on this topic, so if anyone knows, I’d be grateful if you could share the link.

Pinned post telling what the page is about

If you want to tell about your page in more detail (with photos, links and beautiful layout), then you can attach a wiki post or an article made in the editor to the header, with a bright picture on the announcement that will encourage users to click on it. An example of such a post:

And this is what the user sees after he clicks on the link:

Group menu is open

I call an open menu a menu that immediately shows what items it consists of. That is, the wiki post announcement picture completely duplicates its content. Thus, users immediately see what awaits them inside. I'll show you with an example.

This is what a pinned post looks like in the Flatro page header:

Group menu is closed

A closed menu is the same wiki post as in the previous paragraph, only the announcement contains a picture with no menu items. Usually they write on it: “Menu”, “Navigation menu” or “Navigation through public materials”.

And this is what we see when we click on it:

By the way, it is worth noting that these are far from the only options. Basically, you can write whatever you want on this picture. The main thing is that the user wants to click on it, and he understands what awaits him after that. Example:

Merged menu for a group

A merged menu is when the picture on the announcement of your menu forms one image with the avatar. Below I will tell you in detail how to make such a menu, but for now just look how beautiful it looks.

GIF and avatar in one image

But this design option for the hat really delighted me. The automatically played GIF merges with the avatar into a single composition and attracts the attention of users, even though there is no information on it at all.

By the way, I spotted this example in the group of SMM marketer Sergei Shmakov. So, I express my gratitude to him for the find :)

Hidden menu

The hidden menu is only available for groups (pages do not have this functionality). To see it, you need to click on the appropriate link. The advantage of this design method is that users can see the main information of the community, and if they want to use the menu, they only need to make one click. However, there is a small disadvantage here - not all users know about the existence of this function, so your menu may receive less attention than if it were pinned at the top of the page.

Autoplay video

At the end of November 2015, an interesting innovation appeared on the VKontakte social network - as soon as a user visits your page, the video attached to the header begins to play automatically. With this technique, you can attract even more attention from users (especially those who visited your page for the first time), and at the same time, do not irritate those who do not like having their content imposed on them, because the video plays without sound and practically does not interfere .

How to add such a video to the header of your page?

To do this, three conditions must be met:

Attach the video to the post and pin this post to the top of the community.
Apart from the video, nothing else should be attached to the recording. Only video and text optional.
The video must be uploaded to VKontakte - third-party players are not supported.

A post that gets a lot of shares

Another way to productively use space in the header of your page is to pin one of your most successful posts in it - one that has already received and continues to receive a large number of likes and shares. Why do this, I think everyone understands - the more reposts, the greater the reach, the more subscriptions the page receives.

Announcements of new videos, albums, events

Presentation of new products/services

Discounts and promotions

Cases, customer reviews

Application advertising

Practical jokes

Community Rules

Links to other social networks

I have not listed all the header design options. Basically, you can put any kind of information on your cover page and pinned post: job openings, announcements, links to top-selling products, etc. So don't limit yourself to the examples above. Use your imagination and use the design of your community to achieve your goals.

What should an avatar be like?

An avatar is not only a beautiful image with your company’s logo, but a marketer’s working tool with which he achieves his goals. Let's look in detail at what it should be like in order to attract the attention of users and encourage them to perform the target action. Let's start with the miniature.

Avatar thumbnail

The text on your avatar thumbnail should be large enough to be read.

The text should not extend beyond the thumbnail.

Users should understand what is shown on the avatar.

If possible, it is better not to use stock images, as they often reduce the credibility of the company.

It is undesirable for the avatar thumbnail to be too faded and boring, otherwise it will be lost against the background of brighter avatars of competitors.

If you want your avatar to look modern, make it in a minimalist style: less text, shadows, gradients and elements that do not carry any semantic load. Your avatar should be as simple and neat as possible. This style is currently trending.

If your goal is to attract the attention of users and stand out from other avatars in the feed, you will have to use your imagination. Think about what you yourself pay attention to when you look for interesting communities? For example, I have been attracted more than once by avatars with a burning light, which usually indicates that a new message has arrived. This is a very old technique, but for some reason it still affects me - when I see such a light, I will definitely keep my gaze on it.

I'm not saying that this technique will work on your page. The point I want to get across is that there are many, many ways to stand out, you just have to ask yourself and be a little creative. Here, for example, is another interesting idea that I would hardly have thought of on my own:

The avatar is a black circle: large and small. It would seem, why do this at all? But when you scroll through the list of communities, such avatars attract attention because they are very different from all the others.

What information can be placed on an avatar thumbnail?

Even though the avatar thumbnail is very small, it can (and should) be used to attract followers to your community. How to do it? Let's look at a few options:

Announcement of a new product/service/event

Advantages of the company/service/page

Company phone number

Favorable prices

Free shipping

By the way, very often the information that the company provides free delivery is added to the group name itself so that users will definitely pay attention to it.

Stock

Competitions

Vacancies

What should the avatar itself be like?

I looked at what the avatar thumbnail should be and what text could be placed on it. Now let's move on to the avatar itself. The full version of the avatar will only be displayed in the community where the cover is not installed. It is for such cases that I wrote this section. So, what should your community’s avatar be like so that users immediately understand that your company approached the creation of the page responsibly and professionally.

The avatar must be of high quality. I wrote about how to achieve this a little higher. For those who missed this part, I'll tell you briefly - the size of the avatar should be 2-3 times larger than what you planned.
It is advisable that the avatar be combined with the menu: be the same color scheme, have the same fonts, elements, etc. Thanks to this, the header of your page will look more neat and professional. Example:
The avatar itself and the avatar thumbnail may be different. For example, you can draw a circle on your avatar, design it the way you like, select that area as a thumbnail, and design the rest of the avatar in a different style.

Another option is to divide the avatar into two parts. One is for the miniature, and the second is for the rest of the avatar.

In order to encourage users to subscribe to your page or write a message to a company representative, you can place a corresponding call to action at the very bottom of the avatar and accompany it with an arrow pointing to the button.

Try not to put too much information on your avatar, otherwise it will look overloaded and untidy. Add only the most important points to it and be sure to make sure that there is “air” between them.

What information can be placed on an avatar?

Basically, you can put anything you want on your avatar. Unlike the miniature, there really is room to roam around here. The main thing is don't abuse it :)

Site domain

Phone/address/opening hours

Competitions/promotions

Most purchased products/new items

information about delivery

Mobile app advertising

The main advantages of the company/page/product, etc.

Assortment update/new creativity, etc.

Information that your community is official

Information about upcoming events

Addresses of accounts in other social networks

Extended page description

Brags

In general, you can place absolutely any information on your avatar. I've just included a few ideas so you can see what others are doing and get inspired. Well, keep the basic recommendations in mind: the avatar should be of high quality, the font should be large, and there should be more “air” between the elements.

How to create a seamless avatar and menu

In order to make a merged avatar and menu, you will need Adobe Photoshop or its equivalent. I will explain the whole process using Photoshop as an example. So, let's go.

Download the Photoshop template that I specially prepared for this article. In normal size (menu – 510 pixels wide, avatar – 200) or enlarged (menu – 1020 pixels wide, avatar – 400).
Open the image you want to use as a base.
Copy it, paste it into the template and position it the way you would like to cut it.

Add effects, text, graphics, etc.

If you don't want to lose part of the image (in that 50px gap), move it to the right as shown in the following GIF:

Select the “Cutting” tool and click on the “Fragments along Guides” button.

Delete unnecessary fragments (right mouse click - “Delete fragment”) and edit existing ones (right mouse click - click in an empty space - take the desired area and stretch it to the desired size).

Go to the "File" section and select the "Save for Web" command.

Go to the location where you saved the pictures (desktop or some specific directory) and find a folder called “Images”. This is where your images will go. Now all that remains is to fill them in on the page.

P.S. The height of the avatar can be changed at your discretion. I took the maximum size - 500 pixels, but your value may be less. For example, as on the “Wiki Markup” page:

How to use widgets

Widgets are also part of the design of the VK community. Using them, the user can: place an order, subscribe to your newsletter, take part in a competition, read and leave reviews, open a search in the community, receive a gift, a discount coupon, etc.

Here are some examples of what widgets look like on the VKontakte page:

How to design images for posts

If you are a web designer or have an artistic taste and a sense of beauty, then it will not be difficult for you to come up with a corporate style for your images. However, it seems to me that such people will be in the minority in this article (I, by the way, am not one of them either). Therefore, let's take a closer look at how this is done, based on examples of successful companies.

By the way, please note that almost all well-known VKontakte companies brand their images, that is, they add a small logo, the address of their page or a watermark. This increases brand awareness and protects your images from being copied. Whether it is worth doing this is up to everyone to decide for themselves. The only thing I would like to advise is: if you decide to do this, try to make sure that your logo is not too bright and does not take up too much space, otherwise all the emphasis will go on it, and the image will lose its attractiveness.

Where can I get good images?

We have a good article on this topic on our blog - “”. They are all free, but some require registration. If you don’t find anything suitable for yourself, try searching by keyword + wallpaper (or, if in English, wallpaper). Typically, this type of request results in high-quality images. But here you need to be careful and check the type of license, otherwise, if you have a serious business, you can run into trouble.

What should those who do not know how to work in Photoshop do?

If you have never worked in Photoshop (or any other graphic editors) and are not yet ready to devote time to mastering it, you can use services that already have ready-made image templates for different social networks:

1. Fotor.com

After that, on the left side of the screen, select the template that interests us. Please note that only those templates that do not have a diamond icon are provided for free.

We insert it into the template, select it with the left mouse button, select the Layer command (sandwich icon) and click Move to bottom. This way our picture will go in the background, and all the inscriptions will be superimposed on top of it.

After that, we change the text, font, font size, position of the inscription, etc.

Then click on the floppy disk icon, select the name, image format, quality and click on the Sign in to download button.

2. Canva.com

Another service that will help you beautifully design your image. It works on the same principle as the previous one. Register in the service (you can use your Google+ account or email).

Choose your field of activity. We skip the step where you are asked to invite friends. We get to the main menu, where we select a Facebook post if we need a rectangular photo, or an Instagram post if it’s a square one.

Select a template (if the template is marked “FREE,” it means it’s free), change the text.

If necessary, upload your image, adjust the dimensions, change the text, font and position of the inscription. After that, click the “Download” button, select the image format and save it to your computer or any other device.

How to format articles in the editor

Recently, VKontakte has made it possible to type up articles in a special editor. To create an article, you need to click on the letter “T”:

How to use wiki markup

Well, here we come to the most interesting and at the same time difficult section. Perhaps there are people among the readers who do not know what wiki markup is and are hearing this term for the first time. Therefore, especially for you, I will give the definition that “Contact” itself gives.

Wiki markup is a markup language that is used to format text on websites (usually classified as wiki projects) and allows easier access to the capabilities of the HTML language. On our site, wiki pages are a good alternative to regular posts and text navigation. If you need to create a large article with different text formatting (bold, underlining, headings, etc.) or add graphics to it, or simply create a colorful navigation menu for your community, a wiki is indispensable.

Just like Wordpress (or any other CMS) has an HTML editor with which you create articles, Contact has its own editor for creating and editing wiki pages. It looks like this:

Using this editor, navigation menus are created, as well as articles with pictures, videos and audio recordings. Below I will discuss in detail how to work in this editor, but first I ask you to bookmark two links. They will help you a lot in learning wiki markup.

Nowadays, only the laziest people don’t have a VKontakte group. But creating a group and organizing it correctly are two different things.

If you want people to be interested in you and follow you, you should take care of creating a cover for the VKontakte group. It is advisable to do this before you start on a newly created social network page.

A trick that will help make the company’s image more complete: order a cover for a VK group and for a Facebook page of the same type. The sizes will differ, but it is better to make the design the same.

Making the cover for a VK group attractive and informative is important for several reasons:
This is a chance to make a first impression and get the visitor to subscribe to the page. There will be no second chance like this.
This is an opportunity to literally in a second, using an image, create the image the company needs in the visitor’s mind. Pictures are much faster and more accurate than text.
This is the right place to talk about the most important things. Is there a big event coming up, a major sale coming up, or a new direction opening? What is your business doing now? You can write information on the cover and convey it as quickly as possible to everyone who enters your group.

Before you start learning how to make a cover on top in a VK group, you should decide which path is closer to you:

1. Make a cover for a VKontakte group to order. The result of a good designer’s work will be excellent. But you will have to pay for quality, and you will also have to spend time and effort searching for a performer and interacting with him.

2. Figure out how to make a cover for a VKontakte group yourself. This option will probably be inferior in quality to the previous one, unless, of course, you are proficient in graphic editors at least at the advanced user level. On the other hand, it will give you new knowledge and skills and allow you to save on design.

If you choose the second path, the question arises of where to make the cover for the VK group. Welcome to Community Management. This function is in the first place in the drop-down list that opens when you click the button in the form of three dots. We've highlighted it in red:

The “Community Cover” option is the fourth item after the name, description and group type. VK offers two options: upload or delete the cover.

If you figure out on your own how to make a cover on VK in a group, you will find that the site itself tells users the answer to this question. The ideal image size for the cover is 1590×400 pixels, format – JPG, GIF or PNG.

All that remains is to make the design. To do this, you can use graphic editors such as Photoshop or CorelDRAW, or you can take advantage of the capabilities of simpler online services for working with images.

One of the most popular and intuitive online image and photo editors is www.canva.com. With its help, it will be easy to understand how to make a horizontal cover in a VK group.

The service allows you to use ready-made stylish fonts and options for placing text in pictures. Some templates are available for free, but some designs will require you to pay.
When the cover is ready, upload it to the VK group - and enjoy all the benefits of a beautifully designed community.

Today we figured out how to make a cover on VK in a group, and in the next issues we’ll talk about which will definitely be useful to your business.

in which you will start making money from your business, using your talents and strengths!

In it we tried to collect the most effective services, so use and implement them into your business processes.

Stay in touch!

As you know, it’s not enough to create your own group on VK. You need to create an attractive visual design for it, fill it with exciting content, and attract new and interesting people to the group. An important element of the visual design of a VKontakte group is its cover - a rectangular image at the very top of the group page. The standard dimensions are 1590x400 pixels for group covers on VKontakte. And below we will look at how to make an image for communities with dimensions of 1590 by 400, and also give several examples of covers of this format in VK.

The cover for the VKontakte group implies two basic options for the sizes used:

Minimum – size 795x200 px;
Recommended 1590x400 px, allowing you to work with detailed images that are well suited for widescreen monitors.

Please note that for mobile devices (and according to statistics, the owners of such devices make up the majority of VK visitors), the visible cover area in VK 1590 by 400 is 1196 × 400 px. The left and right edges are cut off by 140 px due to pop-up icons of menus and messages, and on top 83 px is taken away by a strip displaying icons of the phone’s charge level, signal strength, received calls, SMS and other icons.

Displaying the cover on mobile devices

In addition to standard static pictures, about a year ago “dynamic covers” were introduced into the functionality of VK, changing and updating after a certain period of time. They can significantly enhance the visual appeal of the group, while their use requires the connection of a special script and hosting. It is recommended to entrust this matter to professionals.

How to create a suitable 1590x400 image for the VKontakte community

For a professional designer, creating a cover for a VK group will not be difficult. If you are not like that, then special graphic tools will help you create a cover for the vk.com public page. We recommend Canva, an online resource specifically designed for graphic design purposes. Its functionality provides convenient access to millions of photos, images and fonts, working with it is not complicated, which is why Canva is deservedly popular among both beginners and professionals.

Use Canva to create covers

One of the convenient features of this resource is a section dedicated specifically to creating pictures for groups on VKontakte. Here is a convenient list of tools that allows you to create a 1590x400 cover for the VK 2018 group.

The algorithm for working with a resource comes down to approximately the following:

Go to canva.com;
Click on “Create a cover for a VK group”;
Please indicate what purposes you use Canva for – commercial, educational, private, etc.;
Register on the resource (you can log in using your Google or Facebook account);
Next you will be taken to a special section of the site dedicated to creating a cover for a group on VK.

On the left you will see a control panel, which contains a set of tools for creating and editing an attractive cover for your group in VK. On the right is a field for creating an image of 1590×400 pixels.

Cover editing screen on Canva

There is a large selection of templates created by professional designers. You can choose any such template, and then further customize it to suit your needs by changing the color, adding text, adding new elements or changing the location of existing ones. To find the template you need, there is a search bar that allows you to search for a template by its name.

To upload your own images to the resource, there is a “Download” button. If you are uploading a logo, try to use a logo with a transparent background. To insert your image into the layout of the future VK cover in 2018, simply drag it with the mouse to the desired part of the image.

To upload files to the resource, use the “Downloads” button

If desired, the desired layout element can be edited. To do this, click on it with the mouse, and possible data for setting it up will be displayed at the top. You can change the text and font features, background, location and number of elements, and so on.

The settings line at the top appears when you click on the text in the cover

To save the result on your PC, click on “File” - “Download” at the top left.

You may also be interested in our material about.

When working with cover art in Canva, Adobe Photoshop and other similar tools, pay attention to the following:

Use the image only in the recommended (marked above) sizes;
For the cover, look for a high-quality photo;
Don't overload your images with visual elements;
The picture you choose must correspond to the focus of the group, its style and the chosen color scheme (if any);
Try to use original pictures that will highlight the unique character of your group;
Add an emotional component to the image - such pictures will not leave anyone indifferent.

How to upload a suitable picture to your group

To upload a cover to VK, go to the page of which you are the administrator. Click on the “Manage” button on the right, in the page that opens next to the “Community Cover” option, click on “Upload”, and upload the cover file to your group.

Click on “Download” to upload the cover to your group

Several examples of VK covers

We also offer you several examples of images that can be used as templates for your future group cover on social media. VK networks:

Conclusion

Above we discussed the creation of a memorable cover for the design of VK groups with dimensions of 1590x400. They also provided several options for images and explained how to draw a picture using the popular service “Canva”. When uploading created images to VKontakte, remember the restrictions imposed when viewing covers from mobile devices. This will help make viewing your group more comfortable for numerous “mobile” VK users.

In contact with

The topic of this article is the new design of VKontakte. Changed again, now you can set a horizontal cover in a group. Designing your VK community with such a header is much more interesting. Frankly, no Photoshop knowledge is required here. And you can make a beautiful picture even in PowerPoint, Fotor, Canva, Pixlr Editor without any special skills.

By going to the group, you will notice that in those groups the buttons “Pinned entry”, “Information” and “Click menu” have become visible. And before they were hidden. Naturally, all the registration of the groups began immediately.

Uploading a new cover

Now let's figure out how to enable the ability to install a horizontal header. Let's click on the "Manage" button.

Then click on the last one and download the new cover of the VKontakte group. This is where you can understand that the download file can be of any size! But no less than the size 1590x400 px. We create a cover prototype in any editor. Next, we can select and save the area that meets the VK requirements. Here's a tip on where to find a cover image and which editor to use to

What is interesting about the new design of VKontakte?

The main thing: there is more space for information. Now here you can write the name of the group, the purpose of its creation, a call to action, and so on. Such a design will be logically complete and more functional. But you can leave the old design, it’s a matter of everyone’s taste.

When you design a horizontal cover, you will notice that the internal menu now somehow falls out of the general context. I think it would be better to pin the image to go to the menu. And use it to host wiki pages in the group.

At the same time, I would like the developers to add some other option for setting up a beautiful transition to Wiki pages.

I would like to note that since 2016, the developers of the VKontakte social network have been actively trying to set up this network to promote business. Make it more convenient for business or something. From my point of view, this is very good and is in great demand among many Internet entrepreneurs.

But most importantly, in my opinion, they need to carefully consider the “Bans” system so that entrepreneurs can work quietly without interfering with those users who came to have fun on the social network.

How to make a VKontakte group cover online

Use your creativity and choose what you prefer: a horizontal cover or the already familiar VKontakte design. Creating online and installing a new cover is clearly presented step by step in the video below the article.

P.S. I hope this information is useful to you.

P.S.S. Use your creativity and good luck in all your endeavors!