Instagram ideas

Instagram highlight cover ideas that read at a glance

The highlight covers that work best are simple: one icon on one colour, a tight crop from your own photos, a single letter or a big emoji. Below are 65 ideas in those styles and more, most of them matched to the highlight or trade they suit. Any image on your phone can be a cover, so none of them has to be posted to your Story first.

Updated 6 October 2026 · 65 ideas

One icon on one colour · 10

  1. A thin-line coffee cup on oat beige for a café’s menu.
  2. A white envelope on navy for contact details.
  3. A price tag outline on blush pink for prices.
  4. A calendar page on sage green for bookings.
  5. A black star on cream for reviews.
  6. A map pin on terracotta for directions.
  7. A delivery van on pale grey for shipping.
  8. A play button on charcoal for tutorials.
  9. A gift card outline on deep red for vouchers.
  10. A clock face on butter yellow for opening hours.

Crops from your own photos · 8

  1. A tight crop of the product’s texture: the crumb of a loaf, the weave of a blanket.
  2. Your face, close and centred, for the About highlight.
  3. One detail from each trip: a station sign, a blue door, a bowl of noodles.
  4. Black-and-white versions of colourful photos, so a busy profile looks calm.
  5. Hands holding each product, all shot from the same angle on the same table.
  6. A finished result for each service: a fade, a nail set, a balayage.
  7. Your dog’s nose for one highlight, a paw for another, an ear for a third.
  8. Close-ups of your shop’s own details: the door number, the open sign, the logo on a bag.

Letters, numbers and symbols · 8

  1. The first letter of each highlight’s name in a serif font on a plain circle.
  2. Numbers 01 to 06 for a series, so people watch them in order.
  3. A bold question mark for frequently asked questions.
  4. The year in large numerals for each year of travel.
  5. One word in your own handwriting, scanned and centred.
  6. Your initials as a monogram, used only on the About cover.
  7. A currency sign in a heavy font, such as £, $ or ₹, for prices.
  8. An ampersand for a collaborations highlight.

Emoji covers · 6

  1. One emoji, enlarged, on your brand colour: 🍰 for cakes, 🧶 for yarn.
  2. An emoji on white with a thin coloured ring drawn round the edge.
  3. One flag emoji per country for travel highlights.
  4. Two emoji side by side for a highlight that holds two things: 📦🔁 for delivery and returns.
  5. An emoji over a blurred photo of your counter, like ☕ on the café’s bar.
  6. Weather emoji for a set of seasons: ☀️ summer, 🍂 autumn, ❄️ winter, 🌱 spring.

Colours and textures · 10

  1. Pastel gradients that shift one shade per highlight from left to right.
  2. Pressed flowers photographed on cream paper, one flower per highlight.
  3. Film grain and a faded tint for an old-photo look.
  4. Watercolour blobs in your palette with a small white icon on top.
  5. Kraft-paper texture with a stamp-style icon, for handmade shops.
  6. Terrazzo or marble backgrounds with thin gold-line icons.
  7. Neon-sign icons glowing on black, for bars and late-night venues.
  8. Pixel-art icons for gaming and retro accounts.
  9. Chalkboard texture with chalk-drawn icons, for cafés and teachers.
  10. Colour-coded covers: one colour for things to buy, another for information, a third for personal.

Seasonal and short-term swaps · 6

  1. A red sale tag on the sale highlight, swapped back to plain when it ends.
  2. A ribbon-tied present on the gift guide highlight from November to December.
  3. A countdown number on a launch highlight, changed each day until launch.
  4. Pumpkin orange for the autumn menu cover, mint for the spring one.
  5. A small NEW badge on the highlight you have just added to, removed a week later.
  6. A school-bag icon on a kids’ classes highlight at the start of term.

Icons for a specific trade · 11

  1. Scissors and a comb for a salon’s services.
  2. A dumbbell for a gym’s classes, a stopwatch for its timetable.
  3. A house key for an estate agent’s listings, a sold sign for closed deals.
  4. A camera for a photographer’s portfolio, two linked rings for weddings.
  5. A whisk for a bakery’s process, a croissant for the menu.
  6. A tooth outline for a dental practice’s treatments.
  7. A tulip for a florist’s bouquets, a vase for flower subscriptions.
  8. An ink bottle for a tattoo artist’s flash designs, a bandage for aftercare.
  9. A hanger for a boutique’s new arrivals, a tape measure for sizing.
  10. A paw print for a dog groomer’s before-and-afters.
  11. A book for a tutor’s resources, a pencil for homework help.

Make them in a few minutes · 6

  1. A plain-colour Story background with one big letter or sticker, saved to your phone instead of posted.
  2. A frame from a Story already in the highlight, zoomed in on one detail.
  3. One object on a sheet of coloured paper, photographed from straight above.
  4. Your brand colour in real life, like a painted wall or a fabric swatch, photographed once and reused behind every icon.
  5. An icon drawn with a marker on white card and photographed in daylight.
  6. A pattern cropped from your packaging, shop sign or tote bag.

Tips for using these ideas

  1. Design for a small circle. Put the icon in the middle of a square image and leave a wide empty margin, because Instagram crops the edges to a circle and shows it at thumbnail size.

  2. Look at the row in light and dark mode. The profile background switches between white and black, so a white cover can look washed out in one mode and glaring in the other.

  3. Make every cover from one file. Duplicate the first design and swap only the icon, so line thickness, icon size and background stay the same across the row.

  4. Let the cover show what the name can’t. The name already sits under the circle, so a price tag icon above “Prices” does more than the same word printed twice.

  5. Give icons strong contrast. Pale grey on beige looks fine on a laptop and disappears on a phone held at arm’s length.

  6. Refresh what is inside before you refresh the cover. A new design on a Menu highlight that still shows last winter’s dishes sends people to the wrong information.

Questions people ask

How do I change an Instagram highlight cover?

Press and hold the highlight on your profile, tap Edit highlight, then Edit cover. Choose a frame from a Story already inside, or tap the image icon to pick a picture from your camera roll. Pinch and drag to place it in the circle, then save.

Do I need to post the cover to my Story first?

No. A picture chosen from your camera roll becomes the cover only. It isn’t posted to your Story and isn’t added to the Stories inside the highlight.

What kind of image works best as a cover?

A square image with one bold shape in the centre and space around it. Instagram shows covers as small circles, so a single icon, letter or close crop reads better than a detailed scene or a line of text.

Can a highlight cover be a video or a GIF?

No. Covers are still images. The Stories inside the highlight can still be videos, and they play as normal when someone taps the circle.

Why does my highlight cover look blurry?

Usually the starting image was small, or it was zoomed in a long way to fit the circle. Start from a sharp, full-size image, and avoid thin lines and small text, which blur when shrunk to that size.

How do I change the order of my highlights?

There’s no drag-and-drop option. Highlights are ordered by when they were last updated, so adding a Story to one moves it to the front. To set an order, add to each highlight in turn, finishing with the one you want first.

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