VKontakte group cover design. What should be on the cover of a community? Why is the new design of VKontakte interesting?
Do you want to decorate your group on VK (Vkontakte) and create a unique header (cover) for it? In this article I will talk about what size and format it should be, how to add a header to VK, I will also post the PSD source ( photoshop format) template of the required size.
How to make a header (cover) for a group in VK?
What is a hat in a group on VK? This is just a picture, size 1590x400 and format - JPG, GIF or PNG. It is located at the top in the VK group and looks like this:
Step 1. Create an image of the required size.
First we need to create the picture itself, for this I used Photoshop (Download ready-made template in PSD format is possible). Open Photoshop, select “File” -> “Create” from the menu.
A window will appear where you need to change the dimensions of the image, the width will be 1590 px, height 400. Color Modes can be left as default. Click "OK"
I would like to note that the image may be larger size, when adding an image, VK itself offers to cut it to the size it needs. I don’t recommend adding anything above a width of 400 px; VK will cut off part of the picture.
As a result we will get blank slate, the size we need. Next, we draw what we want to see in the header and save our creation. My template looks like this:
Step 2. Change the header in the VK group.
Next, we need to upload our image to the VK group. To do this, go to our group, in the right top corner(under the group avatar) click “three dots” (...), from the drop-down menu select “Community Management”.
A window will appear asking you to upload an image, click “Select file”
We select our image and a window appears with the ability to crop the image, since everything matches ours the right sizes click “Save and continue”
As a result, we will see a message stating that the cover was successfully loaded, then we simply go to our group and admire the resulting effect.
You can change the header (cover) as many times as you like.
So we created our own hat for the group on VK.
You can also take one of the suggested templates in this article:
Many community owners want to create a cover for a group on VK online. In our article we will try to understand all the nuances of the procedure and provide advice for users.
VK is a site that is constantly updated and improved. Group admins now have many tools to personalize their community. One of them is creating a cover for an online VK group.
But what is it? This is a special image placed in the group header. Why do you need a cover?
- It allows you to improve the design.
- It manages to give the page a special style.
- You'll like it new design.
- The cover can tell about the theme of the community.
- Groups with beautiful design arouse the greatest interest among users.
- People will be more willing to subscribe to the community.
- It is possible to adapt the image to the full and mobile version site.
- Creating a cover is quite easy, this procedure should not cause problems.
How to make a beautiful cover for a group in VK?
Labor costs for creation depend on your wishes. In general, group administrators have two options:
- Take the finished picture and post it.
- Create your own unique image.
Of course, the second method is much more complicated. To create a unique cover you will need to use a photo editor. You need to have at least minimal skills in working with programs like Photoshop to achieve the desired result.
Cover for VK group: size
Sizes may vary. For example, on a PC the cover is displayed at a resolution of 795x200 pixels. On smartphones it adapts to the device’s screen.
But it’s not always possible to find a picture with exactly this resolution! Don't worry, when you upload an image, the system will prompt you to crop it. Select the part you want, the edges will be automatically removed.
It is important to remember that displaying the cover on mobile devices ah different from PC. It is cropped at 83px at the top, this space is occupied by system icons. Also, on smartphones with a display width of up to 400px, the edges are cropped by 196px.
As a result, a small area will be invisible to mobile device users. It is better to leave it empty so that only the background of the image is at the edges, then the elements will not be cut off.
Program for creating a cover for a group on VK
Available ways to create a header for a group:
- Download the finished image for the cover.
- Do it through an online service.
- Order from specialists.
- Use photo editors and create your own.
The Internet is full free pictures and templates in psd format. You can adapt them to your group and put them in the community header. This is the simplest option today.
You can use special programs – Adobe Photoshop, Pixelmator, etc. But you must be able to work with these applications, it will take time to master them.
How to make a cover for a group on VK in Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is the most popular program for image editing. It allows you to quickly create a cover if you have certain skills. Main advantage this method– manages to develop a unique design.
Important! As a base, always select pictures that are larger than the recommended sizes. You will need to adjust the image to fit required resolution. But in the case of stretching, the quality of the picture deteriorates significantly, which is unacceptable.
Open Photoshop. In the menu, select the item to create a new file. To save it you need to set the following parameters:
- Immediately indicate the name of the file.
- Size – 1590x
- The background is transparent.
- Color Mode – RGB colors 8 bit.
- Resolution – 72 pixels per inch.
Now find a picture on the Internet, copy it and paste it into the program. To adapt the size you need:
- Go to the “Editing” item.
- Then to "Transformation".
- Now select the “Scaling” section.
- Hold Shift.
- Use the left mouse button to capture a corner of the image.
- Adapt the picture to fit the borders.
- To confirm the action, press Enter.
You need to write the name of the community. To do this you need:
- Select the option to create a new layer.
- Click on the button to add text.
- Select an area for its placement.
- Select size, color, font.
- Enter the name of the community.
- Open the styles panel.
- Choose the appropriate one so that the text looks beautiful.
You did pretty well simple cover. According to the instructions, almost any user can do it. Naturally, creating a header with many elements will take much more time.
- Open in the "File" menu.
- Select "Save for Web".
- Specify the PNG-24 set.
- Save the picture.
How to upload a finished image?
To upload a picture to the group you will need:
- Enter the community.
- Select an item to control from the menu.
- Find an option with a community cover.
- Select an item to download.
- An add form will open.
- You can select a picture in Explorer or drag it into the window.
- Upload it to the site.
- Confirm saving.
Go to the main community page and evaluate the result. If you followed the size recommendations, the picture will fit completely.
You learned how to create a cover for a group in VK. The process is not that complicated, it is enough to take into account all the tips provided.
Dynamic cover for VK group
Now it is possible to create a dynamic cover. The process of preparing it is much more complicated, and you will have to spend much more time.
What is the difference between a dynamic header and a regular one? In it, images can be updated. The change frequency is configured separately during creation.
But why do you need a dynamic header? There are many options for using it:
- You can display your CRM system.
- I manage to create a timer.
- Display the day of the week, date, time.
- Show the names of the last people who joined.
- Provide additional information.
- Such covers are suitable for groups of companies.
Can be placed in a hat various information, which can be obtained from VK or from any other site. The options for using it depend only on your needs.
How does this work?
The principle is quite simple:
- A standard template is being prepared.
- IN in the right places zones are allocated for updated data.
- For full-fledged work you will need a special script.
Why do you need a script?
The script is used to receive data and display it in designated areas. That is, it downloads information from the source and transfers it to the cover, and is a connecting element.
The update frequency is adjusted based on your wishes. You can select the optimal value so that current information is displayed in the header.
Creating a dynamic cover with a script is more difficult than a regular one. Much more knowledge and specialized software will be required. Therefore it is better to trust this procedure professionals. Then you can be sure of perfect functioning.
How to connect the script?
After completing the project, specialists will provide you with:
- Design layout.
- Sources in PSD format.
- Script.
- License key for binding.
Professionals involved in developing design for communities take on the main tasks. Due to this, it is possible to save time and not delve into all the nuances of creating such covers.
For the script to work, you will need to install it somewhere. There are several options:
- On your home computer.
- To the server of the company that was involved in the development.
- To a remote server.
You can install the script on your PC. But the computer must work around the clock. If the device is turned off, the information in the header will no longer be updated. Therefore, few community owners use this method.
You can pay for hosting and install the script on a remote server. The cost of service starts from 80 rubles per month. But you need to choose reliable hosting that can ensure uninterrupted operation.
Many companies involved in community design offer to install the script on their server. The cost of the service is small, subscription fee usually does not exceed 100 rubles per month. Also, company employees will support the functioning of the script.
The cover for VKontakte groups appeared back in 2016. It has become an alternative to a vertical avatar. According to representatives of the social network, community covers provide more opportunities for creative experiments. On them you can place not only attractive photographs, but also inscriptions, a logo, and additional calls to action.
Thanks to this material, you will learn how to make beautiful and memorable covers for the VKontakte group. You don't have to master the intricacies of graphic editors, download software and buy a license. A striking design for the VKontakte community is easy to create using free online tools.
The recommended cover size for a VKontakte group is 1590×400 pixels. However, community owners can use graphics in other sizes. For example, when viewing a public page from a computer, the cover is displayed in size 795x200 pixels. For mobile device users, the community header adjusts to the screen size.
A universal cover that will be displayed equally on both computers and mobile devices.
Smartphone users see a “cropped” version of community covers - 190–200 pixels are cut off on the sides. When creating graphics for the VKontakte public page, do not forget about this feature, otherwise the call to action or logo will be cut off, and this will negatively affect both the brand and conversion.
![](https://i2.wp.com/internet-marketings.ru/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/oblozka-soobshestva-vkontakte.jpg)
If you took a photo or found a picture in a photo bank that perfectly describes your business, but does not correspond to the recommended VKontakte sizes, do not be discouraged. Such graphics can also be placed on the cover of the community - just specify the visible area and crop the image in the built-in editor of the social network.
What should be on the cover of a community
When creating a “header” for a VKontakte group, remember that it should contain only basic information and nothing superfluous. If you receive clients in offices, be sure to indicate on the cover the addresses, telephone numbers and opening hours of the branches. If you are going to sell any goods through the public, for example, original soft toys, demonstrate them in the “header”.
Use the following guide if you are unsure of what elements to place on your community cover:
- Title. Don't overdo it with creativity. Potential subscribers should immediately understand from the headline where they are and what useful information they can learn from the public.
- Subtitle. With its help, you can decipher or supplement the title. Try to be concise in your wording.
- Logo. If your company has a beautiful and high-quality logo, place it in the group header. This element will increase awareness of your brand.
- Contact details. You can also indicate your phone number or email on the cover of the group. For example, if you are a home delivery business and your company has single phone to accept orders, place it in the header.
- Photo by target audience. Another way to convey to a future subscriber that the group will be useful to him. However, before posting a photo or picture with your target audience, do not forget to conduct an analysis and draw up portraits of potential clients.
- Product photo. If you are going to sell products through public, use high-quality photos of the products in the header.
To help you better understand how to properly design the cover of a VKontakte group, look at successful and unsuccessful examples.
Examples of good and bad covers for a VKontakte group header
Let's start with successful examples. The owners of this public have done a great job with the graphics - the cover contains a title, subtitle, logo, contact information, and a call to action.
Another example of a successful cover. The “header” is not overloaded with information - it only contains the title, logo and photographs of the product. Detailed information about the activities of the community is posted in the status.
Laconic, simple and tasteful. There is nothing superfluous on the cover. All the necessary data - hours and work schedule, address, contact numbers- are indicated in the community information.
Not a very good example of a VKontakte group cover. Yes, the header contains contact numbers, a title and subtitle, a logo and a USP. It’s just not entirely clear in which cities the company operates and what services it provides. There is no decoding in the community status either. Future subscribers will have to read the text in the public information to understand whether they need the company’s services or not.
Another example of a bad cover. The community administrator decided to put all the information in a “header” and ended up with a deadly mixture. Moreover, on a smartphone the cover is cut off on the sides - the user will not see the list with the assortment, contact information and part of the logo.
Now that you roughly understand how to make a VK group cover and what to place on it, it’s time to move on to practice. And the simple and free online editor Canva will help you with this.
To make a cover in , you don’t need to go through a lengthy registration process or buy a license. You can use your Google account or Facebook profile to log in.
Step 1.Once you're logged into Canva, start creating your cover. This can be done in two ways - manually, indicating the size of the “cap”. When you click on the “Create a cover for a VK group” button, Canva will open new template with recommended dimensions - 1590x400 pixels - and layout options.
Step 2.If you don't know what to put on your cover, experiment with free layouts. Try out cover options, try changing the background color, position of inscriptions, frames and logos.
Step 3.To change the cover background, upload your image to the editor by clicking on the “Downloads” icon and clicking on the “Upload your own images” button.
After uploading the image to the service, click on the picture. It will “fall” on top of the design. To make it the background, hold down left button mouse and drag the image down. If you are not happy with the visible area on the cover, double-click on the background and move the image the way you want. Click the checkmark at the top to save your changes.
Step 4.To add text to the cover, click on the “Text” icon and familiarize yourself with the types of inscriptions and fonts.
For any inscription you can define the font, size, color, letter spacing and line spacing. Don't be afraid to experiment - all changes can be easily removed using the Ctrl+Z key combination.
Step 5.When the cover is ready, save the image by clicking on the “Download” button at the top of the menu.
The service will offer to choose a format - PNG, JPG and PDF (standard and for printing). For VKontakte it is better to use the first two formats.
All you have to do is click on the “Download” button, and in a few seconds finished cover will appear on your computer.
Image sizes on VKontakte are important to consider, because images smaller than the recommended size “stretch” and become unclear, while larger images may shrink programmatically and lose quality compared to the original. As a result, if the image differs from the recommended size, it may be cropped in the wrong place.
In this article we will look at the image sizes in the new VKontakte design for 2016.
Well, before we move on to a detailed consideration of the topic of this article, I would like to say a few words about effective promotion groups and pages on VKontakte. The promotion of the VKontakte group is due to the attraction of a target and active audience. Engaging in recruitment on your own can sometimes be problematic and extremely labor-intensive. Therefore, we recommend turning to professionals in your field -. We use
Important parameters of images on VKontakte (VK)
- Avatar in communities - 200x300 px (200x500 px) in a ratio of 2 to 5. Avatar on a personal page - 200x500 as before. You can upload larger images – up to 7000 px on each side. The main thing is that the aspect ratio does not exceed 2 to 5.
- The avatar thumbnail is a circle with a diameter of 200 px. In the loading settings you can move and change the diameter.
- News banner image in the group: 510x271 px.
To prevent the image of an avatar or post from being distorted, when saving in Ps, select FILE>SAVE FOR WEB> in the window that opens, select the sRGB function. If you try to upload an image that is less than 200 pixels wide or long, you will see an error. However, the experience of SMM specialists suggests that this method does not give excellent results. To prevent the image from being reduced (to a much lesser extent), make them 2-3 times larger than the desired size.
In the new VK design, the width of the news feed is fixed, so the image attached to the post no longer stretches. Therefore, in order for the image to fully occupy the space allotted to it in the news feed, its width must be at least 510 pixels.
Images for posts with links
Images for posts with a link are images that are automatically “pulled” to the post when a link is inserted. The data is taken from Open Graph markup. If Open Graph is not on the site, the title and description are pulled from Title and Description, and the image is pulled from the page; it can be changed using special arrows.
Image for Wiki page
To ensure that the image takes up the entire width of the wiki page, select an image that is at least 610 px wide, or larger, depending on the proportion. You can take the picture and greater width, but then you need to manually edit their sizes.
Products VKontakte
The size of images for products should be a minimum of 400px, a maximum of 7000px on one side, the optimal size will be 1000px by 1000px, in total you can add 4 photos to one product. The “selection” image is 580px by 320px.
Due to its size, the cover allows you to add more options when designing a group. The title, thumbnail (avatar), status and main buttons remain in the same places, but have moved lower under the cover.
To enable the cover for groups on VKontakte, go to “Actions”, which is located immediately under the group’s profile, where we select “Management”, where there is the item “Community Cover”, click download - done. The recommended cover size is 795x200px, but should be added at 1590x400px for optimal display on larger screens.
Photo status are thumbnails of images that are displayed in the main album. Their optimal size— 123px by 123px. To display them correctly in profiles, upload them to the main group album sequentially, one by one, starting with the last one (right), because the last uploaded thumbnail becomes the leftmost one.
Nowadays, only the laziest people don’t have VKontakte groups. 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 create in a second using an image needed by the company image in the mind of the visitor. 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, 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 comes into 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. Result of work good designer will be great. 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 have 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's left to do is 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 of the templates are in free access, some designs will require payment.
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 connected!