Social media image design tip: the only 4 sizes that matter
You've probably had this thought before... "I need to create images for [a], [b], and [c] social platforms... so what sizes do I need to make them?
Maybe you ended up just going to Canva (or other "democratized" design tool) and picking a template. And it maybe saved you some time.
But here's the deal... you may not need to know every exact size for each network.
I'm all about what Tim Ferriss refers to as the MED (Minimum Effective Dose). What is the minimum amount of effort to produce the desired results?
The desired results, in this context, is creating a graphic/image for all our important social media channels.
Based on a ridiculous amount of studying each network, gathering data studies on optimal sizes, and painstaking recording of each networks possible image dimension limitations... (some of my most popular blog posts are about this), here are the 4 social media image sizes you need to know:
1. Square (1920x1920)
This is the most versatile size because it works on every popular network.
Use on:
- Facebook (best)
- Pinterest (not ideal)
So if you're super strapped for time, just create a square image and use that across all networks.
2. Portrait (1080x1350)
While this isn't the most versatile (doesn't look great on LinkedIn or Twitter), it will perform the best on Instagram and Facebook as it gets you the maximum amount of screen real estate.
Use on:
- Instagram (best)
3. Stories (1080x1920)
The story format is wildly popular. Although it is very limited, and the content is extremely ephemeral (meant to disappear after a short time). But it's highly effective on:
- Snapchat
- Pinterest (ideal)
And yes, Pinterest doesn't have "stories" but it's always been a platform where tall imagery is best--long before stories were a thing.
4. Landscape (1920x1080)
There is still a right context for landscape images, but it's very specific:
- Twitter (best)
- YouTube thumbnail
- Blog post/article
Now some of you super smarties will probably know that Facebook link previews (aka rich snippets) require an image size of 1200x628, which means if you use 1920x1080 for your blog posts, it will get cropped when the link is shared on Facebook.
Sure... but the amount of space that will be cropped is minimal. 37px on the top, 37px on the bottom will get cropped out. Just keep your important content in the middle, and you're good.
I hope this is helpful for someone out there. Since this is my first official post here on Indie Hackers, I wanted to give something 100% practical and valuable based on my experience.
Thank you for sharing this! Been running into this issue quite a bit!