Every person who views your LinkedIn profile sees your background image.
The Case for a Custom LinkedIn Background Photo
Thus, do you want to use LI’s standard, blah, gray graphic? Like millions of other members? Or do you want to tell a personal story?
A custom image can help you position yourself in the market and amplify your profile’s narrative.
Canva Makes a Custom LinkedIn Background Banner Easy
This post shows you how to use Canva, a free design platform, to customize your background image.
Canva lets you:
- Generate a properly-sized template for your background (1584 x 396 pixels)
- Upload, and expand or crop, a photo to the template size
- Download the properly-sized banner to your computer
- Upload it to LinkedIn
All in as little as 5 minutes.
Watch the video below to get a good feel for what you’ll be doing.
Then, follow the written instructions to make and upload your image.
LinkedIn Background Photo Video
Watch the video to learn how to use Canva to make a LinkedIn background image:
Written Instructions
- Go to Canva and sign in.
- Click the bright purple “Create a design” box.
- Type in “LinkedIn.”
- Choose “LinkedIn Banner” and click.
Upload the image you want to use by doing the following:
- Click “Uploads” on the left vertical rail.
- Click the bright purple “Upload Media” box.
- Choose “Device.”
- Select your image’s file and click “Open.” Canva will automatically add the file to your gallery.
- Drag your uploaded photo from the gallery into your template.
- Re-size the image to fit the template by pulling on its corners.
- Drag your re-sized image to where you want it to appear in the template.
- Click “Share” then “Download.”
- Click “PNG, Recommended.”
- Click “Download.”
Voila! You have a perfectly sized LinkedIn background photo.
How to Install Your LinkedIn Background Photo
If you’re wondering, “How do I update my LinkedIn background image?” it’s even easy than using Canva.
Again, watch the video to get a feel for what you’ll be doing:
Then, follow these written directions:
- Go to your LinkedIn profile.
- Click the edit pencil in the background area.
- Choose “Upload photo.”
- Select your file and click “Open.”
- Click “Apply.”
That’s it. You have a new LinkedIn background image!
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Updated January 2023
© 2015 – 2023, Donna Svei. All rights reserved.
Donna Svei, an executive resume writer and former C-level executive, retained search consultant, and CPA, authors all of AvidCareerist’s posts.
She is a Fast Company Contributor and has written for and been quoted by 100+ business and general media outlets, including Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, CNBC, the New York Times, USA Today, Time, US News & World Report, CBS, the BBC, Lifehacker, Social Media Today, IT World, and Business News Daily.
Let her expertise inform your job search strategy and decision-making.
Contact Donna here to learn more about her resume and LinkedIn profile services and fee structure.
Comments 6
Donna, you have created another great blog post. Practical and useful as always. It’s really difficult to find a stock image on iStock or Getty Images or any other stock image provider that fits the LinkedIn background. It’s an odd size. And editing an existing image can be very difficult. You have given your readers a great tool (video and great instructions) to create and upload a LinkedIn background image that will make them stand out from the LinkedIn crowd.
There’s no reason for anyone to leave the basic, boring blue in their LinkedIn background any longer.
I would remind those involved in a job search and any professional who would like to be recruited for a higher paying job, to create a background image that will make it instantly apparent to potential employers what you have to offer. A beach scene is nice, but it doesn’t add to your personal brand.
Career oriented words work well to brand you, e.g., IT, Manufacturing, Software Development, Nursing. A slogan or your short value proposition would be great. An image of you doing your work, like on a public speaking, in a lab, receiving an award, or leading a meeting would work well. Or images that represent what you do, like a manufacturing floor for a Supply Chain Manager, a classroom for a professor, or a building for an architect can also create a strong personal brand.
Donna, Thank you. Donna
Awesome tip! Thanks!
You’re welcome. :)
Note: If you don’t like the resolution your Canva images shows on LinkedIn, here are two tips for improving it. The first comes from technical writer, Chris Morton. The second is from Canva.
In using Canva (or InDesign, et al.) to create your own background, here’s a tip to get better screen resolution. In Canva, don’t download your file; in INDD (or other graphics tool), don’t export it as JPG/PNG. Instead, while maintaining its aspect ratio, display the image as large as you possibly can within the application (I use a 24″ monitor), take a screen capture and then save that as a JPG/PNG. Once that is uploaded to LinkedIn, the resulting JPG/PNG may have to be scaled down. This is a good thing, as it will actually enhance the resolution.
1. Download your image as a .pdf from Canva.
2. Go to this site: http://smallpdf.com/pdf-to-jpg.
3. Upload your .pdf.
4. Click “convert entire page.”
5. Click “choose option.”
6. Hover over the image of your converted file in the lower left corner of the screen.
7. Click “download.”
8. Voila, you have a high resolution .jpg!
Great post! Have nice day ! :) ugoyq
Struggled with this for so long – thank you for making it easy to understand.
Joanne, You made my day! Thank you, Donna
Problem solved, thank you. :)
You’re welcome.