You do not need design software or a paid subscription to make a good LinkedIn banner. You need a suitable background, a short line of text and an image exported at the right size. This guide walks through the whole process using our free Social Banner Maker, and then covers how to upload and check the result on LinkedIn.
Step 1: Decide what the banner should say
Before you look at images, decide on your text. A banner works best with one clear message. For most people that is their name plus either their job title or a short value statement such as “Helping SaaS teams ship faster”. Write it down and keep it under about 40 characters for the second line, otherwise it becomes too small to read on a phone. If you are stuck, our guide on what to write on your LinkedIn banner has formulas and examples.
Step 2: Pick a category or search for a background
At the top of the home page, choose your field from the category list, for example “Software Engineer”, “Education” or “Digital Marketing”. The tool loads matching high-resolution photos from Unsplash. If none of them suit you, type your own keyword in the search box (such as “mountains”, “minimal desk” or “city skyline”) and press Enter.
When choosing a background, look for:
- A calm right-hand side. Your text appears in the bottom-right, so busy detail there makes it hard to read.
- Relevance without clichés. A subtle circuit board suits an engineer; a generic handshake photo rarely helps anyone.
- Landscape orientation. Wide photos crop to 4:1 much better than tall ones.
Click “Load more images” under the grid to see more options.
Step 3: Enter your details
Type your full name, and either your designation (job title) or your email address. If you fill in a designation, it appears under your name; if you leave it blank, your email is shown instead. Every preview on the page updates instantly as you type, so you can compare how your text looks on each background.
Your details are only used inside your browser to draw the preview. They are not uploaded to our server or stored anywhere. See our privacy policy for details.
Step 4: Download the banner
Hover over the banner you like (on phones the button is always visible) and click the round download icon in its top corner. The tool renders a full-resolution 1584 × 396 PNG and saves it to your device. The file name includes your name so it is easy to find later.
Step 5: Upload it to LinkedIn
- Open your LinkedIn profile and click the camera or pencil icon on the banner area.
- Choose “Upload photo” and select the PNG you downloaded.
- LinkedIn shows a crop frame. Because the file is already 4:1, you should not need to move or zoom it. Click Apply, then Save.
Step 6: Check it on desktop and mobile
Always look at your profile on a phone as well as on a computer. Confirm that your profile photo does not cover any text, that the words are readable at the smaller size, and that nothing important is trimmed at the edges. If the text feels small or gets lost in the photo, go back and choose a background with a darker or plainer right side. Our readability guide explains why.
Optional: credit the photographer
All backgrounds come from Unsplash, whose licence allows free personal and commercial use without attribution. Crediting the photographer is still a nice gesture, for example in your profile's “About” section. The photographer's name is shown on each preview in our tool.
Make your banner now: the free Social Banner Maker exports a ready-to-upload 1584 × 396 PNG in under a minute, with no sign-up.