Using quotes and text on Facebook covers

Text turns a cover from decoration into a message. It's also where most covers go wrong: too long, too small, too pale or tucked behind the profile photo. Here's how to get words on a cover that people can actually read.

Shorter than you think

A cover is seen in a second or two, usually on a phone, at a size smaller than a business card. That's enough time for about six to twelve words. Past that, people stop reading and see a block of texture.

If your quote is long, cut it to the part people remember. If it's a name and a tagline, drop the tagline into a smaller second line, or leave it out. One line of text that everyone reads beats three lines that nobody does.

Where to put it

Two things cover parts of your cover: the phone crop, which trims both sides, and the profile photo, which sits near the lower left. Text belongs in the middle, roughly the center 560 x 250 pixels of an 851 x 315 cover. Our size guide has the details.

Centered text is the safe default. Right-aligned text in the right half of the safe area also works and leaves the lower left clear. Avoid the bottom edge entirely; on desktop that's where your name and buttons crowd in.

Choosing a font

Pick a font for the mood first and legibility second, then check legibility at phone size.

• Bold serifs and slab serifs (like Abril Fatface or Bree Serif) feel confident and classic. They suit sayings, business names and anything meant to look settled.
• Script fonts (like Pacifico) feel personal and warm. They're good for names, love and celebrations, but they're harder to read at small sizes, so keep the text very short.
• Handwritten fonts (like Kalam) feel casual and friendly. Good for humor, pets and school.
• Condensed sans fonts (like Oswald) fit more letters across and look like posters or scoreboards. Good for sports, music and dates.
• Plain sans fonts (like Cabin or Josefin Sans) step back and let the words speak.

Stick to one font for the main line. If you add a small second line, a plain sans in capitals with a little extra letter spacing pairs with almost anything; that's what the cover maker does.

Size and weight

On an 851 x 315 cover, a main line under about 28 pixels tall is hard to read on phones. Aim for 34 to 60 pixels for a short quote, larger for a single word or a name. Thin and light weights vanish at small sizes, so prefer regular or bold.

Line spacing matters too. Lines that are too close together collide, especially with script fonts that have long loops. If the text looks cramped, make it smaller rather than squeezing the lines.

Contrast you can measure

Contrast is the difference in brightness between the text and what's right behind it. The web accessibility guidelines (WCAG) give a way to measure it as a ratio from 1:1 (no difference) to 21:1 (black on white). They ask for at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.

Cover headlines are usually large, but covers are also small, compressed and seen on dim screens in bright places. Treat 4.5:1 as the target. Our maker samples the pixels behind your text and shows an estimated ratio under the preview, so you can see when you're getting close to the line.

Colors that feel different can still have poor contrast. Red text on green, orange on pink and blue on purple often look lively but have similar brightness, and they're also hard for people with common forms of color blindness. White or very dark text is the safe choice on colorful backgrounds.

Busy backgrounds

Photos, confetti and patterns put light and dark pixels side by side, so no single text color has good contrast everywhere. You have a few options:

1. Add a band or panel behind the text: a semi-transparent strip of dark or light color. In the maker this is the "Color band" option.
2. Add a soft shadow or glow around the letters. It lifts the text off the background without hiding much of it.
3. Use a style with a built-in quiet area, such as the quote card, which puts a solid card behind the words.
4. Move the text to the calmest part of the image, often the sky or a plain wall.

A shadow helps a little; a band or card helps a lot. If the contrast estimate stays low with a shadow, switch to a band.

Where quotes come from

Quotes are the most popular kind of text on covers, and the most often borrowed. A few things to keep in mind:

• Short quotes from people who died long ago are generally fine to use. Their words are usually in the public domain.
• Recent quotes, and lines from books, poems, films, TV shows and songs, may still be protected by copyright. Song lyrics are the riskiest; music publishers do enforce them.
• Misattribution is everywhere. Plenty of famous quotes online were never said by the person credited. If you're going to attribute a quote, check it in a reliable source first.
• Using a living person's name next to words they didn't say can mislead people.

The easiest way around all of this is to write your own line. Every sample line in our cover maker was written by our team for that reason, and you can use or adapt any of them. Our copyright guide goes into borrowed images and text in more depth.

Checking your text

Before uploading, go through this quick list:

• Twelve words or fewer in the main line.
• Inside the center of the cover, clear of the lower left.
• A font that matches the mood, still readable when shrunk to thumb size.
• Contrast close to 4.5:1 or better, using a band if needed.
• Your own words, or a short public-domain quote you've checked.

Then look at it on your phone. If you have to squint, so will everyone else.

Questions