Abstract Facebook covers

Use the seed like a recipe

Every pattern comes from three things: the style, the palette and the seed. Keep those three and you can rebuild the same cover months later, or make a matching one for a Page or group in a different color.

Fewer colors look calmer

Every palette has five colors, but you don't have to use all five loudly. Set two of the color pickers to near neighbors (a dark navy and a slightly lighter navy, say) and the pattern quiets down. The gradient and waves styles do this naturally.

Try density last

The density slider changes how many extra shapes appear. On a geometric cover a low setting keeps the tiles plain. Turn it up and small motifs start showing up inside some tiles.

Big tiles survive the phone crop

The phone app shows only the center of the cover, at a small size. Big shapes still read there, while fine detail turns to noise. If the preview looks busy in the phone mock on the right, shuffle until you get a larger tile size.

Add a name if you want one

Abstract covers work well behind a name or a business name in a clean font such as Josefin Sans or Oswald. Keep it inside the dashed phone box so it isn't cut off.