Staff Reference
Event Image Guidelines
One export works everywhere — here’s the spec
The One Rule
Export at 1280×720 (16:9)
Design and export every event graphic at exactly 1280×720 pixels. The website, YouTube, digital signage, the printed events page, and the e‑communiqué all share this shape — one export, no resizing, nothing ever gets cropped.
The dashed line sits 7% in from every edge — titles, dates, and logos stay inside it.
Why 16:9
Where Your One Image Goes
Website
Event cards & the event’s own page — displayed edge-to-edge, never cropped
YouTube
1280×720 is the native thumbnail size
Digital Signage
16:9 screens in the building
Printed Events Page
Posted in the restrooms weekly
E-Communiqué
Weekly email graphics
Checklist
Before You Export
Do
- 1280×720 px, sRGB color.
- Keep every word inside the 7% safe area (Canva: turn on margins).
- Make the title readable at phone size — if you can’t read it when the design is 4 inches wide, it’s too small.
- Use brand colors and fonts where they fit: navy
#2E4466, orange#F46134, cream#F6F5F2, Montserrat / PT Serif (see the Brand Style Guide). - Export JPG for photographic designs, PNG for flat graphic art; aim under 500 KB.
- Name the file descriptively:
purim-carnival-2027.jpg. - Upload to the event as its Featured Image — that one setting feeds every card and page.
Don’t
- Don’t use the old 960×640 (3:2) spec — retired July 2026. Those files get their tops and bottoms cropped on today’s site.
- Don’t run text to the edges — edge-anchored titles are what broke under the old spec.
- Don’t design portrait or square art for events — it will be center-cropped to 16:9.
- Don’t create sermon thumbnails at all — the site pulls them automatically from the sermon’s Vimeo video. Want different art? Change the thumbnail on Vimeo.
Tools
Need an Image Fast?
The ML Image Editor is active in WP Admin for generating and editing images without leaving WordPress — handy for quick event art when there’s no time for Canva. Whatever the tool, the spec above still applies.