Shipshot guide

How to prepare a Google Play feature graphic

The feature graphic is not a screenshot and it does not behave like one. It is a single wide banner at a fixed size, it can appear at different scales, and its edges may be cropped. Treating it as a landscape screenshot is the usual reason one looks wrong in place despite being correct in the file.

Build to the fixed size and format

Google specifies 1024 by 500 pixels for the feature graphic, in JPEG or 24-bit PNG with no alpha channel. Unlike screenshots, there is no range and no aspect-ratio calculation to perform — it is one size. Build the canvas at that size from the start rather than cropping a wider composition down to it at the end.

  1. Start the canvas at 1024 by 500 pixels rather than resizing into it.
  2. Export as JPEG or 24-bit PNG with transparency flattened.
  3. Check the exported file's dimensions before handing it off.

Keep what matters away from the edges

Google's guidance is to keep focal points centred because content near the edges may be cut off. This is the single most common feature-graphic mistake: a logo tucked into a corner or a wordmark running to the edge disappears in the crop. Design as though the outer band may not survive.

  1. Place the logo, product name, and any essential element toward the centre.
  2. Leave the outer band carrying background or texture only.
  3. Review the composition with the edges notionally trimmed and confirm nothing essential is lost.

Use very little text, and make it large

The graphic is often displayed small, so a sentence becomes unreadable. A few large words work; a paragraph does not. Resist the urge to restate your app description here. If a viewer takes one idea from the banner, it should be what the app is, delivered at a size that survives scaling down.

  1. Limit the text to a handful of words at a genuinely large size.
  2. Check readability by viewing the graphic scaled well below full size.
  3. Move any detail that needs explaining into the screenshots instead.

Do not treat it as a sixth screenshot

The feature graphic sets tone and identity; the screenshots carry the argument and the proof. Cramming interface panels into the banner produces a graphic that is neither a clear identity nor legible evidence. Let it do the job it is good at, and keep product demonstration where it belongs.

  1. Decide the one impression the graphic should leave before designing it.
  2. Keep interface detail in the screenshot set rather than the banner.
  3. Check that the graphic and the screenshots read as the same product.

Review checklist

✓ The file is exactly 1024 by 500 pixels.✓ It is JPEG or 24-bit PNG with no alpha channel.✓ Essential elements sit away from the edges, which may be cropped.✓ Text is minimal and readable when the graphic is scaled down.✓ The graphic sets identity rather than duplicating a screenshot.

Questions to ask before handoff

What size is the Google Play feature graphic?

1024 by 500 pixels, supplied as JPEG or 24-bit PNG with no alpha channel.

Why does my logo get cut off?

Content near the edges may be cropped depending on where the graphic is displayed. Google's guidance is to keep focal points centred.

Can the feature graphic contain screenshots of the app?

It can, but interface detail rarely survives being displayed small. The screenshot set is the better place for product evidence.

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