Forum Discussion
New in Storyline 360: Course Cover Photos
Who doesn’t love making a good first impression? And when it comes to learning, setting a tone that grabs your learners’ attention right from the start is crucial. After all, you want learners feeling inspired, curious, and eager to dig into your course. That’s why we’re super excited to share the new course cover photo feature in Storyline 360.
If your course’s first slide includes media or if your learners are viewing it on a mobile device, this new feature lets you add an eye-catching image to the start page. That way learners will see your beautiful cover photo before they launch the course—whether it's as a published Storyline file or a project being shared in a Rise 360 course using the Storyline Block.
Here’s how it works: In the player properties window, check the Cover Photo box and click the + Photo link to browse for an image.
You have four different options to choose from.
- First slide: Choose this option if the first screen in your course is static and works well as an introduction.
- Media library: Select this option if you want to use an image that’s already in your course.
- Content Library 360: If you want to use a brand-new photo or illustration, browse the huge library of images included with your Articulate 360 subscription.
- Image from file: If you’ve created a custom image, just upload the file from your computer.
Once you’ve chosen the perfect course cover photo, just click the image file link to refresh the preview screen. This GIF shows how that works.
And that’s it! When learners launch the course, they’ll see the new image you selected. We hope you’ll love adding your own eye-catching course cover photos in Storyline 360.
Want to know what other new Storyline 360 features have launched lately? Check out our What’s New page. And if you want to try out this feature for yourself but don’t have Articulate 360, start a free 60-day trial.
Thanks so much for sharing, Bianca! I've really enjoyed exploring the content library for inspiration when customizing course elements. This new addition of course cover photos in Storyline will help make courses look more polished and grab the attention of learners.
@John Say: Can you please note whether you mean "Cover Photo" or "Course Thumbnail" since the thread noted the latter but we're discussing the former?
Thank you!
Hi there,
Great to get a front cover instead of the black screen.
When I integrate Storyline into Rise, it doesn't look seamless - I have seen it look better in a video somewhere.
How do I get rid of the black "padding" to make it more seamless?
Does it simply have to do with course size, or is there a player setting that can remove the black padding or borders?This is what it looks like in Rise - depending on window size. The background colour just explodes, it's aweful. I have tried to remove player, I have tried to change colours etc - nothing works. Why is there a black background colour? Its automatic in Storyline, so I'm not able to remove it?
Hi Nina,
I see that you’ve reached out to our Support Engineers, and are working with my teammate, Ian. You’re in great hands! We’ll continue the conversation in your support case.
Cheers Kelly,
Looking forward to a solution.
B r
NinaWas there a solution you could share? I am having the same issue as Nina. In the past I just added a slide with no media first and that solved the issue. Now I have to choose between a back screen or an image of my first slide surrounded by a thick black border.
Hi.
I have a cover photo and not a course thumbnail option. :-(
Hi Faffie,
Thanks for mentioning that! I've updated the post and GIF to reflect the new feature name.
Hi, Faffie.
I'm happy to help! While "Course Thumbnail" is now called "Cover Photo", the functionality is the same.
Are you having any issues adding a cover photo to your course?
Hi there.
No I'm not having any problems with it. I has just assumed that there was a mistake on my side or that I had an older version of the software.
Thank you for asking.
hello,
I have noticed that when I publish a Storyline course into Articulate 360 there no show of the cover image that I have selected for the SL course. The image s not seen on my course
The published SL in articulate that starts automatically from the first slide, not showing the cover image
Many thanks for tips. Caroline
Hi Caroline,
The cover image will only appear if your course has a media file in the very first slide, requiring an initial interaction from the learner before the course starts playing. Please keep this in mind when designing your course. Here's a different version of your course test course with a video file placed in the very first slide. Notice the presence of the play button which only appeared after the video was added.
Hope this helps!
Thank you very much. Can you att the adapted storyline, please.
Thanks
Hi Caroline,
Sure thing, here you go!
