Medium Article Header Images: Best Practices and Sizes

Medium's preview crop is unforgiving.

A great image becomes an awkward thumbnail. A perfectly composed banner gets center-chopped. A photo with text on the left? Gone in the feed view.

Here's how to set up Medium headers so they actually survive the crop.

Table of Contents

• Medium's Image Sizes (2026)
• The Center-Safe Composition Rule
• Style Picks That Work on Medium
  • 1. Bold single-subject illustrations
  • 2. Editorial photoreal
  • 3. Sticker / cartoon
  • Avoid
• What the Algorithm Seems to Like
• The Medium-Specific Mistakes
• A Simple Locked Setup
• Cross-Posting from Medium
• Title Text - On the Image or in the Headline?
• Compression Targets
• The Audience Match
• Try It on Your Next Medium Post

Medium's Image Sizes (2026)

The slots Medium uses:

If you upload 2400 x 1260, Medium auto-generates everything from it. Don't ship multiple sizes manually.

The Center-Safe Composition Rule

Because Medium crops thumbnails from the center, anything important needs to live in the middle 60% of your image.

Off-center subjects? They'll get clipped.

Text on one side? Disappears in the thumbnail.

The fix: compose with a center-weighted focal point, padding on both sides.

Style Picks That Work on Medium

Medium's audience skims fast. The image has to communicate in 0.4 seconds.

Best performers:

1. Bold single-subject illustrations

Simple, high-contrast, instantly readable.

2. Editorial photoreal

Magazine-feel. Trust signal.

3. Sticker / cartoon

If your topic is casual or creator-economy.

Avoid

• Tiny details (lost in thumbnail)
• Word-heavy graphics (text shrinks below readable)
• Multi-subject scenes (overwhelming at 280x280)

What the Algorithm Seems to Like

Anecdotal, no Medium employees confirmed this, but the pattern across high-performing accounts:

• Custom images > stock photos in feed CTR
• Bold colors > muted (in the feed - the feed itself is muted)
• Faces (real or illustrated) draw clicks (carefully - AI faces still occasionally uncanny)

Treat as directional. Test on your content.

The Medium-Specific Mistakes

1. Off-center subjects - lost in thumbnail crop
2. Title text inside the image - illegible at thumbnail size
3. Pixel-thin borders - disappear in feed
4. Reusing the same image across multiple Medium posts - violates Medium's "original work" guidelines for header

A Simple Locked Setup

If you publish on Medium weekly:

1. Pick a style (options here)
2. Generate at 2400 x 1260 in Postpix
3. Compose with center-weighted focus
4. Upload as the "kicker image" or paste at the top of the post

Done. Survives crops. Holds style.

Cross-Posting from Medium

If you cross-post from a primary blog to Medium, use the same image. Don't try to game algorithms by changing it.

The brand consistency matters more than the marginal CTR difference.

Title Text - On the Image or in the Headline?

Strong recommendation: in the headline, not the image.

Reasons:

• Medium auto-renders the headline below the image
• Image text shrinks unreadably in the feed
• Searchable text in the title benefits SEO

If you want title text overlay, do it on the headline level via Medium's H1 styling, not in the image file.

Compression Targets

Medium recompresses everything. Inputs:

• Hero / kicker: under 500 KB
• Inline: under 150 KB

Larger uploads work but get heavily recompressed. Cleaner inputs = better outputs.

The Audience Match

Medium readers lean toward essays, opinion, tech, finance, and personal narrative.

Style picks accordingly:

• Tech / SaaS: editorial photoreal or isometric
• Personal essay: hand-drawn, minimal
• Finance / business: editorial photoreal
• Creator economy: sticker / illustrated

Match the visual to the audience expectation.

Try It on Your Next Medium Post

Open Postpix. Pick a style. Generate at 2400 x 1260 with center-weighted composition.

Upload, publish, watch the feed for the next 7 days.

Pricing when ready.