Event image
Your event has one picture, and it is reused everywhere: the banner on the public event page, the event cards on the start page, the header in the mobile app, the small thumbnails in the app’s event lists, and the banner at the top of the invitation emails your judges and sponsors receive.
Because the same file has to work as a wide banner, an almost-square card and a tiny round thumbnail, the picture is always cropped from the centre. Choosing the right file once saves you from a logo that is cut in half on phones.
An event image is required before you can switch an event from private to public.
The short answer
Upload a 1600 × 900 pixel JPG or PNG — landscape, with the important part in the middle, and the file under 5 MB. Do not upload HEIC (the default iPhone photo format).
Where your image is shown
| Where | How it appears |
|---|---|
| Public event page | Wide banner next to the event name; cropped at the sides on a computer, top and bottom on a phone |
| Event cards on the start page | Large cards are almost square, smaller cards are a wide strip; the event name and date are printed over the lower part of the image |
| Mobile app, event header | Full width, always slightly zoomed in, and the top is cropped away as the visitor scrolls; the event name sits over the bottom |
| Mobile app, featured card | Wide picture with the text underneath |
| Mobile app, event lists | Small square or round thumbnail |
| Judge and sponsor emails | Wide banner across the top of the message |
| Widgets embedded on your own website | Depends on your page layout |
Format
Use JPG or PNG.
HEIC and HEIF are not supported. This is the format iPhones use by default. Picking a photo from an iPhone or iPad in the browser normally works — the phone hands over a JPG copy automatically. A HEIC file transferred to a computer first is rejected with a message; convert it before uploading:
- On iPhone: Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible makes new photos JPG. For a photo you already have, open it in Photos, choose Share, and send it to yourself by Mail — it arrives as a JPG.
- On Mac: open the photo in Preview and choose File → Export → JPEG.
- On Windows: open the photo in Photos and choose Save as → JPEG.
The picture is converted for you after upload, so the format you choose only decides whether the upload succeeds — it does not affect the final quality.
Size and proportions
Proportions: 16:9 landscape (for example 1600 × 900). This is the shape that survives every crop best. A portrait or square image is not a good choice — the wide banners will throw most of it away.
Width: at least 1200 pixels, 1600 is ideal, 2048 is the most that is kept. Pictures are never enlarged, so a small file stays small: a 300-pixel logo will look blurry across the top of your event page. Anything wider than 2048 pixels is scaled down automatically.
File size: keep it under 5 MB. The hard limit is 15 MB, but a smaller file loads faster for everyone who visits your event page.
Photos taken sideways on a phone are turned the right way up automatically.
Choosing a picture that works
- Keep the important part in the middle. The outer edges disappear first on every screen, and the mobile app zooms in slightly on top of that.
- Leave the bottom quarter clear. The event name and date are printed over the lower part of the image on the start-page cards and in the app.
- Avoid text baked into the picture. Dates, hashtags and sponsor names end up cut off or too small to read.
- Check that it still works tiny. The same picture becomes a thumbnail about the size of a fingernail in the app’s event lists. A single strong subject — a couple on the floor, your logo mark, one clear colour — reads well. A collage of small photos turns into mush.
- A photo usually beats a poster. Event posters are portrait and full of text, which is exactly what the crops remove.
Uploading
- In Manager, open your event and go to Overview.
- Click the image box and choose Upload.
- Pick your file. The picture appears immediately when it has been processed.
- To change it, remove the current picture and upload a new one.
Everything that shows the picture — the app, the event page, emails — updates automatically.
Checklist
- ✓ Landscape, 16:9 proportions
- ✓ At least 1200 pixels wide (1600 recommended)
- ✓ JPG or PNG, not HEIC
- ✓ Under 5 MB
- ✓ Subject centred, nothing essential in the bottom quarter or at the edges
- ✓ Still recognizable as a small thumbnail
Troubleshooting
“You can only upload JPG/PNG files!”
The file is something other than a JPG or PNG — most often a HEIC photo from an iPhone, but also PDFs and Word documents. Convert it as described under Format above and try again.
The picture looks blurry on the event page
The uploaded file was too small — pictures are never enlarged. Re-upload a version that is at least 1200 pixels wide.
Our logo is cut off in the app
The logo sits too close to an edge, or too low. Move it towards the middle and leave the bottom quarter of the picture empty, then re-upload.
I cannot make the event public
An event needs both an event image and billing details before it can be published. See Event setup.