# Food blogger graphics: recipe cards and Pinterest pins [Canonical HTML page](https://gradiently.design/guide/food-blogger-graphics) A recipe gets found on Pinterest, cooked from a printout or a phone propped against the kettle, and shared as a carousel. Each of those moments needs its own graphic, and they should all look like your kitchen. ## The short version - The core food blogger graphics are a Pinterest pin, a printable recipe card, a step by step carousel and a blog header for each recipe. - A standard Pinterest pin is 1000×1500 pixels, a 2:3 frame, and a long pin is 1000×2100 pixels. - A recipe pin works best with an appetising photo, a short title using the words people search, and the blog name. - Recipe cards should list ingredients in the order they are used, with quantities first, and steps short enough to read mid cook. - Brand colour belongs in the frames, type and text cards around food photos, not tinted over the food itself. The **food blogger graphics** that matter most are four: a Pinterest pin at 1000×1500 pixels that gets the recipe found, a printable recipe card that gets it cooked, a step by step carousel that gets it shared, and a blog header that makes the post look finished. Make each one from a template in one consistent look, keep your colour in the frames and type rather than over the food, and every new recipe takes minutes to dress rather than an evening. ## The graphics every recipe needs | Graphic | Size | Job | | --- | --- | --- | | Pinterest pin | 1000×1500 | Gets the recipe found in search | | Long pin | 1000×2100 | Step overviews and ingredient lists | | Blog banner | 1200×600 | Top of the post | | Link preview | 1200×630 | How the recipe looks when shared in chats | | Instagram carousel | 1080×1350 per slide | Step by step method | | Story | 1080×1920 | "New recipe" alert with a link | | Printable card | 1500×2100 (5×7 in) | Cooked from paper, kept in a folder | One recipe, seven graphics. Templates for each turn this from an evening's work into a quarter of an hour. - Pin 2:3: 1000 × 1500 - Long pin: 1000 × 2100 - Carousel slide 4:5: 1080 × 1350 - Blog banner: 1200 × 600 The four shapes a food blogger uses most, to scale. Pins are the tallest, which suits a plated dish shot from above. ## Recipe Pinterest pins that get clicked Pinterest works like a search engine for recipes, so a pin has to do two things: look delicious at thumbnail size and say exactly what the recipe is. Use the words people type, "one pan lemon chicken", not a clever name. Put the title in a calm band of colour above or below the photo rather than over the busiest part of the plate. [Pinterest pin size](https://gradiently.design/guide/pinterest-pin-size) covers the formats and [Pinterest pin design](https://gradiently.design/guide/pinterest-pin-design) the layouts. A tall Pinterest pin for a one pan lemon chicken recipe, a 30 minute dinner, with the blog address A search friendly pin: the dish in plain words, a reason to cook it, and the blog's address. A long Pinterest pin for a round up of five ingredient pasta bakes, all under 40 minutes A long pin for a round up post, with room for a numbered list of dishes. - **Make several pins per recipe.** Different photos and titles reach different searches over time. - **Put the blog name on every pin**, small, in the same spot. - **Keep text large.** Most people see pins in a narrow column on a phone. - **Use a vertical photo.** A tall overhead shot fills a 2:3 pin far better than a cropped landscape. If you publish a lot, keep recipe titles, photo files and key words in a spreadsheet. With Gradiently Pro, [bulk create](https://gradiently.design/guide/bulk-create-from-spreadsheet) connects those columns to a pin template and makes a pin for every row, ready to review before you schedule them. ## Recipe card design people can cook from A recipe card is read with floury hands, at a glance, from a metre away. Clarity beats decoration every time. List ingredients in the order they are used, quantities first, and keep each step to one or two actions. Give both metric and cup measures if many readers are in the US. ```text ONE PAN LEMON CHICKEN Serves 4 · Prep 10 min · Cook 35 min INGREDIENTS 8 chicken thighs, skin on 2 lemons, sliced 600 g new potatoes, halved (about 4 cups) 1 tbsp olive oil 4 garlic cloves, crushed METHOD 1. Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F). 2. Toss potatoes with oil and salt in a roasting tin. 3. Add chicken, skin up, with lemon and garlic. 4. Roast for 35 minutes until golden. ``` The structure of a printable recipe card: title, serves and timings, ingredients in order of use with quantities aligned, then short numbered steps. > **Keep the recipe text on the page, too** A recipe card image is for printing and pinning. The recipe itself should also be live text in your blog post, which search engines and screen readers can read and which most recipe plugins mark up for Google. ## Step by step recipe carousels A [carousel](https://gradiently.design/guide/instagram-carousel-design) is the social version of the method: swipeable, saveable and easy to follow on a phone propped up by the hob. One step per slide, a photo of that stage, and a short line of instruction in the same place on every slide. 1. **Cover: the finished dish** The best photo, the recipe name and one reason to make it: "30 minutes, one pan". 2. **Ingredients slide** Everything laid out, with a short list beside it. People screenshot this one for the shop. 3. **Method slides** One stage per slide, numbered, with the instruction in under fifteen words. 4. **Last slide: save and find** "Full recipe on the blog, link in bio" in your usual frame. A portrait recipe carousel slide for step 3 of 4, telling the reader to roast chicken skin side up for 35 minutes A method slide. In use the stage photo sits above; the step number and line never move. ## One look for photos, pins and cards Food photos already carry a lot of colour, and tinting them rarely makes a dish look better. Put your brand colour in the bands, borders and text cards around the food instead, and keep it in a warm, appetising range. [Food colour palettes](https://gradiently.design/guide/food-color-palettes) has more combinations. - Flour: #f7f1e8 - Saffron: #e9c46a - Paprika: #c8553d - Sorrel: #588157 - Cast iron: #2f2a26 A kitchen palette for frames and type. Warm neutrals let the food lead; one herb green and one spice red give the blog a voice. Flour to saffron: `linear-gradient(170deg, #f7f1e8 0%, #f1dcb8 55%, #e9c46a 100%)` A soft, warm band for pin titles and text slides. It sits happily next to almost any plated dish. For titles set over photos, [readable text on photos](https://gradiently.design/guide/readable-text-on-photos) shows how to keep them clear. In Gradiently, the brand kit holds your fonts and palette, a claimed Mark gives text slides and headers a background nobody else has, and with Pro one finished pin resizes into the carousel, story and blog banner in one step. ## FAQ ### What size should a recipe Pinterest pin be? 1000×1500 pixels, a 2:3 vertical frame. A long pin at 1000×2100 pixels suits ingredient lists and round ups. ### What should a recipe card include? The recipe name, servings, prep and cook times, ingredients in order of use with quantities first, and short numbered steps. ### How many pins should I make per recipe? Several. Different photos and titles reach different searches, so many food bloggers make a few pins for each recipe and add more over time. ### Should I put my brand colours on food photos? Keep them around the photo instead, in bands, borders and text cards. Tinting the food itself usually makes it look less appetising. ### What size is a printable recipe card? A 5×7 inch card is 1500×2100 pixels at 300 dpi. A full page recipe on A4 is 2480×3508 pixels.