Your Twitch live stream graphics don’t really matter, but they can help

Streaming

19 Aug 2025

8 min read

Create a professional-looking stream brand with just a few key graphics.

If you’re thinking about live streaming on Twitch, my advice has always been to not think too much about it and Just Go Live™️. You’re probably stressing about your stream setup and whether it’s “good enough”, or whether your graphics and visuals are “professional enough”. None of that really matters; your stream is about you and the authentic connections and relationships you build with your viewers.

However, good-looking graphics and a more polished approach to production in a sea of similar-looking stream thumbnails can certainly entice people to click on your stream to see what you’re all about. And then it’s down to you to get those curious viewers to stick around, press that follow button, and return to your next stream.

I have received many compliments on my stream setup over the years, but it took years to get it to where it is today. I started out with nothing but a view of the chat and some follower stats powered by Streamlab’s fork of OBS. I had no branding, no graphics, and zero flair. If you’re curious about my stream’s evolution and how I’ve approached it, you can watch a talk I gave at Web Unleashed in 2024.

A screenshot of whitep4nth3r's simple stream overlays from the early days of streaming in 2020.

Since first pressing the go live button in 2020, I gradually developed more of a “personal brand”. This evolved over time, mirroring the evolution of my website design. On the latest branding iteration I was fortunate to work with a designer, aaoa (who is also a streamer), but I am very conscious that not every streamer has access to, or the budget to employ a designer, especially when starting out. I’ve used this branding for over two years now, and already feel like I need a bit of a refresh.

What kind of stream graphics do I need to get started?

You can create a professional-looking stream brand with just a few key graphics, considering how your Twitch channel will look when you are both online and offline.

Panel graphics

Potential stream viewers often browse the Twitch directories looking for streamers to follow regardless of whether they are currently online. When your stream is offline and someone views your page, they will land on the “Home” tab, which shows your featured clips and suggested streamers, which you can configure in your featured content settings in your Twitch dashboard.

Curious viewers will often click on the “About” tab, which is where you have the chance to shine. On the “About” tab you can add a number of different panels: you can tell people a little about yourself, lay down your stream rules, detail your stream tech specs, and more. Adding graphics to each of these panels can give a great first impression to potential followers and viewers, and helps to communicate your personality and what your stream is about. You can use graphics on panels as header images, or use taller images to fill a full panel.

Screenshot of my Twitch page, viewing the about panel. Showing panels for about me, The Claw stream team, my streaming specs and stream rules. Each panel consists of an image and text. The images are the panel titles, showing pink to orange gradient text for About, Stream Team, Specs and Rules. Each image also has another bit of text in a different font in black, either repeating the title or on the stream team graphic, it reads The Claw.

Offline banner

If someone is exploring your Twitch page and they click on the “Chat” tab, they’ll see the live layout, with a space for the live video stream on the left, and the chat feed on the right. Here, Twitch gives you another opportunity to hint at your personality and the look and feel of your stream with an offline banner, which you can upload via the channel brand settings in your Twitch dashboard. I got a bit lazy with my latest offline banner, and it’s just a photo of me reaching to turn my camera off.

A screenshot of my Twitch channel on the chat tab when I am offline. The video player is replaced with an image which is currently just my face looking at the camera, reaching to turn it off.

Starting soon screen

Most streamers like to show a “Starting soon” screen when they go live, which gives viewers a chance to join the chat before the real fun begins. This screen can contain some moving parts for some visual interest, which you’ll need to set up in your live streaming software (such as OBS), but the easiest way to get a “Starting soon” screen up and running is by creating a static image that matches the branding of your offline banner and Twitch panel graphics. Here’s an example.

A black and pink pixellated image of various pixellated game style graphics including a cat, a computer, a mobile phone etc. A solid pink banner spans the width of the image with white text that says whitep4nth3r. Below in white uppercase text it says stream starting.

On a break screen

Sensible streamers take regular breaks throughout their streams, and for this you’ll probably want to switch to another scene to let viewers know you’re taking a break. Similar to the “Starting soon” screen, this can contain some moving parts, such as a feed of the chat or some recent stream clips, or for simplicity it can be a static image. Here’s an example.

STREAM ON HOLD in large white uppercase letters to the left, with the subtitled grabbing a coffee BRB in a medium grey. To the right is an image of an old desktop computer from the 90s, haloed in neon green. The rest of the background is black with some grey random circle lines to add some design flair.

How to create Twitch channel banners (for free!)

There are a number of free tools available to help you create graphics for your Twitch streams quickly and easily. I recently explored the capabilities of Adobe Express which claims you can “Make Twitch banners for free in minutes”. So how does it measure up?

The headline aake Twitch banners for free in minutes on the Adobe Express landing page, showing a screenshot of the banner editing UI below.

After signing up or logging in to Adobe Express from the Twitch banner landing page, you’re taken to a canvas where you can start creating your Twitch graphics. When you land, the templates search box comes with a pre-populated search term in the templates area — “twitch live stream banner” — so you can start browsing templates for inspiration straight away. You can also scroll the search box area horizontally for a list of other pre-configured search terms, such as “twitch panel banner” or “twitch starting soon banner”.

These search terms largely return similar results, so you’ll probably want to use the results filter to narrow down your search, such as filtering by size. The recommended image sizes for panel banners varies depending on whether you want to show a header image or a full panel image, but you’ll probably want to use a 16:9 image for an offline banner. The size filters are extensive given the wide array of use cases for Adobe Express, so to filter accurately you’ll need to scroll through a lot of options.

To browse free options only, make sure to check the “Show only: free” checkbox at the top of the left panel.

A blank canvas in Adobe Express, showing the pre-populated search term in the search box on the left, with the show only free checkbox checked. The search results are a grid of images in varying designs.

To save templates you like for later, you can hover the image and click the heart button. You can view your favourites in the “Your stuff” tab on the left of the UI.

The your stuff tab is selected in Adobe Express at the left hand side of the UI, showing I have saved one template to favourites.

Stream branding is a very personal thing, and I often think that using a free tool to create personalised graphics means that I will end up with the same branding and graphics as other streamers, which isn’t ideal if you want to stand out in a saturated market. But, at the time of writing, there are over 1000 free templates to browse in Adobe Express, reducing the chance that the graphics you choose will be identical to other streamers using the same tool.

Once you’ve scrolled the list of templates and you’ve found a design you like, click it to open it on the canvas and start editing.

To replace the default images with your own, click the image and choose “Replace”, and you’ll have the opportunity to upload your own image. What’s great about this part is that the image you upload will then match the style of the template image.

The Adobe Express canvas, cropped to zoom in on the replace button that appears after you click an image.

You can then click each text element and edit it to suit your needs, so you end up with something like this:

I've switched out the image of a man with an image of me pointing to the text on the right. My photo is stylised in black and white the same as the template image. On the right I have changed the text to live on twitch, writing code for your entertainment, with whitep4nth3r.

You can further customise the fonts, font sizes and colours, and the different layers that make up the design. Once you’re happy with your design, click “Download” in the top right. If you’ve used a free template, you can download the image straight away and use it on your Twitch channel.

All in all, editing this template took me less than one minute. That’s not bad.

The download dialog is open at the top right of the Adobe Express canvas, where you can choose the file type of the image, and the size, with a large purple download button.

What’s missing from Adobe Express Twitch banner maker?

Overall, this is a useful tool to help you create graphics in a few minutes for your Twitch channel for free. That being said, there are a couple of things that could be improved, so keep this in mind when you’re creating.

Template collections

While you can create single images from templates really quickly, what’s missing are collections of templates in the same style, so that you can easily create matching Twitch panel graphics, offline banners and stream graphics. At the time of writing, if you want to create a coherent look across your different key graphics, you’ll have to choose one template you like, and adjust the size of the canvas and move things around to account for the different image dimensions required for the different areas of your Twitch channel.

A good search experience

The search terms don’t always return good matches. The template I chose to edit above was named “Green Pink Live Mobile Gaming Video YouTube Banner”. Searching for this term didn’t return that exact template in the results, and using the size filter to attempt to find it in the list of 800+ results didn’t return any matches at all, despite filtering by the exact size of the template. If you like the look of any templates, save them to your favourites so you can find them again.

Try it for yourself

Minor issues aside, the Twitch Banner Maker from Adobe Express does what it claims: you really can “Make Twitch banners for free in minutes”. If you need a quick fix for your stream graphics whilst you’re getting started on Twitch, head over to Adobe Express, explore the templates, and personalise them to your heart’s content. And good luck on the live streaming, you got this.