Your overlay is what viewers see while you are live. Your channel page is what they see the rest of the time, which for most streamers is the overwhelming majority of the week. It is also the page someone lands on after a clip, a raid or a search — the moment they decide whether to follow.
Here is what each slot is, and the order worth filling them in.
The offline banner
The video-sized image that shows where your stream would be when you are not live. It is the largest thing on the page and the most commonly left blank. If you do one thing from this article, do this one.
Put something useful on it: your name, your schedule, and where else to find you. A pretty picture that says nothing is a missed opportunity, because this is prime space.
Panels
The blocks underneath your stream. Each one is an image plus optional text and a link. Common panels, roughly in the order people expect them:
- About — who you are, what you play, in two or three lines
- Schedule — when you are live, in a timezone you actually name
- Rules — chat rules, short
- Socials — one panel per platform, or one combined
- Discord — the single best panel for turning viewers into a community
- Donate / Support — if you take tips
- Specs / Gear — optional, and only if people ask
Panels live under your stream in Creator Dashboard, in your channel settings. You upload an image for each and attach a link. The images should match each other and match your overlay — a set of mismatched panels is very visible.
Profile picture and banner
Small, but they follow you around the platform. Your profile picture in particular appears in chat, in raid notifications and in the sidebar, at a very small size — so test whether it is still readable when it is tiny. Fine detail disappears; a strong silhouette survives.
Sub badges and channel point icons
Sub badges are the little icons next to a subscriber's name in chat. They unlock once your channel becomes a Twitch Affiliate or Partner, so if you are not there yet, this is a later step rather than a first one.
Channel point icons are separate and available earlier — they are the icons on your channel point rewards.
Both are uploaded in Creator Dashboard, and Twitch asks for each image in several sizes. The upload page tells you exactly which sizes it wants; the important thing is that you have a version of the artwork at each size rather than one large file you scale by hand, because a badge scaled badly turns to mush at the smallest size. Every badge pack we sell ships every size Twitch asks for, already exported.
Emotes
Also an Affiliate feature, and also uploaded in several sizes. Emotes are the only part of your channel branding that leaves your channel — subscribers use them in other people's chats, which makes them quietly the most valuable branding you own. Same rule as badges: they need to read clearly at the smallest size, so simple shapes and strong contrast beat fine detail.
A sensible order
- Offline banner — biggest visible gap, do it first
- Panels: About, Schedule, Socials, Discord
- Profile picture and banner
- Channel point icons
- Sub badges and emotes, once you hit Affiliate
Matching sets
All of these are easier if they come from one theme rather than five sources:
And if you want the channel page and the live stream to look like the same channel, start from a theme: Cozy Cats, Fantasy Tavern, Dark Gothic and the rest are each built as a complete set.
Twitch changes its interface and its image requirements from time to time. Always check the sizes shown on the upload page in your Creator Dashboard — that is the authoritative source.