StoryMaps

The first design choice is to change the cover layout for your story. You've got six choices; three of them fill the allotted space with the cover media (usually involving some cropping of the media), while the other three fit the entire media into the space. Here is a brief rundown of the six cover styles, from in the order that they're presented in the design panel:

• Minimal (fill): This is the default for all brand new stories; comes with a horizontal strip for media above the title (so vertically oriented media isn't advisable here), though if you prefer to have no cover media at all, this is the best option.
• Top (fit): Also positions the media above the title, but will show the whole piece of media.

• Full (fill): The media will occupy the entire cover space, with the title card superimposed on top of it, with the media darkened slightly so that the title, subtitle, byline, and date can be superimposed directly on top of it. Clicking the little paint palette icon on the outline of the text box will bring up some options for styling that title text — if you've already experimented with the floating panel layout of sidecar, these options will be familiar. You can remove that shading from the media and go with white or black text directly on top of the natural media (though this is only advisable if the media contains sufficient areas of contrast to the text). Alternatively, you can opt to fill in the background of the text box according to the story's design theme (more on that in just a second). You can also position the title panel in three positions, both horizontally and vertically, for a total of nine placement options, and adjust its width.
• Card (fit): The title card will be "stacked" on top of the media, but off to one side to keep most of the media showing. You can adjust the title card's width (in three sizes), as well as whether it's on the left side of the right side of the media.
• Split (fit): Another layout with the title to either side of the media with the entire media showing, but this time there will be no overlap of the title onto the media.
• Side-by-side (fill): Similar to the split layout, except the media will fill the available space. You have the option to expand the space the title occupies relative to the media space, and vice versa.