How to use Google’s quirky illustrations for your contacts’ profile pictures

Have you ever noticed that your friends, family members and colleagues stored in Google Contacts have profile pictures that are directly controlled by why they upload to their account? Have you ever noticed how some people are just notoriously terrible at using a high-quality image or even updating it whatsoever? I sure have. I actually have many family members that use blurry, pixelated pictures or simply don’t upload anything at all, leaving me to stare at Google’s default colored circle with the first letter of their name in it.

Today, I’m going to teach you how to use Google Illustrations in place of these types of images. Google’s illustrations are cute, fun, and quirky collections of graphics that you can sub in for any contact’s profile picture or even your own! That’s right, you can use them much in the same way that you use the fun profile images on your Chromebook.

To get started, just open up Google Contacts. From there, select anyone in your list and tap the edit button, which looks like a pencil. Then, tap their profile image, and you should see a few options. “Device” and “Google Photos” have been present for some time as image sources to pick from, but there’s also an “Illustrations” tab on the far left side.

Upon choosing this, you’ll be presented with a slew of wacky, wild, and colorful pieces of art. One or more of these should help you describe those closest to you! Don’t worry, they won’t see this – it’s only for your own eyes.

While there is a search box for finding illustrations faster, I’d recommend you scroll through them, even if it’s for entertainment purposes only. There are many categories available to you, and each one features loads of collections with tons of images inside of them. Peek through “Animals”, “Sports and Recreation”, “Hobbies and Interests”, “Food”, and “Nature and Cities and Places” as seen below.

Did you know? You can also set your Google Account profile image as an illustration!

Open any app that shows your profile image at the top right and tap on it. From there, go to Manage your account > Personal info > Photo > Change and follow the same steps discussed above to select a new image.

There are actually so freaking many of these graphics that Google went ahead and included a reload button to show you an entirely new set of categories whenever you want. “Music”, “Historical sites”, “Drinks”, “Books and Writing” and the list goes on. I’m a big fan of these. Once you’ve selected an image, it will overtake the previous contact image that existed in that spot. Enjoy!