Seasonal server branding
Dress your server up for holidays and events with banner and icon playlists you switch per season, banner overlays and a live event countdown.
On this page
- What Discord requires
- Plan your seasons
- 1. Create banner playlists
- 2. Upload and sort your banners
- 3. Choose the rotation speed
- 4. Switch seasons
- 5. Add an overlay (optional)
- 6. Do the same for your icon
- 7. Count down to your event
- A seasonal checklist
- Troubleshooting
- The banner never changes
- The banner settings are greyed out
- My animated icon doesn't move
- The countdown channel isn't renamed
- The countdown is off by a few hours
- Related
A server that changes with the seasons feels alive. In this recipe you'll set up themed sets of banners and icons for each season or event, switch between them in one click, add an overlay with your logo, and put a live countdown to your next event in the channel list.
It uses the banner manager, banner playlists & overlays, the icon manager and event timers. Allow about 30 minutes, plus time to make your artwork.
Rotating banners from the dashboard, banner playlists and overlays need Premium on the server. Icon rotation and event timers work on the free plan. See Premium.
What Discord requires#
- Server banners need Boost Level 2 or higher.
- Animated (GIF) icons need Boost Level 1 or higher. Static icons work on any server.
Plan your seasons#
Pick the looks you want and give each one a short playlist name. For example:
| Playlist | When | Ideas |
|---|---|---|
default | The rest of the year | Your normal branding |
spooky | October | Pumpkins, purple and orange |
winter | December | Snow, lights, cosy colours |
summer-event | Your summer event | Event artwork and dates |
Make 2–5 images per playlist so the rotation has some variety. Banners look best at 960 x 540 (JPEG, PNG or GIF, up to 10 MB). Icons should be square, ideally 512 x 512.
1. Create banner playlists#
It's under Branding in the sidebar.
In Playlists, type a name in New playlist (up to 32 characters) and click Create playlist.
You can have up to 10 playlists, including default.
2. Upload and sort your banners#
In Banner images, choose a file under Upload a banner and click Upload banner. New uploads start as Pending.
In the banner's row, set Playlist to the season it belongs to.
Set Status to Active. Only Active banners rotate; Disabled ones are kept but skipped.
Changes in the Banner images table save as soon as you pick an option.
Members can submit banners from Discord with /upload_banner. Their uploads arrive as Pending,
so nothing goes live until staff set them to Active. Seasonal art contests are a great event on
their own.
3. Choose the rotation speed#
In Rotation interval, pick how often Buddy changes the banner in Change banner and click Save interval. Free plans rotate every 4 hours; higher Premium plans unlock shorter intervals.
4. Switch seasons#
When the season starts, switch the active playlist. Rotation only uses Active images in the selected playlist.
In Active playlist, choose the season's playlist in Playlist.
Click Save active playlist. The next rotation uses the new set.
When the season ends, set Playlist back to default.
You can also switch from Discord without opening the dashboard: run /rotation_playlist and pick the playlist under Active playlist.
/rotation_playlist [type] Manage MessagesChoose which playlist rotates and move banners or icons between playlists.
A playlist needs at least one image before you can make it active.
5. Add an overlay (optional)#
An overlay is a transparent PNG that Buddy draws on top of every banner, like your logo, a "Season 3" badge or event dates. It's a great way to keep your branding consistent while the backgrounds change.
The same size as your banners, with everything outside your logo or text left transparent.
Use /upload_banner_overlay (staff only).
Use /edit_banner_overlays to enable or disable overlays.
Overlays need at least one active banner underneath and are a Premium feature. See Banner playlists & overlays.
6. Do the same for your icon#
It's under Branding.
Use Playlists to create the same season names, then upload icons under Upload an icon and set each one's Playlist and Status in Icon images.
Set Change icon in Rotation interval, and switch the season in Active playlist.
Use /rotation_playlist type:Icons to switch the icon playlist from Discord.
7. Count down to your event#
An event timer renames a category or voice channel with a live countdown, then renames it again and posts a message when the time comes.
It's under Automation & alerts. Click Add event timer.
Under What to rename, set Apply to to Category or Voice Channel and pick it.
Under Countdown, set the Target date and time and a Name template like
🎃 Halloween in {time}.
Under When the time is reached, set an Ended name like 🎃 Halloween is live!, pick an
Event message channel and write an Embed message to announce it.
Click Create Timer.
Your channel list then shows something like:
🎃 Halloween in 3d 4h 20m
Discord only allows about 2 channel renames every 10 minutes, so the countdown updates every few minutes rather than every second. Free servers update at most every 10 minutes.
Set a Repeat interval (minutes) to restart the countdown automatically, or use Next timer ID to chain one event straight into the next.
A seasonal checklist#
Run through this at the start of each season:
- Upload any new banners and icons, and set their Playlist and Status.
- Switch Active playlist on the Banner manager and Icon manager pages.
- Enable the season's overlay with
/edit_banner_overlays, if you use one. - Create an event timer for the big day.
- Announce it, and invite members to submit art with
/upload_banner.
Troubleshooting#
The banner never changes#
- Your server needs Boost Level 2 for banners.
- Buddy needs Manage Server.
- At least one banner in the active playlist must be Active, not Pending or Disabled.
- Run
/banner_statusin Discord to see what Buddy is rotating.
The banner settings are greyed out#
Rotating banners from the dashboard needs Premium on this server.
My animated icon doesn't move#
Animated icons need Boost Level 1 or higher.
The countdown channel isn't renamed#
Buddy needs Manage Channels on that category or channel. Renames are limited by Discord, so give it a few minutes after creating the timer.
The countdown is off by a few hours#
Check the Target time in your timers list. If it's off by your time zone difference, edit the timer and adjust the Target date and time to match.