It should be no surprise that Google+ is gaining massive ground. Estimates over this weekend put the “small test group” at over 10 million active users already. That is a pretty amazing feat in such a short amount of time.
Some of you may notice a handful of your friends, or at least people you have added, sporting a nifty profile pic with the Google+ logo around it. I’m not sure about some of you, but I wanted one too. Thanks to an email I received over the weekend from Alankrut at XDA, we can now show you how.
 
 
 
Alan put together a template for Paint.net and explains how to use the template and offers up a few examples. It is really pretty simple. First install Paint.net. It is freeware and operates similar to Photoshop. Next download the template from Alan’s XDA thread. Then follow these simple instructions –
1) Download the “template.zip” file
2) Unzip the file
3) Open the “Profile_Pic_Temp.pdn” file using paint.NET
4) On the left a “Layers” window should have opened. In it make sure “Put Picture Here” is selected
5) Paste your picture into the workbench
6) If asked click “Keep Canvas Size”
7) Move picture to your liking
8) Click File>Save As> Change format to png or jpg and save to where you want
9) Go to your site of choice and set your new profile picture
10) Say Thanks and download the apps mentioned above
That’s all there is to it. You can use your new Google+ themed profile pic anywhere around the internet where you can upload a photo. As the examples show, it doesn’t have to a picture of yourself. Be creative and have fun with it. Alan will be putting together a Photoshop template at a later date, so keep up with his thread for updates if a PSD file is more your style.
Thanks for the Email Alan and your hard work on putting this together.
[Update] Alan just let us know that he has now added a Photoshop PSD file to his XDA post for those of you that have been waiting for it. He includes full instruction for the PSD as well as added support to allow you to move the G+ logo to a location of your liking.
Source: XDA
