A coil arrangement is provided that is configured to be used with a magnetic resonance imaging system. The arrangement can include a first coil element and a second coil element positioned adjacent to the first coil element. The second coil element may be different in size from the first coil element. The coil elements may be generally circular or rectangular in shape, or can have other shapes, and they may have different sizes from one another. In one exemplary embodiment, the coil elements overlap one another. In a further exemplary embodiment, three coil elements may be provided in an orientation such that a center coil is immediately adjacent to two outer coils, and the center coil element may be smaller than the outer coil elements. In still further exemplary embodiments, the coil elements may be configured in the form of a linear array or a two-dimensional array.