With the launch of our own new background design and working on various client backgrounds (check us out on Twitter @marketnet), we have some do’s and don’ts that we would like to share. There are as many approaches to profile presentation as there are types of people. And while we never discourage individuals and brands from creative presentation, these basic tips should help anyone present themselves well on a profile page.

1.    Do Maintain Brand Consistency. It only makes sense…but do it right. Making your logo as the background, doesn’t work for everyone.  My feeling is that if your brand recognition is so great that if you put a piece of fruit as your background and everyone knows you sell computers, then by all means go for it. But if you’re like the rest of us, we can do a bit more.  Brand is more than just your logo; it’s both brand image and experience.  Twitter really lends itself to offering a brand experience with the full image background. For example, when visiting the Ellen DeGeneres Show you get a feeling of experiencing the show in the moment. Impact that would be lost with only a logo. @TheEllenShow

2.    Don’t Do Nothing. Just in case that doesn’t make sense. Don’t do nothing. It is far too easy to do something.  Just change the color if you have to (although I hope you will do much more). By doing nothing, or worse picking a default twitter background, you will disappear in the sea of twitter pages.

3.    Don’t Take It Too Seriously. Lighten up. Tweeting is fun, so have fun with it. Let the background reflect the personality of you or your company.  I like what National Geographic Society has done. They feature a photograph as the background image. This speaks directly to who they are as a company and avoids getting hung up on too much messaging. @NatGeoSociety

4.    Do Consider Technical Issues. There aren’t many but they are important. Here they are in a nutshell:

• At different screen resolutions, different areas of the background are visible. What this really means is that the average user will only see about 150 pixels on the left side so design accordingly. Here are some .jpgs  so you can visualize it.

• The file size limit on the background image is 700k.

5.    Do Put Relevant Copy on Your Background, but nothing more. Please don’t write a novel down the side of your background. In most circumstances, your contact information like website, facebook, alternant twitter names, etc. are important to call out.  Maybe put your services and a short bio. Bulleted lists are very scanable and are always a great way to put information out there. But other than that, a large block of copy will go largely unread and just add clutter to your design.

6.    Do Choose Your Background Format. Twitter offers you a couple of ways for dealing with backgrounds. The tried and true tiled image is great for small file size and works at any monitor resolution. The single image fading to a color is also easy on the file size and load time, but offers another level of customization.  The full sized background image is harder to manage with file size limitations, but is limitless in its customization. As long as you go into it knowing that all areas may not be visible all the time, you really have some opportunities to be creative.

7.    Don’t Forget About Your Profile Picture. Many users will only know you by your avatar or profile picture when viewing twitter on mobile devices or tweet deck.  Profile pictures are viewed at many resolutions in these formats so make sure that it is high enough (at least 300pixels x 300 pixels).  It is also important that you choose a picture or company logo and stick with it. This image will become scanable as you tweet, followers could miss tweets if you change it too frequently.

8.    Do Make Sure Text is Legible. Typically 10-12 points are the minimum point size, depending on the font. Nothing is more annoying that hard to read text. Also make sure you have enough contrast between your text and background and be careful you don’t lose legibility with the compression of the image.

9.    Don’t Give Your Followers a Headache. Take it easy on the business of the background. MTV can go crazy if they want to (check out MTV’s profile) – their demographic supports that…but for the average tweep, it’s really distracting.  Generally speaking, the more successful backgrounds focus more on a single focal point fading to, either a pattern, texture or color. Of course there are exceptions, just be conscience of the contrast, something that is really high contrast and busy can get pretty overwhelming.

10.    Don’t Forget to Customize the Styles. Twitter won’t let you do much, but some is better than none.  You can adjust the Hex values of the background, text, links, sidebar and sidebar border by going to settings then to the design tab. One thing to keep in mind is even If you set a background image that will fill the entire background you will still need to choose a color. Before the background is fully loaded you will see a background color.

Thanks to:
the cool people at http://garmahis.com for their informative chart.
@NatGeoSociety
@TheEllenShow
@WholeFoods

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