This post has taken an interesting turn. My original thought was to feature individuals, as well as big brands in this set of examples. That turns out to be an entirely different post, as few big brands have actually “branded” their Twitter backgrounds. Valuable no cost space to show their unique brand, being wasted. Why? Maybe it was over looked as they hashed out their ROI justifications.
What the big brands have missed, the savvy business professionals have not. What do I mean? Take a look at these creative backgrounds, not only shows their brand, but also contains useful information in addition to the mini bio of 160 characters and your single URL link.
Sonny Gill
In this background Sonny Gill has managed to show his brand logo, email, AOL IM, Google Talk and shows the symbols of six of his other networks; Linkedin, Plurk, Facebook, Digg and StumbleUpon.
It is simple, clean and sleek, yet packed with valuable information.
Armano
I am constantly inspired by David Armano’s graphic illustrations, so it was no surprise his Twitter background would be as inspiring. He has his brand logo, expanded bio and information of address for five other networks. As a personal touch, a photograph of his motorcycle, showing more of his personality and interests.
Mayhem Studios
Calvin Lee updated his background just yesterday. Thank you Calvin! He gave me one more great example for my this post. He has managed to show his brand logo, website, blog and email addresses. In addition, four alternative network addresses, he is available to engage; on Linkedin, Bizmik, Facebook and Skype.
Michael Bertoldi
In this simple, clean and sleek. Michael Bertoldi has his brand logo, email address and five symbols of other networks he engages his community; Linkedin, Deli.cio.us, Facebook, Digg and StumbleUpon.
Amber Naslund (aka AmberCadabra)
Amber Naslund’s Twitter background is simple, clean and has focus on her branding. She has matched the images, log and colors between her Twitter background and her blog. Nice transition and no doubt it is the same brand.
Cheryl Smith
Cheryl Smith’s Twitter background is a great example of branding. Her Twitter background is clean, simple and has focus on her branding. What is most nice is when you go from Twitter page to blog. The transition is smooth and almost transparent.
Need help creating a custom or semi custom background?
Not everyone wants to spend precious time on branding, yet wants to set their Twitter page apart, so I have listed a few sources to help those who want to create something, quick and easy. Here are a few websites to help, some services are free, others have are fee based.
Twitbacks -This application allows you to be creative, without any design or illustration skills. You can add your name, company, website, blog, bio, photo, logo, phone, email, twitter name and add social network icons. As of this post, the service is free.
Twitterbacks – They make it simple for those with Photoshop or any software capable of editing a PSD file. Go ahead and download a file and construct your own Twitter background.
There are many other great backgrounds out there and over time I will locate and enjoy more. If you have a good background, please drop a comment and give us your Twitter page link. I also made a Flickr album with more backgrounds I have admired.
Conclusion
Have you looked at your Twitter background? Do any of these samples inspire you? Will you create your own creative background? If you create or always have a creative Twitter background, please post a comment with a link. All creativity welcome.
I admire these professionals for thinking outside the box and taking advantage of what has been missed by many big brands. To learn more about them, click their Twitter Background. Enjoy.
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Tags: Branding, photoshop, Social Media, twitter, twitter background
Appreciate the shout Tawny! I’m always inspired by minimalistic design that still gives value to who sees it. I’m glad you dug it
Tawny
Great article and very cool backgrounds. Thanks for featuring my profile.
- Cal
My link is to article list.. But I will take any helps on making branding better.
This is insipring blog and even with all your help I think I’ll have to have my kidlet read and apply it for me! Very cool examples and I love the thinking outside the box.
THANKS
Nice to see several twitter backgrounds and catch a glimpse of what others are doing to maintain a consistent brand profile. Michael Hyatt has a really cool twitter background as well at http://www.twitter.com/michaelhyatt done by Matt Clark at http://tweetpages.com.
My twitter background was done by http://www.myklroventine.com/.
There are so many great resources out there, particularly for people like me, who don’t have the graphics skills!
[...] Vote Get Creative with Your Twitter Background [...]
Thanks for the post.
on my screen, however, Twitter backgrounds always look like they’re too big for the page they’re on. After seeing this collection, I wonder if it’s my screen settings…
Love these backgrounds, though they always give me too many new ideas. I think I’m on my fourth or fifth different Twitter background by now!
http://twitter.com/coryobrien
Innoventions: “Get Creative with Your Twitter Background” http://tinyurl.com/6an8ox
I’ve been designing twitter backgrounds for myself to incorporate my brand also. But with the holidays approaching, I’ve departed a bit from my traditional look and feel to add in the holiday look.
http://twitter.com/ekmedia
and for client branding, I created this for my favorite dog kennel in Austin: http://twitter.com/dogboysdogranch (that’s the owner’s dog, Noodle).
I’m loving Mayhem Studio’s design!
Thanks for the great inspiration.
Tawny,
Thanks for the look! This post inspired me to you know what… change my background… but of course you have seen it by now. Thanks again! Great Post and some really nice backgrounds!
Michael
An inspiring and helpful post. Thank you. A tip for anyone using twitbacks and wanting to use the “disguised” version of an email address (as in : twitbacks will not accept this and will make you go back and re-type, but in the process will have cleared all the fields of what you just now typed in so creatively. So use an email in full mode or not at all, is my suggestion.
Some good ones there.
I created my own Twitter bird for my background
Make sure and check out Lee Munroe’s 30 Creative Twitter Backgrounds for some more.
Sorry for the late comment! I’m catching up on my RSS!
This is such a great idea! Can’t wait to try it out myself!
Just noticed this on here so thought I’d test the Twitter ID out.
K-IntheHouse’s last blog post..3 Great Ways to Run Gmail From Desktop
Last one is nice “cherylsmith” one