Commonly referred to as a micro-blogging site, Twitter is a world wide conversation where each individual voice is clearly heard. My Mom always told me to “dress to impress” but when your having conversations with people all around the world and down the street, its hard to look your best through a computer screen, right? Try again. Your twitter page should be a visual summary of yourself version of you, your company or your organization’s persona in 800 Kilobytes of information or less.
Like most web design, its not the pretty pictures that matter- it’s the content. However, I find the higher the quality the image or graphics the more likely I am to linger on a page. A picture is worth a thousand words, at least that’s what I hear.
As a former Adobe Student Rep I am a big fan of the creative suite and its tools, but as long as the image you plan on posting for your (non-tiled) twitter design is 1208×1024 pixels any design software will work. My legal version of CS4 is updating itself as I type. There are three main sections to work with, the top banner and the two gutters to the left and right of the twitter content. When designing your image its best to leave plenty of room for your twitter content. How you choose to design from there is entirely up to you. If you’re designing for an organization or yourself, keep in mind your branding strategy. Knowing who you are as a person or organization and be sure your design fits the personality you are trying to convey. I can appreciate when brands take that extra step to make sure everything flows with the same feeling over several media outlets, it helps me to recognize the brand faster. Keep in mind colors that work well together to tie your background in with the rest of the site, you have the options to change your text, links and sidebar colors of the twitter content. Keep the theme alive. Keeping the theme alive can be the difference between a nice background and a great overall design. Don’t be afraid use your imagination, it won’t bite.
The beauty of twitter is the freedom to design your own background and the opportunity to take part in the worldwide conversation that is the twitter-sphere, giving you the chance to follow and be followed. (not in a creepy way of course.)
