One thing I love about Twitter is it’s simplicity. The concept is simple, the usage is simple and even the design is simple. As far as your theme is concerned you are restricted to changing a few colours and adding a background, keeping things nice and clean and ensuring the app doesn’t become a mess like MySpace did 
These restrictions limit our creativity boundaries so if you want to make an impression with your Twitter profile it all comes down to the background.
I’ve compiled a list of Twitter profiles who have impressive creative backgrounds, which I feel stand out above the rest. Feel free to share any you’ve come across and you can also follow me on Twitter.
Textures
1. @builtbybuffalo
2. @gabediaz
3. @designbyfront
4. @elliotjaystocks
Logos
5. @bittbox
6. @benek
7. @3drockz
8. @studio3k
9. @zohoinvoice
Photographs
10. @bookchiq
11. @ceidotorg
12. @chorrell
13. @nonlinear
Twitter Bird
14. @justtweetit
15. @darkmotion
Illustrations
16. @elitistsnob
17. @imajes
18. @flarup
19. @simplebits
20. @pixellent
Sky
21. @mayhemstudios
22. @divvoted
23. @collis
24. @rogieking
Colourful
25. @rsg
26. @abduzeedo
27. @bartelme
Patterns
28. @jophillips
29. @randaclay
30. @leelowe
Further reading
Some useful links for more Twitter inspiration. Check out Another 15 Beautiful Twitter Themes by Gopal. I came across it while writing this post, there’s a few duplicates but still worth a look.
- Twitter background guidelines
- Twitter status design
- 20+ Twitter bird designs
- 12 beautiful Twitter themes
Any more?
Suggest any Twitter profiles I haven’t mentioned below and feel free to follow me if you like.
About the author
Hi I'm Lee, a freelance web designer and masters student from Belfast Northern Ireland. Like this article? Feel free to follow me on Twitter.
Tags: backgrounds, gallery, inspiration, themes, twitter, Web Design
@gadgetboy’s done something quite clever and added in some more details about himself that wouldn’t fit in the standard options.
@markhall’s is also pretty neat.
Nice list, keep ‘em coming!
Nice list. Some really cool backgrounds there. It good to see what people come up with when they are restricted as to what they can do.
Thanks for including me! FYI, I got my background at twitterpatterns.com - free patterns for Twitter use.
Great post! Those are great, I love rogiekings. That site is amazing. Great choice of themes. I have recently updated my twitter here as well with a custom background.
http://twitter.com/ryancoughlin
Nice site by the way!
Ryan
I love my own, shamless plug, I know but still.
I should have mentioned that I don’t know if the Twitter profiles above are all the original creators of the backgrounds, these are just the profiles that caught my eye.
If there’s anyone you want to credit you can add their link in a comment.
Thanks for the comments so far. Plug your own profiles all you want
There are lots more interesting branding efforts like @garyvee and @pistachio and @problogger and mine at @dalecruse
lol another shameless plug : http://twitter.com/michaelmallon
i quite like mine, was going to use it on a friends band site but didnt.
Thanks for the mention!
I’ve listed a bunch of my favorites on my site, but a few highlights:
@rachelpradhan
@joeywan
@mcgstudio
Coalmarch productions has a great Twitter background, putting the poor Twitter bird coughing his way through a smoky landscape.
Thanks for including mine!
Not to be at all conceited … but I really like how the two custom Twitter backgrounds I recently made turned out.
One was for me: http://twitter.com/drastudio
The other was for a Twitter friend: http://twitter.com/summero
Honored to be mentioned among a great group of people. My background is actually the same one I made for my site.
Thanks again!
-Gabe
Hey Lee! Thanks a lot for including my Twitter page design, I’m in really great company here
Nice profiles! I love creative profiles, I have a few posts like this on my blog with some different ones if anyone is interested :). Thanks for rounding these up!
I hear that http://twitter.com/bccreative has a decent one…
Some very nice designs - particularly like the pixel art!
A great collection - maybe you could check out mine as well?
twitter.com/elitebydesign - thanks!
WOW! Thanks for including me on your list. Very cool backgrounds everyone!
- Cal
Whoah that’s it, I’m updating my Twitter profile!!!
take a look on my twitter profile too
http://twitter.com/syuxx
a great way to get people to follow you. hehe
oh, follows are always return!
Great post. Very interesting !
Thanks you very much, nice to meet you
Look at this http://twitter.com/eWeb, has a great color combination and nice background
Thanks for adding me on the list.
Thanks for featuring divvoted.com! It’s all the work of our man wez (twitter.com/wezmaynard) If you take a look at http://divvoted.com there is also a natty island - we’re looking for ideas for new buildings if anyone wants to contribute!!
Dan
Beautiful background!
Cool Designs! I like my design too! Took me awhile to come up with it.
http://www.twitter.com/tywebbin
http://www.twitter.com/jasonwalz
Some really great additions here guys, thanks for the comments and links to your profiles. I think it’s time I do something creative with my profile now http://twitter.com/leemunroe
Nice gallery. Some of them are really good.
Thank you so much for including Just Tweet It
Finally got around to making my Twitter background http://www.twitter.com/leemunroe with a bit of help from http://vectortuts.com/illustration/create-a-twitter-style-bird-mascot/
Wander over
http://twitter.com/ProfessorTwit
http://twitter.com/tiffany_d_smith
http://twitter.com/pinkolivefamily
http://twitter.com/michaelhyatt
http://twitter.com/growyourfaith
http://twitter.com/imagedesigns
These are awesome! I’m inspired!
Some greats on the list here. I design custom twitter backgrounds and a favourite of mine is http://twitter.com/tedmurphy. I quite like my own too http://twitter.com/traceymeagher!
Another thing to keep in mind when designing your Twitter backgrounds. Try to keep any important info within 700 px or less from the top. Laptops/macbook will cut off info if it’s too far down the page, depends on the size of the laptop/macbook screen.
My assistant just made me a new background. I love it. Thought you might like to see it.
http://twitter.com/marcwarnke
thanks, these will help me design a better one for myself