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
Lee Munroe is a freelance web designer from Belfast Northern Ireland. Like this article? Feel free to follow Lee 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
You should check out @gopoplabs (twitter.com/gopoplabs). Twitter theme is tied to corporate brand poplabs.com
hey love the list! @colleenmccann my little sis’s is still my favourite, ties in with her site too
Check out http://twitter.com/followtowin. Very creative concept and Twitter page!
check out this twitter background: http://www.twitter.com/hectorgarcia
Lovely twitter themes. I think it really adds to the experience to have a custom twitter design. I found a free template to create your own twitter theme here. Going to take some inspiration from this list and get busy.
Very nice list! I’d use them if I didn’t believe in your own skills. Check out my background, it’s minimalistic, but very clean and I <3 red.
http://twitter.com/petersebastian
Here’s another background with a twitter type bird used in the logo. http://www.twitter.com/twittstop
thanks… the above piece are great…. love them all
Guys, I am looking for someone who can help me design a twitter page. A nice one with brand info and strategy included.
My regards.
Ola
Afridrums, we offer Twitter background design services at Dunamis Media. You can click on our name to visit our site. thanks.
Never fear… TweetPages.com is here
Stop by to view our infamous eye-popping, gorgeous, everyone’s-gotta-have-it TweetPages!
Can any of your guys do a branded facebook page has well
Ola
Pretty nice themes, I’ve just selected bricks from above.
Pak America Media Services
bitbox also have a great intentions…
Glad to see this post is still getting hits and suggestions. The themes with extra info down the side are getting very popular.
Keep your suggestions coming.
These are great designs, do check, my brother’s page: http://twitter.com/_cc
Some really great backgrounds!
People are really starting to put hard work into
their designs.
This one here is pretty cute!
http://twitter.com/TrafficBug
http://www.twitter.com/joshcole
How about this: http://twitter.com/izzimk11
We just posted our Fave5 Twitter backgrounds at Twitterstop.com
Excellent Themes,twwted ad one theme.
Thanks
I love my own ‘out of the box’ twitter
Thanks for posting Lee
Great themes!
Education & Information Network
Very nice compilations of twitter backgrounds, would definitely need some inspirations to create one. I personally find that Free Twitter Designer works well for me. Convenient, easy to use & less complexity in the tool-controls. This review may help in guiding through the process,which isn’t too difficult at all.
@wchingya
Social Media/Blogging
I like mine
http://www.twitter.com/arunpattnaik
Hi Lee
http://twitter.com/gfxmaven
Plug, I know
Afridrums, send me a DM at my twitter page @gfxmaven if you still need some help.
I love the kind of stuff, since web development is made so easy!
Web Development
@pedrofrigerio
http://twitter.com/pedrofrigerio
A different version of original theme 8 design of twitter. Yellow birds flying over the brown sky but unfortunately one of them was shot by my uncontrolled shadow.
This is one cool list. I particularly like the swirls and very colorful backgrounds for twitter.
Just a quickie: if anyone requires a CUSTOM Twitter background for corporate or personal use, DM me @gfxmaven http://twitter.com/gfxmaven.
I dig DesignBay’s layout (http://twitter.com/designbay_com)
Some very nice Twitter pages that inspired the Cockybox to create one of its own.
Here’s the Cockybox Twitter page - http://twitter.com/cockybox
Twitter Gallery,Thanks a lot.
Now that I have seen these theme backgrounds I am off to try my hand at my own background.
Give me a little bit and follow me @ http://twitter.com/Minadin
Some very nice backgrounds. What do you guys think of ours?
http://twitter.com/occupybaby
There are some cute TWITTER BACKGROUND at http://www.allpattern.net also ! Love for share
wow..really cool twitter bacjground….it’s inspiring me
the only problem with IE6, is not support PNG, IE6 is faster, lightheight, more simple… i´dont understand, why people hate ie6, i hate IE7 this browser is terrible and i dislike FF because the tabs control, is dificult to locate a page, and the time to start is too high.
hope u like dis one too ..
http://twitter.com/dileepiscalling
It may be time to do this post again~ Here’s mine:
http://twitter.com/shadohart
wow, thanks for he post I will try to use one of these in mine ..
Regards ,
My site is http://www.twitter.com/sevensoul. Ad me all please! Bye!
I just looked through all of my followings and @LaphroaigWhisky is a nice one
Thanks for the list. This is very helpful.
Over 90 Twitter Backgrounds Here
I love this classy one: http://www.twitter.com/tubebutler
Great post. Very interesting !
Thanks you very much, nice to meet you
Woow..Good to see “Zoho Invoice” on the list. A neat display for inspiration, thank you.
Nagendra
Take a look at my twitter background.Simple but gets the attention with the pattern and color.
Hi Lee!
I really like several of these designs you’re making available. Do you design templates like this yourself? Also, I’d like to get an idea of what kind of work you do. If you could send me an email with perhaps a website or URL I could at with a list of sites you’ve done or something, that would be great!
Thanks!
Rick Upshaw
I just went back and read my previous post again. LOL Let me clarify!
I know there is a portfolio right here on this site. What I meant by “portfolio” was a portfolio (if you have any) of Twitter designs you’ve done.
@Rick…
Greetings Rick… you can view a portfolio of the backgrounds that I have created here… http://tweetpages.com/view-the-designs-here
@Rick: I don’t provide that service I’m afraid but check out Matts above
Good to see a designer helping to make Twitter a more beautiful place. Their blue branding is great but a custom background really stands out. I just designed these 2 for my clients. Check them out!
http://twitter.com/HairFlix
http://twitter.com/glampalm
Another interesting way to use twitter is as a content management system of sorts. I took the time to use the simple widget that twitter offers and style it to be the system that drives and feeds the information on my site JasonsPetPeeves.com.
Check it out. I’d be happy to answer any questions you have about it.
Jason Hess
jhess82@gmail.com
If anyone see’s this would they be as kind as to leave a comment on my design. I’m welsh hence the sheep yet do you think that using jpeg’s is a cop out…. Many thanks.
I thank you for your article.
I followed these links and found, that you don’t actually have to pay to get cool Twitter backgrounds. I found many web pages, which also offer cool and interesting design for Twitter and you can get them for free.
I hope that this will help you and the readers of this blog. Thank you again and I encourage you to write even more articles like this. They inspire a lot!
Here is the link to article an article, which I wrote: http://fr.ee/article/where-to-find-free-twitter-backgrounds
Check out:
http://www.twitter.com/teenarose
He-he. Thanks. It’s really useful
thank you everybody .This very important blog