Choosing the right color palette for your page

Whether you’re creating or updating your about.me page, selecting the colors for your page can be a daunting task. Choosing the right color palette directly impacts how effectively you communicate the information on your page. But it doesn’t have to be so daunting. Here are some answers to your questions about choosing colors for your page.

How many colors should I choose?

While this is a hugely debated question, a good number of designers recommend using three main colors on a website. The platform currently enables you to choose a color for your Name, Headline, Bio Text, Links, Page Background, and Bio Background. We recommend choosing one color for your Bio Background and a second color, which contrasts with your Bio Background, for your Name, Bio Text. Finally, we suggest selecting a third color (which also contrasts with your Bio Background) for your Headline and Links. This will make them stand out.

How do I find colors that go well together?

There are several different color rules you can follow when trying to find complimentary colors. Some of the easiest tools we’ve found are sites like Adobe Kuler that help you choose complimentary colors when you start by picking one color on the color wheel.

Are there tools on about.me to help me choose the right colors?

Yes! Our Color tab in the Edit Page panel can definitely help you pick the right color. Simply click one of the color boxes and our helpful color selector will pop up. The color selector has several suggestions based on the colors in your background image. You can also use the circular color picker button (right next to the color number) and you’ll be able to hover directly over a part of your background image to select that specific color.

How do I evoke a certain emotion with the colors I choose?

Color psychology is another thing to consider when choosing the colors for your page. Here’s a list of colors and their most common meanings:

Red: energy, passion, power
Blue: coolness, freedom, loyalty, patience
Yellow: light, optimism, happiness, joy
Green: life, health, wealth, prosperity
Orange: friendliness, warmth, courage
Purple: peace, wisdom, royalty, sophistication
White: freshness, cleanliness, youth
Black: power, elegance, mystery
Pink: romance, playfulness
Brown: comfort, strength, stability

Do you have some examples?

Of course! If you’re looking for examples of pages with great color palettes, check out our team’s collection of Pages with Amazing Color Schemes.

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How To: Take a background photo with your smartphone

Not everyone has access to a camera or a photographer, but one in five people around the world now have a smartphone (crazy, right?!). While some of the most beautiful about.me pages have high resolution photos, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to visually tell your story with just a smartphone. Here are steps to taking a great shot with your phone to use as your about.me background.

(1) Consider composition. Turn your phone horizontally, and take a photo with you on either the far left or far right. If you’d like to get technical, follow the “rule of thirds.” Composing shots this way is a standard practice of many professional photographers and also a good way to leave space for your biography section on about.me. You don’t want anything to block that beautiful body or face of yours, do you?

(2) Choose your landscape wisely. Try to find a unique spot to take your photo. Red brick, graffiti, white walls, city skylines, and beaches are examples of ideal places to take a photo. This photo was taken in front of a house, so don’t worry if you can’t hop on the highest rooftop in your city.

(3) Use photo filters. Take advantage of smartphone apps like VSCO, and play with different filters to add some artistic spice.

BONUS: Above all else, be yourself and don’t be afraid to show your personality!

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She’s Got the [Visually Creative] Power: USC Student Jordan Caldwell

“Visuals play into my day-to-day life as I am preparing images and digital animations,” said Jordan Caldwell, a student at the University of Southern California.

In the spring, the work that she is doing now will be showcased in an installation about color and music at USC. Do you recognize Jordan from the most recent Students of the Week post where we featured USC?

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Page Tips: The Creative Lens

Creative types view life as a journey of self-expression. Thus, creative professionals can find it hard to identify with platforms that don’t give their users the opportunity to express themselves visually. Creatives observe everything. Naturally, this is reflected in their professional careers: they pay excruciating attention to detail, ask big questions, and aren’t afraid to take risks. The about.me platform enables creative types to showcase their work without losing touch with their personality.

Brett Henley‘s page is a great example of how creatives can tell their story on our platform, and foster engagement amongst users. Since the last time we checked, it seems like Brett has updated his page a little bit and we can learn from both versions. In this post we’re going to dissect his page so that you too can create a compelling page, whether or not you consider yourself a creative type.

Background Photo
Brett clearly understands the rules of photo composition. When you’re selecting your background photo, try to keep these things in mind:

Keep it simple. This is your page, so naturally, you should be in the photo, but try to keep it simple, while still expressing some of your personal style. Imagine a camera crew following you around one day; what is the best image they can capture of you that visually tells your story?
Avoid the middle. This allows you to have space for your biography section, without cluttering your page.

Headline + Biography
Remember, you are more than your job title. Be creative in the way you write about yourself. Oftentimes when asked what we do in our careers we say, “Director of…but really I do X, Y, and Z.” Use this space as an arena to explain that X, Y, and Z, but don’t forget to tell your story not just professionally, but personally, too. On Brett’s page, instead of just writing “Co-Founder and Writer,” he showed his personality by using phrases like “Chief Smasher of B.S.” and “Instigate where needed.”

Whether you’re making a new about.me page, or updating your existing one, take a step back and view it as an empty canvas waiting for your creative expression. As always, if you need help or just want some feedback on your page, feel free to send us a tweet or visit our support page. Don’t forget to visit Brett‘s live page and send him a compliment!

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How to Get on the Popular Page

Want to end up on the top-chart of about.me known as the Popular page? Use these tips to improve your page and impress your viewers!

High Definition

Use a good, clear image of yourself. While illustrated, landscape, and other creative backgrounds often make it to Popular, a photo of you is the best bet to maximize your chances.

We recommend an image that’s 1680 x 1050 pixels at 72 DPI. Most large high-resolution images will look great, but make sure it’s no larger than 5mb. After you’ve uploaded your image, try selecting the ‘Fill Window’ setting. This will make sure you page looks great on both small screens like a tablet or massive massive, batcave-sized monitors.

One final piece: don’t let your biography box cover your face! If needed you can reduce the size of your name and headline text. This will slim your entire biography box, allowing text to fit without obscuring your face.

Easy Reader

In addition to having a clear image, making the text on your page easy to read will help your page be more appealing. Avoid these common mistakes:

Blocks of Neon text
Text the same color as the background
Text over a ‘busy’ pattern.

A splash of colorful text can grab your reader’s attention, but too much will make your words illegible. Take the magazine approach: bold and colorful titles, simple paragraphs. There’s a reason no one prints articles in lime green.

It’s also important to have contrast between the text color and the color or image behind the words. If your background image makes it so there are multiple colors or shapes behind your biography text, you can make the Biography Box itself more opaque.

Chris Graham displays the use of a semi-transparent bio box perfectly on his page. Chris made his text clearly readable despite the light & dark woodgrain by using a dark color bio box and light text.

You are the Destination

To make it to Popular, lots of people have to interact with your page. Help this happen by adding Interest (aka ‘Tags’) to your page. Alan Weibel (above) included “User Experience” as his first interest. You can edit your page to display your primary interest at any time.

In addition to making your interests visible on about.me, drawing outside visitors to your page is a major help as well. If you have not already done so, add yout about.me link to your email signature. If you use Twitter or Pinterest, include the link in your bio. The more traffic to your page the better.

Engage

A stay on the Popular page guarantees a major increase in attention and engagement with your page. Check out who is currently popular to see examples of stylish about.me pages, and click over to the Featured section for more handpicked gems.

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The Rule of Thirds

Are you ready to make the most of your upcoming holidays photo opportunities?

We are entering the festive season, full of family, friends, and fun. It’s also the most furiously photographed time of year. Follow our one piece of advice to get the most out of your photo opportunities.

Thinking in Thirds

When you take a photo, use the ‘rule of thirds’ to create a more captivating image. The concept of thirds in photos is a guideline, not a law. Yet improving your photo composition is an awesome way to take better photos without having to buy any new photo equipment. From Wikipedia:

“The guideline proposes that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.”

Can you see what they are talking about? Lets break it down using an example from the Popular page.

Diana Tarré has a wonderful background image. There many positives on the page, like the depth of field in the photo and the great natural lighting. However, what I like about the page is the overall visual balance created by paying attention to the rule of thirds.

The orange grid helps show that Diana is framed on the left vertical third line. Photographing Diana in this way creates a visually appealing image and a perfect about.me background.

Two-for-One

Using the vertical ‘third lines’ to guide your snapshot accomplishes two goals: makes a more interesting photo and helps balance your about.me page.

When you align the subject of your image on a third line, you leave room for adding your biography without covering anything important. This setup avoids the awkward text-over-your-face phenomenon, which is great for you and people viewing your page.

On about.me, your thumbnail image appears in search results, on the Featured and Popular pages, as well as on your Home dashboard. This smaller thumbnail version of your page does not include you biography box, just your background photo.

The best pages on about.me have background images that can stand alone, and also look great with the biography included.

When you are gathered with friends this holiday season, use the rule of thirds to take better photos. After teaching your friends or family about the rule, remember to ask someone take a photo of you for your about.me page.

If all goes well, you will have great photo ready to update your about.me page in the New Year!

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Easy and creative photo editing

Your about.me background image is a representation of who you are and should be reserved for photos that make you look awesome. This blog post is for those of us who want to edit photos without spending money or dealing with any complex photo editing suites. I went in search of some solutions to make my photos look awesome and creative with doing as minimum amount of work as possible. 😛

MakeRetro is super easy to use. It lets you upload any image and add a filter to it. Think Instagram for the web and you have MakeRetro.

Pixlr is a little more advanced. Pixlr has the Retro vintage effects like MakeRetro, but also lets you use a browser-based photo editor where you can do just about anything to any of your photos.

JpgFUN is exactly what the title promises. The website has many pre-set images that you can plug any image into. Above you can see that I added my photo to a Ugly Betty image. I had a lot of fun with this one, check out the medallion fifty has on below (all I had to do is click one button and people probably think I’m creative and awesome now). 🙂

Enjoy!

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How many colors should I choose?

How do I find colors that go well together?

Are there tools on about.me to help me choose the right colors?

How do I evoke a certain emotion with the colors I choose?

Do you have some examples?

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High Definition

Easy Reader

You are the Destination

Engage

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Thinking in Thirds

Two-for-One

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