The digital age has given academia opportunities outside of the ivory tower and from the dusty shelves of university libraries. It lives online. In the world of research, professors, researchers and PhD candidates have turned LinkedIn into a very useful tool to store their professional profile. It’s the place of citations, and it’s where collaborations begin to take root, and opportunities for funding. But, although so important, many academics do not pay attention to what is a vital part of their profile – the background banner. The headshot is to let people know who you are and the banner is to let people know what you do. It’s the digital real estate which can convey your area of study, institutional affiliation and authority in just a single look. With a sea of generic blue backgrounds, it is essential that you make use of a LinkedIn Banner Maker. From the tenured professor to the graduate student making his or her debut, these tips will help you make your profile a lively academic portfolio.
Why the visual matters in academia
In order to come up with design ideas, it is important to have an understanding of the psychology of the profile view. In just a few moments, a visitor to your profile makes an unconscious decision, whether it’s a journal editor, grant reviewer or prospective student. The background that is “default” implies a passive state. A good banner indicates a purposeful and organized message, and a contemporary style for your business area.
Use the LinkedIn Banner Creator and you have the storytelling; let’s face it, you’re in charge of the LinkedIn story. One can use them to visually present complex research areas, showcase your university brand or the latest publication. Easy to create equivalent to a well-organised Conference Poster but accessible 24 hours a day and to a worldwide audience.
The first of the “Research Focus” Aesthetics is “Visualizing the Abstract
A good use of a banner would be to depict your field of study. This is ideal for fields such as biology, chemistry, environmental science, and others.
The idea is to leverage top-notch images that go with your niche. For Marine Biology use a deep sea photograph. For those in data science, use a representation of a neural network or data clusters in an abstract way.
How to execute it:
Upload the image you want to use to your LinkedIn Banner Maker and use a dark overlay (opacity 50-70%). Finally, add written text in a clean, sans-serif font (such as Montserrat, Roboto, or any other font that looks clean and clear) that specifies your focus. For instance: “Marine Biologist with a specialty in Coral Reef Restoration”.
Don’t use of low resolution stock photos that are generic. Avoid using clip art material, where possible use original pictures from field or lab activities. This authenticity is not only with peers, but with the public as well.
A “Published Author” Showcase is currently underway
Many academics consider citations to be ‘currency. You want to share your knowledge and expertise with the world as an author. It is especially helpful to students in the humanities and social sciences, who are required to produce a book or a paper.
The Concept: Make a banner looking like a bookshelf, or a display of covers to your most important publications.
How to execute it:
With a LinkedIn Banner Maker, you can be able to create a collage. Attach the spines or covers of the books you’ve published or PDFs of your top 3 journal articles at the bottom of the banner. Use top ⅔ of the paper for text.
Consider using: “Author of The History of Modern Thought, with over 50 peer-reviewed publications. This immediately makes you look more knowledgeable and senior at the moment.
3. The “Educator & Mentor” brand
For those of you who are primarily teaching, your LinkedIn profile should be a marketing tool to get the best students and mentees in your classroom. Your banner should be inviting and able to convey a message.
The Idea: A warm, high contrast banner with a list of teaching philosophy or the courses you teach.
How to execute it:
Fill the background with color which is similar to your University’s color scheme but lighter than the words. In the banner, include your major/academic advising area(s). For instance: “Professor of Economics,
Teaching: Macroeconomics, Game Theory and Public Policy.
Also feel free to add a “Call to Action” (CTA). Students will be interested in finding a mentor, so a line such as “Open to supervision of PhD candidates in Econometrics” will prove to be very effective. This is where a LinkedIn Banner Maker can turn into a device to be utilized for recruitment, instead of a decoration.
The “Conference Speaker” and Networker
Academia is a social good organization. Attending conferences to present papers, networking and collaborating. It’s great to get your name out there in the academic world, and your banner is a great venue.
The Idea: This is a banner that is dynamic and keeps the focus on the event, and showcases you as a thought leader.
How to execute it:
Use a headshot of yourself if you have one that you have used for a big conference presentation (be sure it’s blurred enough to see the text). Or create a logo collage of past conferences that you have spoken at or past institutions that you have been a guest lecturer at. The following text is an example of ideas that can be used in a text: “Keynote Speaker | Global Health Policy | Connecting Research to Practice. It makes it clear to other scholars that you are a member of the scholarly community and that you are an active, contributing member.
5. The “Minimalist Professional” Branding
Sometimes you can do more with less! A cacophony of banners may be unprofessional in certain areas, such as the legal profession or philosophy or theoretical mathematics. It’s all about simplicity, clean lines and good typography.
The Background: A plain, light colored design with a light, geometric outline or line, and your name and title in a large font.
How to execute it:
To choose a template to use for your LinkedIn banner, try using a LinkedIn Banner Maker and pick one with the “Negative Space” option. Pick a background color that will help your headshot be visible above and to the left of the image (overlapping the bottom left corner). Write your name on the top, your post-nominal letters (e.g., PhD, JD, MD) and your specialty of study (e.g., computer science) in the middle or on the right.
This style implies the statement “I am serious, focused and professional in my discipline.” It cuts out the visual clutter, and lets the text and your experience section on your profile do the talking.
Design Principles for Academic
Whatever idea you select, there are rules of design that the academics need to adhere to in order to be credible. Rigour is highly appreciated in academia, and so should be in your banner.
Readability is King: The use of experimental fonts should be avoided in the banner. Be sure to use standard, easy to read typefaces. Keep in mind that the banner is a rectangle that’s horizontal; text that is too tall will be cut off on mobile devices.
Remember, the most popular colour used for academic branding is blue, which can be interpreted as trust, intellect, but use your university’s colours if they are available. If your school has a specific color scheme, including maroon and gold, will instantly align your school with those colors.
Resolution: No photo looks unprofessional like a pixilated photo. Make sure that your banner is a minimum of 1584 x 396 pixels. A good LinkedIn Banner Maker will have templates that have these very dimensions.
Keep in mind the “Headshot Zone” when making your banner – the bottom left corner of your banner will be covered with your profile picture. Don’t place anything that is important like text or images in that area, since it will be obscured.
Conclusion
Your LinkedIn banner is the digital version of a lab coat or a tweed jacket with elbow patches; it’s a uniform that is meant to indicate that you’re a member of the academic tribe. You are the first person in the world to let them know what type of scholar you are by the way that you look. Using a LinkedIn Banner Maker is the way you’re creating your academic brand. You’re leaving what is typical for what is specific. A custom banner may be a show-stopper for your published products or your teaching philosophy, or simply the beauty of your research subject – no matter what you select, it’s in your professional future. It calls for the collaboration of others, draws in students, and makes your voice heard in the global academic dialogue. Make your banner current – your research is worth being noticed!