Avatars and Visual "Branding"

Over in the blogging tips discussion, this has come up a few times. Do you have an avatar? do you change it around? Talk about them, maybe try some out here and get feedback...

I use this same avatar everywhere that I have pictorial avatars. This wasn't clever marketing on my part, just a combination of laziness and a profound lack of self-photos that I'm willing to post on the internet. But it's turned out to be a good idea. I've had people recognize me from different forums because of it.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Trish Collins on January 16, 2009 at 5:35pm

Interesting question. My avatar, the pin up girl who's waving, I grabbed because I have a ridiculous lack of current pictures, and I love pin up girls. So it was an obvious choice, especially since when I finally settled on a header, it was of a pin up girl who's reading. Like Nicola, I didn't intend to "brand" myself, but at this point I do it intentionally. I've got that picture everywhere you can have an avatar (which is just about everywhere). What I like about it is that it stands out without being garrish. I stressed over what to do about an avatar when I first started my blog. I don't think it's easy to find just the right picture...

Permalink Reply by Nicola O. on January 16, 2009 at 5:46pm

Yours definitely has a lot of personality, Trish!

Mine works because I like my smile, I think the way I've cropped it emphasizes the eyes, and the little bit of blue in the background goes with the colors on my blog. It doesn't seem too clashy with most of the backgrounds it has ended up on.

I hadn't really thought of it as "branding" until you mentioned it, but I think it really does work that way, especially on blogger where it shows up in comments as well as my blog home page.

Permalink Reply by Trish Collins on January 16, 2009 at 6:11pm

Yours is one of the better picture avatars that I've seen, Nicola. Here's what I like about it: it's easy to see *you*. By that I mean the contrast is just right (you're not washed out by the background being too bright), the tilt of your head is at a fun angle, and you just look so dang friendly!

AND, if you were to change your blog design, I'm willing to bet this avatar would fit right in to whatever you chose. :-)

Permalink Reply by Susan Stephenson on January 16, 2009 at 6:28pm

There are so many little details to consider with branding and building a platform, aren't there?

Because I am both children's writer and kidlit blogger, I wanted a pic that was fun and youthful. Alas, I tried massive airbrushing and photoshop but I still looked all of my 57 years.

My blogging persona is the Book Chook. (A chook is a hen in Australia) What I really wanted for my Book Chook blog was a great cartoon-type illustration of a hen, reading to several chickens. I asked an illustrator I work with, but she is so busy she hasn't had time to do it. And I needed a picture fast.

So I picked at random a photo I'd taken when I was fooling around with a great little program called comiq life magic. It's a picture of an elf who usually sits on my computer desk and disparages my writing. Because I've been busy joining blog directories and network sites all over the web, that picture has now become my default avatar.

I'd still love a chooky pic, but the thought of changing all those others just defeats me! However, I'm only too happy to listen to feedback on it.

Nicola, your smile really is memorable. I love the pic and feel a little as if I "know" you from seeing it at Book Blogs. And Trish, it's great that you found a pic that can be made small without losing any of its detail and clarity. It's got such a lot of joie de vie about it.

Permalink Reply by Maw Books on January 16, 2009 at 7:41pm

Great discussion!

I am a strong believer in the whole branding thing! Yes, use the same avatar and the same username everywhere!!

I'm a member of tons and tons of directories, social networks and forums. I use the same name, the same avatar and the same color scheme on all of my profile pages. It's not laziness, Nicola! It's smart.

You want people to recognize you right away and not have any doubt who you are. As for my avatar, it's my cute husband reading as a child. I have a photo on my blog that's me reading a book as a child and it would make more sense if I used me instead of him. But dang. He's super cute as a baby (and still is).

WordPress blogs pull their avatars from gravatar.com. I have a lot of people who comment on my blog that I wish would sign up! So go sign up! I love being able to see visually who's leaving the comment. For example, Trish - I have like 3 Trish's who all leave comments on my blog and I always have to check to see which one they are. Most of the time I can tell from the comment, but not always.

Also, there is a new WordPress plug-in that will pull avatars from Twitter. I'm going to install this when I get a second.

Permalink Reply by Trish Collins on January 16, 2009 at 7:43pm

You know, WordPress just acquired the company that did gravatars, so I'm wondering if I comment on your blog if my gravatar would show up now. Hmmm...

MmHM! Just like I thought! It worked! Can I say I love WordPress? They're always trying to improve their product, especially what you get for free. An amazing company.

AND, I just have to say, that having the same username is nice if your username is unusual...but for whatever reason, heylady is always taken. So most of my usernames are my first and last name. I'm so clever.

Permalink Reply by Maw Books on January 16, 2009 at 10:55pm

I remember when I first started my blog, my sister said to choose something that would be memorable. I don't know that many people with my last name and what would the chances be that they blog about books? Honestly, that's how I chose my blog name and my username. Boring but maybe clever too?

Permalink Reply by chrisbookarama on January 16, 2009 at 7:43pm

I use the girl in my avatar a lot. It's from an old Moll Flanders cover (though it doesn't seem to have anything to do with her). I just like it because she's looking at the sea. I love to look at the sea. I'm not a red head though.

My blogger avatar is red maple leaves. I'm Canadian. I took that photo at our old house.

I change my Twitter one often.

Oh and I'm chrisbookarama everywhere (in the book world) too.

Christina

Permalink Reply by Nicola O. on January 16, 2009 at 8:54pm

Christina, this is an absolutely GORGEOUS painting you're using. It seems like a shame though, because when it gets teeny tiny, you can't see any of the details. What would you think about cropping it a bit? Something like this?