Proper lighting is one of the easiest ways to create an appealing virtual environment.

DO prioritize light: Under or overexposed backgrounds are distracting.

DO create depth: Backgrounds that show most of your space look more professional than backgrounds that are zoomed in on a narrow swath of your room.

“You can do a lot with a fruit bowl.”Ī few simple do’s and don’ts, according to Claude and Jessie: “You don’t have to go out and buy new things but rather rearrange what you already have in your home to create an organized and professional setting,” Claude said.

But if you choose to “be real,” it doesn’t take much to upgrade your background game, and it can pay off in many ways.

Some basic background tipsĬlaude and Jessie have compiled their learnings and design tips in a newly released book, “How to Zoom Your Room: Room Rater’s Ultimate Style Guide.” Zoom caught up with the Room Rater team – on a Zoom call, of course – to understand what qualities affect their ratings and the importance of a well-organized background.Ĭlaude and Jessie want to emphasize first and foremost that sharing your real background is a personal choice, and not everyone has to do it. It was helping people understand the value of perception and instilling confidence in them to thrive in a new way of working. These interactions made Claude and Jessie realize that Room Rater was more than a fun pastime. As Room Rater’s popularity grew, the account expanded to cover the setups of politicians and celebrities, many of whom engaged with the Room Rater Twitter account before or after receiving a rating. Initially, Claude and Jessie began rating the rooms of journalists who were broadcasting the news from their homes for the first time. Evaluating people’s backgrounds on virtual calls using a sometimes loose set of criteria (we’ll get more into that), Claude, Jessie, and Room Rater have become storytellers in the modern world of work, crafting narratives around what backgrounds can say about us. Not familiar with Room Rater? Created by Claude Taylor and Jessie Bahrey, what began as a Twitter account in April 2020 has become a cultural touchstone in the world of remote work. How would you fare if the folks from Room Rater had a peek at your workspace background right now?

Beautiful room background for zoom