First Impressions Are The Most Lasting

Your profile picture is often the very first thing someone sees on your Scholars@Duke profile, so please take a moment to ensure you are leveraging your photo correctly to establish a friendly and professional first impression with your new students, patients, and peers. We’ve gathered five tips to help you select the perfect profile picture. 

5 Tips for a Perfect Profile Picture:

1. Choose a photo that looks like you.

 Make sure your Scholars profile picture is up-to-date (within the past few years) and reflects how you look on a daily basis – your hair, glasses, makeup, etc.

 

2. Make sure your face takes up at least 60% of the frame.

Crop your picture from the top of your shoulders to just above your head so that your face fills the frame and shows off that pretty smile.

 

3. Choose the right expression.

You want to appear warm and friendly. That way, viewers of your profile (i.e., potential collaborators, students, patients) will be able to imagine having a pleasant conversation with you.

 

4. Wear what you’d wear to work.

Wear clothes that match the level of dressiness at your office. Also, note that solid colors tend to do best on camera.

 

5. Choose a background that isn’t distracting.

After you put all that effort into having the perfect expression, you don’t want anything to distract from your face. Keep the background simple so that you are the focal point.

Need a new profile pic?

Throughout each year, the Scholars team hosts a few Scholars Photo Days, offering free professional headshots to Scholars@Duke profile owners. You won't want to miss out on this opportunity, so subscribe to our mailing list and be among the first to know when the registration period for our next photo day opens up.