If you’re fortunate enough to have been working from home since the shelter-in-place mandate was announced, the world of Zoom video conferences and other similar services is all too familiar. In a previous article, we mention a soap-operaesque filter that softens not-camera-ready faces, and suggest a handful of cozy yet professional outfits to wear on these calls.
Face and outfit accounted for, that still leaves your house to deal with. Maybe you don’t have a Pinterest-worthy work space, maybe there’s an empty bottle of wine or two in the background you forgot about — we’re not here to judge. But sadly, a colleague’s brilliant suggestion of audio-only Friday has not yet taken place of casual Friday, so we must mind our surroundings until at least April 30.
While a few pre-selected virtual backgrounds to choose from do exist, are you really excited to have some gigantic generic blades of grass behind your head? We are not ants. Bring some Zen to your next work call and represent Chicago with these backgrounds our art team created. They’ll be a good dose of dreamy escapism for both you and your co-workers.
Here’s a useful link on how to swap your background if you are unfamiliar. Just remember to uncheck “mirror my video” and you’ll be good to go!
Kasia Pawlowska loves words. A native of Poland, Kasia moved to the States when she was seven. The San Francisco State University creative writing graduate went on to write for publications like the San Francisco Bay Guardian and KQED Arts among others prior to joining the Marin Magazine staff. Topics Kasia has covered include travel, trends, mushroom hunting, an award-winning series on social media addiction, and loads of other random things. When she’s not busy blogging or researching and writing articles, she’s either at home writing postcards and reading or going to shows. Recently, Kasia has been trying to branch out and diversify, ie: use different emojis. Her quest for the perfect chip is a never-ending endeavor.
