Why Your Zoom Background Matters

A recent study from Klick Applied Sciences found that changing a Zoom background to a nature-related image may be all it takes to sharpen focus, enhance creativity and even increase overall psychological well-being.

Getting close to nature has been linked to improved mental health in previous research, but the goal of this study was to find out how to incorporate those benefits in a work-from-home or hybrid setting.

Researchers tested three types of Zoom backgrounds on 80 participants: a nature setting, an urban setting and a plain grey background. They found that participants experienced higher creative performance when given the nature-themed Zoom background compared to either the urban or control backgrounds.

Download these background images from across our campus system to help elicit heightened creativity and generate more creative thinking in your next meeting.