Desktop Wallpaper

Perhaps disproportionately, it depresses me to see someone take for granted that their only option for desktop wallpaper is the default already on their computer. If you are one of those people, it is high time you branch out and discover the wealth of choices out there— you are better than that generic blue backdrop! Personally, what I look for when choosing the wallpaper that will grace my screen is: a clean, bold, graphic composition, with a splash of color. Nothing too crazy or overstimulating— my screen is busy enough with all my software open— but occasionally a pattern will catch my eye. That being said, what follows are some of my favorite sources on the web.

The obvious choice, but possibly the best: Veer. If for some reason you did not know about the downloads they offer, visit their site and you are sure to find one you love. Although I always have to clone out the logo in the bottom left-hand corner— nothing personal!

For the type aficionado, there are a few options I enjoy at I Love Typography.

Flickr has a terrific pool for desktop wallpaper— I found the above designs posted today, but there are thousands for you to browse that meet the large file size requirements. Of course, you can always upload your own photos too.

A few other options:
Push Me Pull You Design
"Vintage" Advertisements
PixelGirl Presents
Kate Spade (click downloads once you get there)
Olschinsky
Metremade (terrific– using one of these patterns now)
Paul & Joe Beaute.
Kitsune Noir's Desktop Wallpaper Project

Know of any other favorites? Post a comment and share! ••••

Screen(saver) Gems

For Crew devotees, you may remember a post several months ago with a round-up of desktop wallpaper favorites. As you might imagine, a designer has an equally important decision to make for those (rare) times her screen goes idle. Choosing a suitable screen saver is somewhat more challenging than wallpaper shopping (with fewer quality options available), but there are a few standouts I would like to suggest.


For months now, I have been rocking the mesmerizing Drop Clock at work. You can download it here free of charge (although it will prompt you occasionally to purchase it). But if you aren't sold on that, there are a few other timekeeping options that would make good choices. Check out Simon Heys' Rotary Word Clock and Word Clock (both free downloads), a standard flip clock from Fliqlo, and the Polar Clock from Pixel Breaker.

If none of those float your boat, we're moving on to my top five non-timekeeping screen savers. Also from Fliqlo comes a fun lego building screen saver called Briblo. You can try out a Kuler screen saver that generates a feed of popular color harmonies from the Adobe Kuler website. For die hard fans like me, download the opening credits of Mad Men from the AMC website to set that as your screen saver (my choice for my home computer at the moment). There is an unusual, fun screen saver of Japanese girls dancing available at Uniqlock (you're just going to need to check it out to see what I mean). And finally, perhaps my favorite choice: Veer has created a screen saver that is simultaneously eerie, funny, and clever. Like something out of a cheesy horror movie, the eyes of offbeat portraits will follow you around the office until you return to your desk and get back to work. ••••

The Best Collages Ever

Greg Lamarche creates painstakingly thought-out collages and other works. I set one of his pieces as my desktop wallpaper a week ago, just because I thought it looked nice, and since then I find myself just staring at it. I begin to notice all the small connections between the pieces and how considered each move is. What appears to be just nice collage is actually a color and line study. Really great work. ••••