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Þórarinn Stefánsson

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Desktops / wallpapers

The (semi) monthly desktop collection

At one time I tried to publish a new desktop each month and of course failed miserably. The following are those who made it.

Double Entry

web server in blue web server in yellow

This first desktop of the month contains all the required clichés for a modern techno background, bound for instant success:

  • The typewriter font
  • Some retro clipart
  • Buzz words mumbo jumbo
  • Vague html coding reference
  • An asterisk * from marketing
  • A limited time only offer
  • Available in two trendy colors

Enjoy!

Brightly yellow, a smashing color for tea in the garden.
800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x1024 | 1600x1200

Also available in acool shade of blue for a night out with friends.
800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x1024 | 1600x1200

The Popcorn Battle Rages

brown pop desktop

As an attempt at pop art, I modified a photograph I took of a single popcorn, specially popped for this purpose.

Then for some plagiarism I scanned a text from a respected magazine and added to the picture. Somehow there is nothing war-like about popcorn - or is there?

800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x1024 | 1600x1200

Winter Atmosphere

scenery desktop

This is an actual photo, only slightly color adjusted.

This is a picture I took between Christmas and New Year and it shows the view down a valley in east of Iceland, called Breiðdalur.

As you can see there wasn´t much snow in Iceland this Christmas, but I believe Breiðdalur is somewhat whiter now (at the end of January). The sun is setting and the colors in the sky are as "real" as they can be - although I admit I did add some brightness to it since the original was slightly darker.

800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x1024 | 1600x1200

Recipe for Disaster:

disasterous desktop
  • One beer
  • Two older images from hard disk
  • No clear direction
  • Blur, Multiply, Color, Lighten
  • Two new scans
  • Masks, Gradient, Opacity, Levels
  • Save for web

If you want to frighten someone, put this as the desktop on his or her brand new laptop without them noticing and then casually question "Is the screen is supposed to look like this?"

800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x1024 | 1600x1200

The red ones

Here are some desktops created in various shades of red. The red theme originates from a small competition in my old workplace, which had a red and yellow color sceme.

Speeding trees

trees

This is a picture taken out of the window of a car, I then modified the colors to spice it up.

800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x960 | 1600x1200

Red pastel

pastelThis one is based on a pastel drawing I made. I scanned it and manipulated so that icons would feel at home to the left.

800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x960 | 1600x1200

Surreal leaves

leavesBy mixing two similar pictures of a green bush I got a kaleidoscopic image. Then I added the (now familiar) red theme to get a somewhat eerie effect.

800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x960 | 1600x1200

Free pron!

pronDedicated to my friend Már - this is a blend of him drinking water and a composition of somewhat dubious images from an undisclosed web site. The title "free pron" comes from Már.

800x600 | 1024x768 | 1280x960 | 1600x1200

 

Why desktops?

Why not?

Desktops give a fairly rigid canvas, with simple rules (not too disturbing to the eye, low contrast areas for icons...). And if somebody else likes them besides me - great!

Where is 1280x1024?

It wasn´t until I started these desktop experiments that I noticed that the resolution of 1280x1024 doesn´t fit in with the ratio of 4:3 like the other standard resolutions.

If the width of the screen is 1280 the height should be 960 to keep the "right" proportions.So the older ones are in 1280x960, but the newer are designed for 1280x1024.

Besides, if you are using a resolution this high you probably know a bit about computers and can scale down the 1600x1200 original...

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