I renamed Aqua Blue to appear behind my login screen the same grey that sits on my desktop.

Not really that exciting - but I really posted to let Armin know - you left my email address on the instructions of the discussion.

>you left my email address on the instructions of the discussion.

Whatever.

I have two monitors and I'm very modest.

Which points to

I so need to change it. It was a joke when I hooked up my two screens, but now it's such a reassuring thought that I can't make myself do it.

Not so exciting, I don't like the visual clutter of a huge image.

Andy/Armin, this was a post that I wanted to do. Ya beat me to it. D'oh!

you have spent hours creating a background for your monitor

I have some desktops that I've found on the internet, but I don't see the fun in it. Grey is they way. This is actually one of my "rules of engagement." It's usually not that messy but I gotta get something out the door today.

Armin, I thought you're rockin' OS X now?

This has absolutely nothing to do with my desktop, but it's pretty cool:

The advertising artwork of Dr. Seuss

via The Morning News

Currently rotating these three images.

>Currently rotating these three images.

mmmm... voluptuos vixens. I hope my wife ain't reading this thread ; )

Did you draw them yourself Brent?

I always alternate between a gray "serious work" background and some recently taken photo...

nope, wish i could draw like that. it's a comic called Liberty Meadows

i got hooked on a little while ago because it reminds me of bloom county.

my girlfriend's a comic book/fantasy illustrator and sucked me into that world a while back, especially the work of Mr. J. Scott Campbell delightful stuff, take a peek.

so pretty.

it's from me company.

-me company

that interface is lot of fun.

Very boring, I know. But the 50% gray is essential for color correcting photos... (Whatever, it's boring.)

Lots of grey out there folks. This is from last summer visiting my sister in Cody, WY. It would be a lot more cluttered but I just filed a whole pile of stray stuff away. Real Player constanly running episodes of This American Life.

"Enjoy Beef" hahahahahahaha That's great! I love it (and I'm a vegetarian!)

So I copped the VEER idea last year and started sticking a calendar on my desktop each month. This month I finally realised that I should hilight paydays:

And this mess here is what I forced myself to look at last month:

Do I geek out on the 29th of every month? Yes, yes I do.

-R

I only recently changed from a flat system-color desktop to a picture. It's just a blue sailboat:

Out of curiosity, what resolution do you set your monitor?

1024 x 768

God, I feel like such an appendage.

>God, I feel like such an appendage.

I meant it in all the positive ways possible.

1280 x 1024

But the 50% gray is essential for color correcting photos...

Agree.

Real Player constanly running episodes of This American Life.

Dan, this is indispensable for "hijacking" those favorite streams.

Out of curiosity, what resolution do you set your monitor?

1600 x 1200

waitaminnit. i just noticed the link to my desks at thirstype. thanks, armin. here are some new ones as well—designed to work in OS X's graphite scheme.

i affectionately refer to that last one as "rainbow brite puked."

With OS X and the free webdesktop app - you can set a web page to be your desktop and even have it refresh automatically.

http://www.stevenf.com/index.php?node=WebDesktop

Hey there. So, here's my desktop:

This particular one is part of a series I did based on photos I took while on a vacation in Florida earlier this year. If you dig it, stop by my site for a bunch more desktops on things like Brooklyn and the Graphic design business. Let me know what you think.

I have two monitors, I like to keep them clean and simple.

I am a geek and proud of it.

Well then, let me be the first to throw up a PC desktop. It's cluttered as hell and the creepy picture I got from James Lileks. In case it's too small to read, it says:

  Late that day

the surprise came.

  It was a small yellow book.

  Kay had made it

with her dad's help.

  It was about the woods

and about lumbering.

I can't help but chuckle when I see that creepy-ass girl with the skeleton hands and imagine her lumbering. The reverse indentation is also bizarre.

For several months my desktop has featured a photo I took in Lisbon last summer.

Clean.Simple.Perfect. The painting in the desktop is from www.audrey-paintings.net

Sorry, I don't know what my desktop looks like anymore. I see it so rarely.

I actually have a ton of prints, design work, famous art work, rotating as a desktop.....but thanks for the info. on the 'Veer' desktops, some great ideas there!!

>Clean.Simple.Perfect. The painting in the desktop is from www.audrey-paintings.net

I was looking at your desktop and it looked rather familiar...and then I realized that you posted it on MacNN forums as well!

pk - what did you use to create those images?

I usually rotate my illustration work on my desktop, so I can look at them frequently and pick them apart with anal changes I need to make. This one is Isis, my kitty cat.

It's interesting to notice how many people posting a picture still have a rainbow apple on the top left. Guess I am not the only one resisting the switch to OS X.

I keep my on-screen desktop clutter free as a stark contrast to the state of my actual desktop.

It's interesting to notice how many people posting a picture still have a rainbow apple on the top left. Guess I am not the only one resisting the switch to OS X.

Cause' there's no need to resist! Please don't use the Quark excuse. Hardware ones are OK.

I go with the gray as well..for color correcting reasons....but have added a couple of subtle thoughts to keep me focused...

I like the calendar idea, but I've always wanted a desktop/wallpaper calendar that would dynamically highlight the current day, but be subtle and sit in the background nicely. Anybody know if there's something like that out there?

Its not a Quark thing, I usually use indesign for page layout. Plus you can always run Quark in Classic mode. I just need to purchase some ram before I make the full switch.

On another desktop note, I also am one of those freaky sticky fans. Who likes stickies? I asked all of my clients for happy - yay - amanda quote awhile back, and have this one client quote (quirky fella) that I usually keep on my desktop for laughs:

"If designer babies were legal, I would have Amanda design some babies for me. I would put them all over the house. And I would name them all Amanda."

2 monitors: my main is lame gray, but on my little guy i've got:

OK, 'fess up, you all tidied up your desktops before exposing them to the general public.

Surely I'm not the only one who has it entirely covered in a messy jumble of folders (too embarrassed to reveal...)

Tracy - Check out Konfabulator. It's a neat-o piece of shareware that will do just that... and everything else in the world.

Addictive and great.

Nick - My desktop is so cluttered that I just sent the actual art. I have four folders labelled "Misc", "Stuff", "My Stuff" and "Look through me". I call this an organization system.

-R

Here's my main monitor. The other is just one of the apple patterns and a shitload of open menus.

I hate cluttered desktops. Too many folders makes it look like a pc, so I go clean. I clean it about once a week.

so did i do this right? better late then never. PS, I don't *really* work on a PC...

Rick G: Konfabulator....wow...

I'm so fickle I can't handle a desktop picture for more than 10 minutes. So I stick to gray. Occasionally I switch the shade of gray, but it's always gray.

The interesting stuff is in the little windows ON the desktop, anyway.

The thing that always drives me up the effing wall is when people put like fifty billion randomly-named folders and files all over the desktop. I love mine pristine and lovely, with the trashcan and the hard drive. That's it. No Project3335 BigProjectFinalFinal2 BigProjectREALLYFINAL all over the desktop. It kills me to see that. It just kills me.

I go for rotating photos, depending on what I feel like that particular week...

Ok, I do admit it. I did tidy up my desktop a wee bit before taking the screen capture.

The thing that always drives me up the effing wall is when people put like fifty billion randomly-named folders and files all over the desktop. I love mine pristine and lovely, with the trashcan and the hard drive. That's it. No Project3335 BigProjectFinalFinal2 BigProjectREALLYFINAL all over the desktop. It kills me to see that. It just kills me.

OK ya'll fess up. I admit that my desktop is usually clean but it's never "pristine." Share some "pristine" techniques please. A download folder for your browser? A super consistent file naming system where you ALWAYS put each file in the appropriate folder? Daily cleaning? How do you go about naming lets say "idea" files, then "final" files, and then "final final" files? Project name, revision, and client? I need some teaching.

I salvaged some leftover art from a game I worked on and turned it into a desktop:

I thought that the calendar on the desktop (even static) was a great idea so I had to make one too.

I keep my desktop pristine because I never save or drag anything to it and any program shortcuts that create themselves there are killed right away.

Kiran:

Having two monitors helps - because when shit does get messy, I move it all to the other one, and keep some terminal windows permanently over the mess until I clean it up.

But I do have a system to keeping shit in order - I keep a _LIBRARY folder and a _DOWNLOADED folder.

In the library folder I keep copies of everything I collect but do not create myself, from previous bookmark lists - which do tend to grow and I have some from 1997. To reference papers, resumes, visual inspiration (screen grabs or PDFs) to business plans.

The Downloaded folder keeps copies of every application I downloaded in its original compressed format.

Then for work or shit I create - I have a different area for projects, writing and design. Projects have a client numbering system and file structure that has been tweaked over the last 15 years.

But when I screw up there are plenty of folders packed with crap, named : GOT-TO-ORgANZE or CLEANTHISSHITUP. Which are stuck in a _DROP folder.

Here's my way of hiding the mess for a day or two:

Ok I confess, it's not just two icons, I also have a download folder on the desktop so I don't have to go digging when my browser downloads something. I also use DragThing as a dock at the bottom to keep all my folders handy - I have docks for web apps, design apps, etc and a tab which holds all my current project folders organized by the client's name. For each project I name it with the numeric date and title of the project (even if it's just something like "031129 - Weird Ideas"). In that folder, I have folders for original source files, ideas, printing specs, comps and then the final art. Usually all but the final art gets backed up and dumped when the project's over.

I picked it up when working at the now-defunct Adjacency. Andrew was a real stickler for organization because we were often passing files (and entire computers) back and forth, and ANNUALREPORTFINALFINAL3 just doesn't fly when you need to pass off a folder to a coworker. The number system helps keep files in order that they were being worked on, and also avoids the problem of renaming "final" over and over again (which I saw all the time at other agencies I worked for.) What's the final one? The one with the most recent date. Ta-da!

1600x1200:

The background says "MUSIC + CAFFEINE = PRODUCTIVITY" in a nice subtle grey. I don't like distracting backgrounds, although for a few months I had "GET TO WORK ASSHOLE" in big B&W lettering. I try to clean up often, or after I finish each project — but things get messy the busier I get.

Tan appreciation society in the hizzouse. nice desktop (, yo).

i've gone through tons of images and more often than not lose them when i move folders around at present i'm laboring under the that frosted blue spiral default. i suck.

This is going to come across as real geeky and sound naughty, please bear with me. I love looking at other people's docks in OS X. The icons are just so slick and the number of cool and useful OS X applications these days amaze me. Please join me. OS 9 holdouts and Windows dorks are invited too of course.

Kiran, you should be asleep. Or working on Open Space. I have to brag that I am now the proud parent of a nice, shiny, portable powerbook. Named lukas. And no, I did not use your donations to pay for the little bastard ; )

Here are the icons I have put together in my dock so far:

Kiran - you should be asleep and it is geeky, but I hear you. Some of those Apple Utility icons are great. I had Velum, NetNewsWire and Fontlab open - with BBedit and my mail.

Armin - what powerbook did you get?

Just started making them for fun once a week...

The images all link to the hi-res - they're all 1600x1024, feel free to creative crop.

>Armin - what powerbook did you get?

A 15 incher. Not the expensive one, the one with 867 MHz. It flies I tell you! Best purchase I have made in a long time.

Kiran, you should be asleep.

Kiran - you should be asleep and it is geeky, but I hear you.

Zzz...

Velum, NetNewsWire and Fontlab

What's Velum? How do you like Fontlab? Armin, hook Damien and I up with the MT SOAP module so NetNewsWire Pro users can post via the application. I'm a pest.

And just so I don't look foolish - I use illustrator 8 because it's actually faster in classic than 10 native — which I sometimes use for it's newer features.

I love my little pixelated folder icons.

I think I'm going to start color coordinating my dock now, instead of grouped by function.

Kiran -

I like fontlab a lot - its only the demo. But since I don't run OS 9 anymore I can't use fontographer. I'm in no way hardcore at it - I'm busy teaching myself in moments of spare time or complete client frustration.

The other - is in fact Vellum, I spelt it wrong. And I'm using Graphite - a CAD tool for product and architectural drawing. It only does 2D and 3D wireframes. Not as hardcore as Alias - but still can output to what is needed for manufacturing.

I know, I know - I'm not using 2D graphic design tools - so I should just get the hell off this site...

nice plug for SOAP by the way. I can give you the SOAP module - what we really need is for Armin to prevent himself from sleeping so that he has the time to install it and not bust the site.

>Armin, hook Damien and I up with the MT SOAP module so NetNewsWire Pro users can post via the application. I'm a pest.

>what we really need is for Armin to prevent himself from sleeping so that he has the time to install it and not bust the site.

Heyheyhey as easily as I can add authors, I can also delete them. Take your claims to the Human Resource center.

I'm upgrading the MT system soon. Please email me with what I need to do to get you guys to shut u... I mean to help you out in using this NewsWire thing ; )

> Tan appreciation society in the hizzouse. nice desktop (, yo).

yo, thanks eric. It's an image that I've used as a closer for some design presentations. Still like it.

I also alternate a bunch of my kid's photos on my desktop -- but I didn't think you guys'd want to see that kind of sappy stuff. Besides, it would ruin my rep.

Besides, it would ruin my rep.

As a beefcake. Five...Pound...Lobster...

I also have a cat on my desktop.

>but I didn't think you guys'd want to see that kind of sappy stuff. Besides, it would ruin my rep.

Tan, dude! I told everybody I collect stuffed animals. I think you'll be ok.

Armin, you did say that it was a "cat", right? just checking.

and nice mood lighting.

>Armin, you did say that it was a "cat", right? just checking.

Yeah, that dude is huge! He is more like a little lion.

>and nice mood lighting.

I like to feel sexy when I work ; )

Yeah, that dude is huge! He is more like a little lion.

Armin, I thought that was my cat! Here's my little lion, Mango. My other cat Turbo is a tank - 20lbs.

>since I don't run OS 9 anymore I can't use fontographer.

Actually, you can, in Classic mode.

http://www.macromedia.com/support/fontographer/ts/documents/osxfog.htm

The "FPU" version that was required by Power PCs doesn't work, but the older, "Non FPU" version does.

I found my old Fog floppy discs and installed the software. It works, but it's a bit slow and I've had some sudden crashes. So I still prefer using it in 9.1. You may have better luck.

Mango is awesome Kiran! And the name is perfect.

Kiran - that cat is huge. And scary looking or did it pose for that picture?

My cat below likes me to tell her knock knock jokes, and she rolls around on the floor laughing:

Nick, thank you for the link, though I don't actually have OS 9 on my machine anymore, so I can't run apps in classic unfortunately.

Mango is awesome Kiran! And the name is perfect.

Thanks!

Kiran - that cat is huge. And scary looking or did it pose for that picture?

She looks huge and scary in the photo but she's little, about 10lbs, and a sweetheart.

likes me to tell her knock knock joke

Like?

I don't actually have OS 9 on my machine anymore

Music to my ears.

and the latest inspiration from speak up has once more expanded itself into my desktop