Desktop backgrounds of creative people

Most of us would like to customize the desktop background with an image that is closer to our heart. I have seen family photos, movie posters and stars, landscape photos taken on the last holiday outing… as desktop backgrounds. Some people, like me, are content with the default Windows/Mac/Ubuntu backgrounds.

People who work in the creative field usually flaunt their latest work on their desktops. Some designers, before giving a slide presentation to an audience, deliberately tinker with the projector cable connected to their notebooks for some time so that the viewers can see and envy their latest desktop background!
Last year, around this time, I asked some creative people about their desktop images. My intention was to publish 10 such images, but I could get only five as some people replied that they are using the default images of their OS.
Here are the five desktop backgrounds. Click on the images to download the high resolution file.

Gavin Elliott: designer, writer, creative strategist About | Blog | Twitter How I know him: I first heard about him when I encountered his article: “Designers, what was your first piece of work?” (2009).

Gavin says about this ‘Spex’ wallpaper: “A little before Christmas (2009), I decided to design a new wordpress theme of which I called ‘Spex’. The desktop wallpaper was to accompany the theme however I’ve not got round to building the theme. The Spex desktop background has remained on both my machines to this day to remind me to finish the wordpress build.”

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Jacob Cass: Graphic, web and logo designer About, Blog1 | Blog2 | Blog3 | Facebook | Twitter How I know him: Since 2008, almost all of my Google searches on ‘web design’ or ‘logo design’ have landed on the blogs of Jacob Cass!

Jacob Cass says about this ‘Reading’ wallpaper: “You caught me off guard… the wallpaper I have at the moment was actually a personal joke between myself and a co-worker. It was a wallpaper that I designed for a Disney sub-brand called ‘Unrequired Reading’. I never thought that someone one would use the wallpaper so I used the wallpaper myself… and somehow stuck for a few weeks.”

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Paramvir Singh: Cinematographer About | Blog1 | Blog2 | Facebook How I know him: He is the founder of the best online forum for Advertising professionals in India: DesiCreative Forum.

Paramvir says about this ‘Jazz’ wallpaper: “I shot this image of Delhi streets myself and have used it as a desktop picture for a very long time.”

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David Airey: brand identity designer About, Blog1 | Blog2 | Blog3 | Twitter How I know him: In 2007, I became a fan after reading his design process blog of Miskeeto logo.

David says about this ‘Grid’ wallpaper: “The image was downloaded from AisleOne, created by Antonio Carusone. It caught my eye, so I thought I’d give it a shot. You can grab a larger image from Antonio’s site here.”

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Matthew Muñoz: visual designer About | Blog | Site | Twitter How I know him: He was a design team member of the Fedora logo re-branding (2005).

Matt says about this ‘Letterpress’ wallpaper: “I use this image that a friend found on the web. Can’t find the original place I downloaded it from though… I love the history here — a letterpress shop in action!”

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And yours?

So, what is on your desktop? If it is an interesting one, do share it with us.