Rewind 2024: Wallpapers
Part II of my 4th Annual Rewind Series highlights my three favourite wallpapers of 2024.
Welcome to the 4th Annual Rewind Series, where I look back & highlight three of my favourite wallpapers from the past year.
@BasicAppleGuy Wrapped
Not including these final two Rewind posts, 2024 saw 40 new blog posts hit the site: 22 articles and 18 new wallpapers. I also added 25 posts to the Haberdashery (my mini blog within a blog). All in all, that's 65 new posts for 2024, more than one per week, which is a pace I'm proud of, given how busy life beyond the blog has become. I've also had a chance to assemble 11 new shirt designs, including three 2024 Commander designs (Style 1, Style 2, Style 3), Let Tim Cook (Full Size & Pocket), Click to Create, Click Wheel (Full Size & Pocket), and my newest, the Pixel Macintosh Tee (Full Size & Pocket). I've also worked with the podcast Primary Technology to develop a line of merch for them, and finally, I have been working on a trio of new stickers that will drop in early 2025.
iPhone 16 Pro Internals
iPhone 16 Pro Internals | Published: 2024.10.24
For the fourth year in a row, my iPhone internal wallpapers rank as one of my top creations of the year. And with over 2,300 pieces, they are the most time-consuming and intricate creations I make all year. And the benefit of these year-over-year releases is that I imbue what I learned from the previous wallpaper into the current year. This results in many new details & techniques that improve the overall craft of these wallpapers.
And in 2025, I finally want to create a wallpaper that's been long overdue: A set of internal wallpapers for the iPad - taking everything I've learned from making internal designs for the Mac & iPhone and bringing that level of detail to Apple's tablet lineup.
Better Sonoma
Better Sonoma | Published: 2024.02.16
Better Sonoma was my attempt to create a rolling and abstract wallpaper to rival the version Apple released with macOS Sonoma, which, TBH, I never much cared for. On engagement, Better Sonoma is my 6th most popular wallpaper of 2024. Still, I've included it in my top 3 because I love the colours, how the piece came together, and the overall process of designing this wallpaper.
Strokes
Strokes | Published: 2024.09.17
The Strokes series of wallpapers rounds out my top three for 2024. I debated whether to include a wallpaper that involved AI in its creation, given how polarizing this technology can be in creative spaces. But as I wrote in my original post: "[AI] platforms help me quickly imagine hundreds of patterns, colour palettes, and art styles. Less composer than a critic, I can curate and refine thousands of designs across several hours and generate artwork that resonates with me." I spend a ton of time generating ideas, selecting designs that stand out to me, creating alternate variations, tweaking them in Pixelmator Pro, and finally, using each for several days to ensure I felt good about releasing them.
