hello 2.0
A playful, pixellated piece in honour of the 1984 Macintosh.
Last year for the 37th anniversary of the Macintosh, I released the hello wallpaper. Little did I know it at the time, but that wallpaper would help kick off a creative flow that has led me to design dozens of wallpapers since.
So in honour of the 38th anniversary of the Mac - which I realize is dropping a few days late - I wanted to release an update to a wallpaper whose humble beginnings transformed this site.
Process
Two designs, 37-year apart.
This inspiration for this wallpaper is a blending of the original pixellated 'hello.' that adorned the display of the original 1984 Macintosh, with the luscious and vibrant colour palette from Apple's 2021 Spring Forward event. I wanted to try my hand at pixel art and give the design a 'video-game-like feel' using a limited colour palette. To achieve this, I experimented inside of Aseprite to create a hand-drawn pixellated version of the logo, taking a novice stab at some dithering to blend the color bands together.
When I released the first hello wallpaper last year, I had no idea what I was doing. I was just having fun, learning as I went with the tools and techniques I had on hand. So the spirit of experimentation and fun, I'd like to view this annual rerelease as a way of marking growth and progress; I've learned so much in the past year and challenged myself to create things that I would never have thought were possible a year ago.
Hello 2.0 is availably available for the Mac & iPad, in a black and white pinstripe background. I blurred the design for the iPhone to create a beautiful gradient and overlaid a vertical pinstripe pattern on top. But I liked that design so much that I retooled it to develop versions for the iPad & Mac as well.
hello 2.0
Pinstripe Rainbow
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