BlogmyQuery – BMQ

We always try our best to challenge your artistic abilities and produce some interesting, beautiful and creative artwork. And as designers we usually turn to different sources of inspiration. As a matter of fact, we’ve discovered the best one — desktop wallpapers that are a little more distinctive than the usual crowd. This creativity mission has been going on for almost two years now, and we are very thankful to all designers who have contributed and are still diligently contributing each month.

We continue to nourish you with a monthly spoon of inspiration. This post features 25 free desktop wallpapers created by artists across the globe for July 2011. Both versions with a calendar and without a calendar can be downloaded for free. It’s time to freshen up your wallpaper!

Please note that:

• All images can be clicked on and lead to the preview of the wallpaper,
• You can feature your work in our magazine by taking part in our Desktop Wallpaper Calendar series. We are regularly looking for creative designers and artists to be featured on Smashing Magazine. Are you one of them?

All Seeing

"An abstract, gold all-seeing eyeball. No real rhyme or reason to it – enjoy!" Designed by Evan Eckard from USA.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200

Unwritten Stories

"For all the unwritten stories that happened to us this summer." Designed by Ivan Ushmorov from Germany.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×1024, 1600×1200, 1920×1080, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×1024, 1600×1200, 1920×1080, 2560×1440

The Kingdom

"Old world atlas." Designed by Jarod Mottley from Trinidad & Tobago.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050

Summer Feet

Designed by Pietje Precies from The Netherlands.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

California

"”Many of us are dreaming of spending the summer in California – who doesn’t?”." Designed by Lotum from Germany.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 640×960, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 640×960, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Freedom Happiness

"July month is seventh month of the year. For this month I have choose the theme of illustration.The basic idea of my theme is Freedom happiness as in this month most of the country celebratestheir Independence Day. So I took that idea and design my wallpaper as Freedom is all equal toeach an d everyone, whether they are human being or other creatures as everyone love freedom.Lots of birds flying high in the blue sky escaping from the cage and enjoying their freedom.So lets celebrates the freedom happiness." Designed by Pooja Jha from India.

• preview
• with calendar: 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

The Colourful Animal

Designed by Dana Gerigk from Germany.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

Against The Gravity

"I was inspired by one of the Bible verse: “But a net is spread in vain before the eyes of them that have wings” (Proverbs 1:17- Douay-Rheims Bible). Spread your wings and fly :)." Designed by Dadsdouter from Indonesia.

• preview
• with calendar: 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×960, 1680×1260, 1920×1440
• without calendar: 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×960, 1680×1260, 1920×1440

Summer Breeze (Updated)

Designed by Design 311 from Belgium.

• preview
• with calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

Color Panels

Designed by Marcus from USA.

• preview
• with calendar: 480×320, 800×600, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 480×320, 800×600, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Water_lily

"The Water Lily is the birth flower for the month of July." Designed by Edward Ellsworth from USA.

• preview
• with calendar: 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Them Crooked Vultures

"Portrait of the 3 members of the band, made with the lyrics of their songs." Designed by Alexandre Bourgois from France.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Ghost Jump

"Shot this pictures in Hamburg, Germany in the “Old Elbe Tunnel”.Enjoy July!" Designed by Marco Palma from Italy/Germany.

• preview
• with calendar: 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1600×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1600×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200

Digital Beauty

Designed by Rewizja.net from Poland.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×760, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200

Summer Night

"The magic of a summer night." Designed by Mandi Coleman from USA.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

Be Cool!

"Keep Cool in the Summer." Designed by Nenad S. Lazich from Serbia.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1440×1050, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

Time For Ice Cream

"Even in Canada, July can get pretty hot. Who doesn’t love a nice cold ice cream cone on a warm summer day?" Designed by Athena Studios from Canada.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200

Summer (Updated)

"It’s too hot to think of a description… Just spending summertime on the beach." Designed by Ron Gilad from Israel.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 1440×1152, 2560×1600, 2560×2048, 640×960
• without calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 1440×1152, 2560×1600, 2560×2048, 640×960

July Heat

"a vintage fan for the heat of July!" Designed by Almog Shemesh from Israel.

• preview
• with calendar: 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080
• without calendar: 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080

Knee High By The Fourth Of July

"A common saying around here, farmers in the American midwest use “knee high” as a way to test if their corn is growing normally by the 4th of July. The photograph was taken in Cascade, Iowa in the U.S." Designed by Jared Rogers from USA.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1440
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1440

Private Island

Designed by Kayro C from China.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1440

The Cocoons

"Viktor Mazhlekov’s painting “The cocoons” is one of the famous and favourited by people. It is oil on canvas painting 90×75 cm." Designed by Viktor Mazhlekov from Bulgaria.

• preview
• with calendar: 800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1200, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Join In Next Month!

Please note that we respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience throughout their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us, but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.

A big thank you to all designers for their participation. Join in next month!

What’s Your Favourite?

What’s your favorite theme or wallpaper for this month? Please let us know in the comment section below!

(il) (vf)

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© Smashing Editorial for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

For designers, Android is the elephant in the room when it comes to app design. As much as designers would like to think it’s an iOS world in which all anyones cares about are iPhones, iPads and the App Store, nobody can ignore that Android currently has the majority of smartphone market share and that it is being used on everything from tablets to e-readers. In short, the Google Android platform is quickly becoming ubiquitous, and brands are starting to notice.

But let’s face it. Android’s multiple devices and form factors make it feel like designing for it is an uphill battle. And its cryptic documentation is hardly a starting point for designing and producing great apps. Surf the Web for resources on Android design and you’ll find little there to guide you.

If all this feels discouraging (and if it’s the reason you’re not designing apps for Android), you’re not alone. Fortunately, Android is beginning to address the issues with multiple devices and screen sizes, and device makers are slowly arriving at standards that will eventually reduce complexity.

This article will help designers become familiar with what they need to know to get started with Android and to deliver the right assets to the development team. The topics we’ll cover are:

• Demystifying Android screen densities,
• Learning the fundamentals of Android design via design patterns,
• Design assets your developer needs,
• How to get screenshots,
• What Android 3 is about, and what’s on the horizon.

Android Smartphones And Display Sizes

When starting any digital design project, understanding the hardware first is a good idea. For iOS apps, that would be the iPhone and iPod Touch. Android, meanwhile, spans dozens of devices and makers. Where to begin?

The old baseline for screens supported for Android smartphone devices was the T-Mobile G1, the first commercially available Android-powered device which has an HVGA screen measuring 320 x 480 pixels.

HVGA stands for “half-size video graphics array� (or half-size VGA) and is the standard display size for today’s smartphones. The iPhone 3GS, 3G and 2G use the same configuration.

T-Mobile G1, the first commercially available Android device and the baseline for Android screen specifications.

To keep things simple, Android breaks down physical screen sizes (measured as the screen’s diagonal length from the top-left corner to bottom-right corner) into four general sizes: small, normal, large and xlarge.

Two common Android screen sizes. (Image from Google I/O 2010)

320 × 480 is considered a “normalâ€� screen size by Android. As for “xlarge,â€� think tablets. However, the most popular Android smartphones today have WVGA (i.e. wide VGA) 800+ × 480-pixel HD displays. So, what’s “normalâ€� is quickly changing. For now, we’ll say that most Android smartphones have large screens.

Diagram of various screen configurations available from emulator skins in the Android SDK. (Image: Android Developers website)

The variety of display sizes can be challenging for designers who are trying to create one-size-fits-all layouts. I’ve found the best approach is to design one set of layouts for 320 x 533 physical pixels and then introduce custom layouts for the other screen sizes.

While this creates more work for both the designer and developer, the larger physical screen size on bigger devices such as the Motorola Droid and HTC Evo might require changes to the baseline layouts that make better use of the extra real estate.

What You Need to Know About Screen Densities

Screen sizes are only half the picture! Developers don’t refer to a screen’s resolution, but rather its density. Here’s how Android defines the terms in its Developers Guide:

• Resolution
  The total number of physical pixels on a screen.
• Screen density
  The quantity of pixels within a physical area of the screen, usually referred to as DPI (dots per inch).
• Density-independent pixel (DP)
  This is a virtual pixel unit that you would use when defining a layout’s UI in order to express the layout’s dimensions or position in a density-independent way. The density-independent pixel is equivalent to one physical pixel on a 160 DPI screen, which is the baseline density assumed by the system of a “medium�-density screen. At runtime, the system transparently handles any scaling of the DP units as necessary, based on the actual density of the screen in use. The conversion of DP units to screen pixels is simple: pixels = DP * (DPI / 160). For example, on a 240 DPI screen, 1 DP equals 1.5 physical pixels. Always use DP units when defining your application’s UI to ensure that the UI displays properly on screens with different densities.

It’s a bit confusing, but this is what you need to know: Like screen sizes, Android divides screen densities into four basic densities: ldpi (low), mdpi (medium), hdpi (high), and xhdpi (extra high). This is important because you’ll need to deliver all graphical assets (bitmaps) in sets of different densities. At the very least, you’ll need to deliver mdpi and hdpi sets for any smartphone apps.

What this means is all bitmap graphics need to be scaled up or down from your baseline (320 x 533) screen layouts (note: there is also a way for parsing SVG files that provides a way to scale vector art on different screens sizes and densities without loss of image quality).

The bitmap requirement is similar to preparing graphics for print vs. the Web. If you have any experience with print production, you’ll know that a 72 PPI image will look very pixelated and blurry when scaled up and printed. Instead, you would need to redo the image as a vector image or use a high-resolution photo and then set the file’s resolution at around 300 PPI in order to print it without any loss of image quality. Screen density for Android works similar, except that we’re not changing the file’s resolution, only the image’s size (i.e. standard 72 PPI is fine).

Let’s say you took a bitmap icon measuring 100 × 100 pixels from one of the screens of your baseline designs (remember the “baseline� is a layout set at 320 × 480). Placing this same 100 × 100 icon on a device with an lDPI screen would make the icon appear big and blurry. Likewise, placing it on a device with an hDPI screen would make it appear too small (due to the device having more dots per inch than the mDPI screen).

An application without density support. (Image: Android Developers website)

To adjust for the different device screen densities, we need to follow a 3:4:6:8 scaling ratio between the four density sizes. (For the iPhone, it’s easy: it’s just a 2:1 ratio between the iPhone 4 and 3GS.) Using our ratios and some simple math, we can create four different versions of our bitmap to hand off to our developer for production:

• 75 × 75 for low-density screens (i.e. ×0.75);
• 100 × 100 for medium-density screens (our baseline);
• 150 × 150 for high-density screens (×1.5);
• 200 × 200 for extra high-density screens (×2.0). (We’re concerned with only lDPI, mDPI and hDPI for Android smartphone apps.)

The final graphic assets would appear like this using the four different screen densities.

After you’ve produced all of your graphics, you could organize your graphics library as follows:

The suggested organization and labeling of asset folders and files. In preparing our star graphic, all file prefixes could be preceded by the name ic_star, without changing the names of the respective densities.

You might be confused about what PPI (pixels per inch) to set your deliverables at. Just leave them at the standard 72 PPI, and scale the images accordingly.

Using Android Design Patterns

Clients often ask whether they can use their iPhone app design for Android. If you’re looking for shortcuts, building an app for mobile Web browsers using something like Webkit and HTML5 is perhaps a better choice. But to produce a native Android app, the answer is no. Why? Because Android’s UI conventions are different from iPhone’s.

The big difference is the “Back� key, for navigating to previous pages. The Back key on Android devices is fixed and always available to the user, regardless of the app. It’s either a physical part of the device or digitally fixed to the bottom of the screen, independent of any app, as in the recently released Android 3.0 for tablets (more on this later).

The hard “Back� key on a smartphone running Android 2.0.

The presence of a Back key outside of the app itself leaves space for other elements at the top of the screen, such as a logo, title or menu. While this navigational convention differs greatly from that of iOS, there are still other differentiators that Android calls “design patterns.� According to Android, a design pattern is a “general solution to a recurring problem.� Below are the main Android design patterns that were introduced with version 2.0.

Dashboard

This pattern solves the problem of having to navigate to several layers within an app. It provides a launch pad solution for rich apps such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Evernote.

The dashboard design pattern, as used by Facebook and LinkedIn.

Action Bar

The action bar is one of Android’s most important design patterns and differentiators. It works very similar to a conventional website’s banner, with the logo or title typically on the left and the navigation items on the right. The action bar’s design is flexible and allows for hovering menus and expanding search boxes. It’s generally used as a global feature rather than a contextual one.

The action bar design pattern as used by Twitter.

Search Bar

This gives the user a simple way to search by category, and it provides search suggestions.

The search bar design pattern as used in the Google Search app.

Quick Actions

This design pattern is similar to iOS’ pop-up behavior that gives the user additional contextual actions. For example, tapping a photo in an app might trigger a quick action bar that allows the user to share the photo.

The quick action design pattern as used by Twitter.

Companion Widget

Widgets allow an app to display notifications on the user’s launch screen. Unlike push notifications in iOS, which behave as temporary modal dialogs, companion widgets remain on the launch screen. (Tip: to select a widget for your Android device, simply tap and hold any empty space on one of the launch screens.)

Companion widgets by Engadget, New York Times and Pandora.

Using established design patterns is important for keeping the experience intuitive and familiar for your users. Users don’t want an iPhone experience on their Android device any more than a Mac user wants a Microsoft experience in their Mac OS environment. Understanding design patterns is the first step to learning to speak Android and designing an optimal experience for its users. Your developers will also thank you!

Android Design Deliverables

OK, so you’ve designed your Android app and are ready to make it a reality. What do you need to hand off to the developer? Here’s a quick list of deliverables:

1. Annotated wireframes of the user experience based on the baseline large screen size of 320 x 533 physical pixels. Include any additional screens for instances where a larger or smaller (320 x 480) screen size requires a modified layout or a landscape version is required.
2. Visual design mockups of key screens for WVGA large size (320 x 533) screens (based on a WVGA 800 x 480 hdpi physical pixel screen size) in addition to any custom layouts needed for other screen sizes.
3. Specifications for spacing, font sizes and colors, and an indication of any bitmaps.
4. A graphics library with lDPI, mDPI and hDPI versions of all bitmaps saved as transparent PNG files.
5. Density-specific app icons, including the app’s launch icon, as transparent PNG files. Android already provides excellent tips for designers on this topic, along with some downloads, including graphic PSD templates and other goodies.

How To Take Screenshots

Your product manager has just asked for screenshots of the developer’s build. The developer is busy and can’t get them to you until tomorrow. What do you do?! As of this writing, Android has no built-in way to take screenshots (bummer, I know). The only way is to just deal with it, and that means pretending to be a developer for a while and downloading some really scary software. Let’s get started!

The following software must be downloaded:

1. All USB drivers for your Android device,
2. Android software development kit (SDK),
3. Java SE SDK

Then, on your computer:

1. Extract the USB drivers to a folder on your desktop,
2. Extract the Android SDK to a folder on your desktop,
3. Install the Java SE SDK.

On your Android device:

1. Open “Settings� (you’ll find it in the apps menu),
2. Tap on “Applications,�
3. Tap on “Development,�
4. Check the box for “USB debugging.�

Now, for the fun part:

1. Connect your Android device to your computer via USB. Windows users: allow Windows to install all drivers. One of the drivers may not be found and will require you to go to the Window’s Device Manager under the Control Panel. There, you can locate the device (having a yellow warning icon next to it) and right-click on it.
2. Choose to “update/install� the driver for your device.
3. Go to your desktop. Open the Android SDK folder and select SDK Setup.exe.
4. Allow it to automatically refresh its list of the operating system SDKs that are available, and select to install all packages.
5. Once finished, exit the application.
6. Go back to the opened Android SDK folder on your desktop, and open the “Tools� folder.
7. Click on the file ddms to open the Dalvik Debug Monitor.
8. Select your device from the “Name� pane.
9. In the application’s top menu, open the “Device� menu, and choose “Screen capture…� A Device Screen Capture window will open, and you should see the launch screen of your Android device.

The Dalvik Debut Monitor.

To navigate:

1. Grab your Android device and navigate to any page. Go back to your computer and select “Refresh� in the Device Screen Capture window. The current screen from your Android device should appear.
2. If you’re on a Mac, you can just do the old Shift + Command + 4 trick to take a screenshot. In Windows, you can copy and paste it into one of the Windows media applications.

About Android Tablets

At CES 2011, companies rained down Android tablets, with an array of screen sizes. However, after a quick review of the most popular ones, we can conclude that the two important screen sizes to focus on in terms of physical pixels are 1280 × 800 and 800 × 480.

With the Android 3.0 Honeycomb release, Google provided device makers with an Android UI made for tablets. Gone is the hard “Back� button, replaced by an anchored software-generated navigation and system status bar at the bottom of the screen.

The anchored navigation and system bar in Android 3.0.

Android 3.0 got a visual refresh, while incorporating all of the design patterns introduced in Android 2.0. The only difference is that the action bar has been updated to include tabs, drop-down menus or breadcrumbs. The action bar can also change its appearance to show contextual actions when the user selects single or multiple elements on a screen.

The new action bar with tabs, introduced in Android 3.0.

Another new feature added to the Android framework with 3.0 is a mechanism called “fragments.� A fragment is a self-contained component in a layout that can change size and position depending on the screen’s orientation and size. This further addresses the problem of designing for multiple form factors by giving designers and developers a way to make their screen layout components elastic and stackable, depending on the screen limitations of the app. Screen components can be stretched, stacked, expanded and collapsed, and revealed and hidden.

Diagram showing examples of how fragments can be used.

The next Android release, scrumptiously dubbed Ice Cream Sandwich, promises to bring this functionality to Android smartphones as well, giving designers and developers the option to build an app using a one-size-fits-all strategy. This could be a paradigm shift for designers and developers, who will need to learn to think of app design in terms of puzzle pieces that can be stretched, stacked, expanded or hidden to fit the form factor. In short, this will allow one Android OS to run anywhere (with infinite possibilities!).

A Word of Advice

Do get your hands on an Android phone and tablet, and spend some time downloading apps and exploring their interfaces. In order to design for Android, you have to immerse yourself in the environment and know it intimately. This might sound obvious, but it’s always surprising to hear when even the product manager doesn’t have an Android device.

Online Resources

Here are some links to online resources I’ve found especially useful:

Presentations

• Android Design Patterns
• Android User Interface Design Tips

Videos

• Android UI Design Patterns (Google I/O 2010)
• Designing and Implementing Android UIs for Phones and Tablets (Google I/O 2011)

Documents

• Comparison of Android Devices

Blogs

• Designer’s Guide to Supporting Multiple Android Device Screens
• Android UI Design Patterns
• Android Patterns

Product Reviews

• Best Android Phones (CNET, May 2011)
• Best Android Tablets (CNET, May 2011)

Android Developers

• Supporting Multiple Screens
• Icon Design
• Android 3.0 Platform Highlights

Other

• Android App Developers GUI Kits, Icons, Fonts and Tools

(al) (il) (kw)

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© Dan McKenzie for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

Virtually everyday we see examples of surrealistic imagery all around us. Ever wonder why this particular style of graphics are so popular? It really isn’t that hard to figure out. The reason is that this surreal images are often extremely imaginative and stirring.

The word Surreal generally signifies bizarre or dreamlike. Surreal photography pushes the limits of the medium, just as most surrealistic art does for the medium it belongs to. Surrealism seeks to take you to an imaginary, dreamlike world with the aid of its various techniques and applications.

Here are some eye-catching surrealistic wallpapers to let you decorate your desktop with style. All the wallpapers are linked back to their original location. Take a look at this collection, and scratch that wallpaper itch you have that brought you here.

The Papers

Mano
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768 1280×800 1920×1200

Surreal Storm
Download Wallpaper: 1600×1200

Surreal Man
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768 1280×800 1920×1200

My own Secret Place
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768 1280×1024

Cometary Nebulae WS
Download Wallpaper: 1920×1200

Ice Age Premonition
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768

Frank Melech Surreal
Download Wallpaper: 1024*768

Edges
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768 1280×800 1920×1200

Surreal Hand
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768 1280×800 1920×1200

Painless Light
Download Wallpaper: 1024×682

Angels and Demons
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768

Revival of Clear Reverberation
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768

Triceratops
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768

Let Go
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768

Surreal World
Download Wallpaper: 1440×900

Homage to Surrealism
Download Wallpaper: 1152×864

Surreal
Download Wallpaper: 1680×1050

Surreal Wonderland
Download Wallpaper: 1440×9008

Surreal Landscape
Download Wallpaper: 1600×1200

June 15 dream was surreal
Download Wallpaper: 2048×1536

Surreal
Download Wallpaper: 1600×1200

Magic river
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768

Surreal Eiffel Tower
Download Wallpaper: 1932×1449

Surreal Sunset
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768

Surreal
Download Wallpaper: 1600×1200

Infinity wallpaper set
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768 1280×960 1600×1200

Surreal Wallpaper
Download Wallpaper: 1920×1200

Surreal
Download Wallpaper: 1600×1200

Good Evening
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768

Dragon Fire Nebula
Download Wallpaper: 1600×1200

Colors Of The Storm
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768 1280×1024 1680×1050

Titan Mangrove
Download Wallpaper: 1600×1200

Surreal Wallpaper
Download Wallpaper: 1920×1200

The Rainbow Bridge
Download Wallpaper: 1024×640

Fantasy Bird
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768

Road to refuge
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768 1280×800 1920×1200

Caravan
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768 1280×800 1920×1200

Surreal Wallpaper
Download Wallpaper: 1920 x 1200

Freedom fields
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768 1280×800 1920×1200

King
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768 1280×960 1920×1200

Surreal Wallpaper
Download Wallpaper: 1920 x 1080

Nine
Download Wallpaper: 1024×768 1280×800 1920×1200

Vessels
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The last bond
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Desktopography 3
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Urban Environment
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It wasn´t enough
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Guardians
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Surreal Wallpaper
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Junkasaurus at Sunset
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Along Ruined Soul
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Sky Hands
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Wood Hand
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Surreal Wallpaper
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Surreal Head
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Fantasy Wallpapers
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Surreal City
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Dark Surreal
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Surreal Sky
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You may also want to consider our previous posts:

• 40+ Absolutely Stylish & Creative Hand-picked Wallpapers
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• The Ultimate Round-Up of iPad Wallpapers
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No matter how brilliant a website’s design, no matter how elegant its navigation, sooner or later visitors will decide whether to take action because of something they read. In the end, the effectiveness with which a website converts visitors hinges on words. If a new website is going to hit all the right notes, its content must be just as well crafted as its design and programming. However, as you might imagine, there are many ways to go wrong with content in a Web development project.

Image Credit

The errors discussed in this article have the potential to undo a website and are issues that I run up against time and time again in my nearly 12 years of producing Web content. Half the battle in avoiding these traps is simply recognizing them: all too often, content is handled as an afterthought, hurriedly completed to meet a project’s deadline. I hope these content tips will help you stay ahead of the game and build a better website in your next project.

Error #1: Writing Inwardly

Having worked in-house for many years, I’ve fell victim to the inward-focus syndrome on many occasions. It’s easy to do. You spend all day dealing with the intricacies of your products and services. You’ve made a huge intellectual and emotional investment in every product innovation and point of differentiation. You love thinking about your products, you love improving them, and you love talking about them. It’s only natural that you want to shout from the rooftops and tell the world your product’s story in all its splendor.

Problem is, the rest of the world isn’t interested in your story. Customers don’t have time to admire your greatness. They’re too busy searching for ways to make life better for themselves. A high-level Web page answers one question of the reader above all: What’s in it for me? To illustrate, we’ll stick with products, although this applies to other types of pages as well.

It’s not about you.

A well-written category-level product page talks a bit about features, a little more about benefits and a great deal more about the experience. This last element is especially important and exactly where most pages come up woefully short. Let’s use a mundane example of this principle in action by considering a hypothetical Web page for a packaging machine:

Feature: Up to 100 cycles per minute.

Benefit: Faster production.

Experience: Getting more product out the door per shift means you’ll blow away your productivity goals and be a hero. You might even get a promotion.

A typical Web page written about this machine would be 80% features and 20% benefits. However, if I were writing it, I’d budget 50 words on the features, 100 words on the benefits and 150 words on the experience.

Note:

1. Setting a “word budget� forces discipline. Not only that, it relieves the anxiety over having to determine how to approach each individual product page, thus eliminating one of the biggest causes of delay in Web development projects.
2. Focusing on the experience forces you to think about the target audience of the page in question. The experience I described speaks to an operations person. If my audience is made up of C-level executives or purchasing agents, then I would need to describe a completely different experience. If I’m writing for all three audiences, I may have to rethink my word budget. In any event, having an audience in mind prevents a Web page from devolving into that cursed, watered-down, “everything for everyone� messaging that says absolutely nothing.
3. The purpose of a high-level page is to get people interested in the product. Once they’re interested, they may crave more information about features and benefits. Perfect. Tell the long version of your story on a detail-heavy product sub-page. Companies need not neglect features and benefits; they just need to suppress the urge to hit visitors over the head with them the minute they walk through the door.

To see how this plays out in real life, consider this conversion optimization case study, documented on ABtests.com. A firm achieved a 200% increase in conversions by replacing feature-oriented copy with benefit-oriented copy. The high-converting page focuses on what the applicant wants, rather than what the service (DesignCourse.com) offers:

• “Become an amazing designer.â€�
• “Start earning real money.â€�
• “It’s fun and exciting.â€�
• “No tests, no hassles.â€�

If you’re still not convinced, listen to legendary copywriter John Caples, who is quoted in Made to Stick (page 179) by Chip Heath and Dan Heath:

Caples says companies often emphasize features when they should be emphasizing benefits. “The most frequent reason for unsuccessful advertising is advertisers who are so full of their own accomplishments (the world’s best seed!) that they forget to tell us why we should buy (the world’s best lawn!).� An old advertising maxim says you’ve got to spell out the benefit of the benefit. In other words, people don’t buy quarter-inch drill bits. They buy quarter-inch holes so they can hang their children’s pictures.

Quick Tips for Writing Outwardly

• Before you start writing, collect feedback from customers and prospects. Ask them why they buy from you, why they don’t, and how doing business with you has affected them.
• Start with an outline. Associate every feature with a benefit and every benefit with an experience.
• Have a customer read a draft and then explain to you why they would want to buy the product. If the customer “gets it,â€� you’re a star.
• Do the same thing with a person who knows nothing about your product and industry. If that person gets it, you’re a rock star.

Error #2: Burying The Lead

If they can’t figure it out, you’re dead.

Websites are a poor medium for subtlety. Visitors decide whether to stay on your website within a few seconds. If you can’t communicate why a page is important to them immediately, your conversion opportunities will vanish. Look at the two paragraphs below. Which conveys your most important message more quickly?

Your most important message is here., sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Or:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate your most important message is here. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Online marketers like to sneer at newspapers, but we can learn a lot from print journalists. For instance, they don’t bury the lead. To illustrate, here are a few leads I recently pulled from the Wall Street Journal:

• “Companies cranked up hiring in April to the fastest pace in five years…â€�
• “European markets snapped a three-session losing streak as gains in the banking sector and better-than-expected US jobs data for April sparked a rally.â€�
• “Women may have fared better than men during the recession, but they are not making up lost ground as fast as men in the recovery.â€�

Now look at your Web pages. How do your leads stack up? Are you leading with the main point? Are you giving visitors a reason to read further? If an in-house writer is not familiar with Web writing techniques, they may approach the project as if they were writing a novel, assuming that visitors will read their new website from start to finish.

This assumption is disastrous. People skim and scan Web pages, their eyes bouncing around like pinballs. For any given Web page, visitors are likely to read the headline and the first few lines of text; beyond that, any body content they read is gravy. Expecting someone to read an entire page of content sequentially from beginning to end is wishful thinking, period. The most important words on the page must be the easiest to find, read and comprehend.

Quick Tips for Unburying the Lead

• Before writing, ask, What is the key takeaway I want visitors to have after they visit this page? That’s your lead.
• Highlight your lead idea in a bold font. This is especially helpful when you can’t work it into the first sentence.
• Use plain language.
• Keep your most important points above the fold, as sub-headings, as the first sentence of a paragraph and as bullet points.

Error #3: Mediocre Meta Material

Meta titles appear in browser tabs.

Some of the most important text in a Web document isn’t the on-page content at all. Certain meta elements have an enormous impact on the user experience, brand awareness and conversion. Meta elements are bits of HTML code that are read mainly by search engine robots. However, two meta tags in particular speak to humans as well, and mastering them is critically important for copywriters.

• Meta Title
  The meta title describes the subject matter of the page and is ideally 65 characters or fewer. Visitors see the meta title in their browser tab and in search engine results; it is the most important piece of information that Google and other engines read on a given page.
• Meta Description
  The meta description, ideally 155 characters or fewer, is a snippet of text that is displayed under a link on a search engine results page (SERP). The meta description has little if any SEO value but is important for conversions.

Meta Titles

Because Google values meta titles so highly, including primary keyword phrases in them is imperative, preferably towards the beginning of the title. For human readers, a title tag should clearly and straightforwardly describe the nature of the page. In addition, the tag can also carry a branding message.

Here is an example of a strong meta tag, taken from the services page of a client of mine:

Enterprise-Level Credit Card Processing, Merchant Accounts | BluePay

At 68 characters, we’ve gone slightly over our recommended maximum. But having branding keywords (i.e. BluePay) at the end is OK: Google may truncate the last few characters, but visitors will see the branding message in their browser tab, especially if they bookmark the page. The title tag will further extend brand awareness if the visitor tweets the page or likes it on Facebook:

Title tags appear in Facebook link posts.

Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions appear in search engine results under the page’s title.

A meta description can set your page apart from others on a SERP. Here are seven tips for crafting a good one.

1. Don’t overuse keywords. This will make your description look spammy. For example, “We have promotional coffee mugs, custom mugs, custom coffee mugs, and custom mugs for coffee.�
2. Don’t use multiple exclamation points!!!! Excessive punctuation can be interpreted as aggression. It pushes people away.
3. Avoid extravagant claims. They undermine your credibility.
4. Include an incentive to click through to your page:
   • “Order one, get one free.â€�
   • “10% off your first order.â€�
   • “Learn how our service can reduce operating costs up to 15%.â€�
5. Focus on the user benefits of your product or service.
   • Bad example: “High R-factor insulation.â€�
   • Better example: “Insulation to keep your home warm and toasty.â€�
6. Mention your location if you are a local business. This helps searchers instantly connect your business to their need.
7. Establish your credibility:
   • “In business since 1965.â€�
   • “BBB accredited.â€�
   • “Over 5000 satisfied customers.â€�

(Whereas title tags are always displayed, description tags are not. Today, Google doesn’t always pull meta descriptions into its SERPs; instead, it might excerpt on-page content related to the user’s search terms.)

Quick Tips for Meta Magnificence

• If an SEO is working on your project, have them generate title tags based on their keyword research, and then tweak as needed.
• If you do not have an SEO, back up a step and reflect on why you are building the website. I believe that an unoptimized website is not worth building.
• Title tags should be consistent in style and form to enhance the user experience. Meta descriptions need not be consistent at all.
• Because of character limitations and the need for concision, writing these tags can be time-consuming. Remember, though: you don’t have to achieve perfection for launch. Tags can be changed at any time, and analytics experts often suggest that they should be.

Error #4: Saying Too Much

Brevity is the soul of conversion. Find out why.

Error #5: Weak Or No Calls To Action

Strong calls to action from our company’s website.

Assuming that you’ve written a brilliantly persuasive page, it’s still next to worthless without a strong call to action (CTA). It’s flat out wrong to assume that visitors will be so inspired by your brilliant copy that they will pick up the phone and call, or fill out an online form and beg you to contact them.

In the real world of Web marketing, visitors want to be led. If they have to stop and think about how to take the next step, you’ve already lost them.

CTAs generally fall into one of four types, listed here in descending order of commitment:

• Place an order;
• Enroll, subscribe, enter;
• Get a quote;
• Learn more.

Recognizing the need for a call to action on every page is step one. Matching the right CTA to the page is step two. High-level product category pages normally call for a “soft� CTA, such as “Request more information� or “Schedule a consultation.� In contrast, detailed product-level pages require a “hard� CTA, such as “Order now.�

A call to action must be clear and compelling:

• “Order now to save 15%,â€�
• “Get your artist’s rendering within 24 hours,â€�
• “Learn the 5 secrets to permanent weight loss.â€�

Calls to action are strengthened by:

• Testimonials: It’s worked;
• Credibility statements: It’s reliable;
• Warranty or guarantee: It’s risk-free;
• High value: It’s worth having;
• Urgency: It’s now or never.

Unfortunately, the calls to action on business websites often seem like afterthoughts: vague, lame and boring. Remember: customers want to be led. Effective leadership requires more than “Call for more information.�

One last vital point about CTAs: having a primary and secondary CTA on each page is often a good idea. A prospect may not be ready to order, but they may be willing to download a white paper that they would read and remember. Today’s white paper could be tomorrow’s conversion.

Five Case Studies that Illustrate the Power of Strong Calls to Action

• Hyundai increased conversions by 62% by adding SEO text, bigger pictures… and a CTA.
• RIPT Apparel added “Limited 24-hour availabilityâ€� to its CTA and increased sales by 6.3%.
• Notify, by the Weather Channel, redesigned its landing page to focus on the CTA. Conversion rates increased by 225%.
• Express Gold Cash changed its CTA from “Submitâ€� to “Request a packâ€� and improved its conversion rate by 47.7%.
• Natural Air increased conversions by 590.6%(!) by adding a CTA with pricing.

Two Tips for Strong Calls to Action

• The main reason why firms don’t include strong CTAs on their website is that they don’t have them. Before getting too far into website development, conduct a brainstorming session to begin the process of identifying action steps that website visitors would be eager to take.
• For CTAs to be effective, design and content must be joined at the hip. The position of an arrow, the font and color of a button can make or break a call to action. Don’t segregate your writers and designers. We’ve found that a team approach to Web projects fosters continual interaction between all contributors and results in a far better product all around.

Keep Your Eye On The Conversion Ball

In case you haven’t noticed, or you skimmed to the end, as Web readers often do, the errors and fixes discussed above revolve around one thing: conversion. One of my favorite quotes comes from advertising icon David Ogilvy. He said, “If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.� Ogilvy, arguably the greatest copywriter who ever lived, understood the primacy of persuasion. You may prefer a soft sell or a hard sell, but if your Web page isn’t selling, why is it there?

Resources And Tools

• My favorite character counter, handy for composing title tags and meta descriptions.
• Test readability with this awesome online testing tool.
• Detailed information on content-related SEO topics.
• Twelve pithy journalism-inspired writing tips for the Web.
• Modern words of wisdom: for spot-on copywriting technique, read Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug.
• Classic words of wisdom: perhaps the greatest “how toâ€� copywriting book of all time, Tested Sentences That Sell by Elmer Wheeler is available online.

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© Brad Shorr for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

As designers we are often told to think outside the box when we approach any new project. This change in perspective is supposed to grant us access to seeing the design differently than we normally would. To break out of that mold or routine that we can easily get sucked into, and have a fresh new view of it all. Photographers have a knack for changing the way we see the world, and one way they do so is through macro photography. Showing us the power and beauty in this alternate perspective.

Today we have collected some stunning examples of macro photography that are sure to inspire, and can hopefully stir you from your routine and usual perspective. These wonderful captures demonstrate the delicate and subtle construction of nature, ones that we often overlook from our usual perspective. But with the aid of the photographers lens, we can get a closer look and see the world from a completely different angle.

A Closer Look

Foxglove by Lookalive-sunshine

Not all tears are an evil by Annarigby

Tiny Droplets by Nitrok

Broccoli Macro by Johan J. Ingles-Le Nobel

rainbow in my life by magnesina

Macro Flor by Andrés Nieto Porras

- by kingdaughter

Macro of a bee by Tambako the Jaguar

Hello, My Name is Spike by tacou

Damselfly by vlastas

3D 2x Macro shot of my Toothbrush by syvwlch

Money-tree flower- macro lens – HTC Desire by Alpha

Clematis macro by Renate Dodell

Colored by xsunnygirl83w

bluebottle macro by Fiona Wilkinson

Tiny Droplets II by Nitrok

Amazing Raindrops by matthewpoland

Antares by Stoppelbart

flamingo by `tragicmistress

yellow flower by loLaurer

Macro: Sunflower Petals against a Blue Sky by The Green Party of Ireland Comhaontas Glas

Sigma 17-70mm DC Macro spider

A lonely water drop by Louserz

Blue Bird by Vellocet-Photography

Lichen Macro by Johan J. Ingles-Le Nobel

Macro @ 24mm by Dino Quinzani

In the dark there is life by bagba

pearled arc by keineAnhung

Peekaboo by Minnie-Mocha

Macro Cactus Thorn by jnyemb

Calm by Midnite-myknee-Blu

Caged Flower by Stars-and-Skulls

pure orange by LaPlumellDisait

Flower by devilish89

Macro Purple by BusterBrownBB

Butterfly 2 by MonjaraM

ladybug15 by RaphaelDES

first by ankyl

taraxacum by AlenaDudareva

Stuck in the middle by Annarigby

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