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 over 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 20 free desktop wallpapers created by artists across the globe for January 2012. 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?

A New Ending

"Wishing everyone a lucky and successful year 2012!" Designed by Lina Itskovitch from USA.

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

Red

"Photo taken at a friend’s house with one of her toys and my glass of rose wine. It’s perfect for a cold winter day, warmth for the soul and body." Designed by Diana Samoila from Romania.

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

Caucasian Mountains

"From Caucasus with love!" Designed by Ilona from Russia.

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

Bloody January

"Something to cure that New Year’s hangover." Designed by Suety Kwan from USA.

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

Back To Go To Work

Designed by Forsaken from France.

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

Royal World

"Our first submission to the Desktop Wallpapers. To start a great new year, we designed a world that represents our goals and aspirations for this new year." Designed by Javier Castillo from Guatemala.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Cold Flakes To Write Home About?

Designed by Marc James Productions from Sault Ste Marie, Canada.

• preview
• with calendar: 640×480, 800×600, 1152×860, 1200×800, 1600×1200
• without calendar: 800×532, 1024×768, 1152×860

Winter Melancholy

Designed by Aleksandra Laczek from Poland.

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

The Year Of Dragon

"Dragon is the legendary animal in the Chinese zodiac calendar." Designed by Cheloveche.ru from Russia.

• 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

Delicate Frost

"Don’t let Jack Frost nip too much at your nose but do let him decorate your windows!" Designed by Tirelessweaver from Canada.

• 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, 1440×900, 1440×1050, 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

Resolution Libs

"It’s time for New Year’s resolutions! And the best way to keep them is by writing them down and keeping track of your progress. So this wallpaper is a recreation of the chalkboard in my house." Designed by Illuum Design Team from Canada.

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

Carry Warmth Carry Each Other

Designed by Marika Smirnova From “oblako Studio” from Russia.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

What’s On Your Mind?

"Sometimes it seems that girls are from another planet. I just can’t figure out, whats going on in their heads…" Designed by Kristjan Ait from Estonia.

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

Facts

"I was reminded of a simple fact while I was browsing for inspiration for this wallpaper. I’ve read on Wikipedia that January is the coldest month on most of the northern hemisphere and the hottest one on most of the southern hemisphere. I found it fascinating that someone in Australia is enjoying a surf while I am watching the first snowflakes of the winter. I was hoping to create a wallpaper that will serve as a reminder of the fact that we live in a fascinating world full of varieties and contrasts. The old-worn-out-encyclopedia style hopefully emphasizes the educational theme of the wallpaper :)." Designed by Danijel Gajan from Serbia.

• preview
• with calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440
• without calendar: 320×480, 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Memorize Me

"This calendar has 4 sheets. Each sheet shows 4 months.The Sundays of these 4 months are colored in the order of the rainbow colors.If you commit these columns to memory, you won’t need to resort to any pocket calendar or electronic device to know when the next holiday is, to know the date of the first Monday of the next month…." Designed by Araz Kelian from Lebanon.

• preview
• with calendar: 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1080, 1920×1200, 2560×1440

Soft Wishes

"Let yourself be carried away by the delicate desires of your heart…" Designed by Katia Piccinni from Italy.

• 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, 1400×900
• without calendar: 320×480, 640×480, 800×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1024×1024, 1152×864, 1280×720, 1280×800, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1400×900

Bonsai

Designed by Marta Miazek from Poland.

• preview
• with calendar: 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×960, 1400×1050, 1600×1200, 1920×1440
• without calendar: 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×960, 1400×1050, 1600×1200, 1920×1440

Owl

"The first month of phpfaber’s calendar for 2012 with our hero Owl." Designed by Katerina Bobkova from Ukraine.

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

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! And Happy New Year 2012!

(il) (vf)

© Smashing Editorial for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

As the end of the year approaches and the holidays near, many of you might already be pondering your new year’s resolution for 2012. Before you get back to serious business in the new year, you should lean back, relax, spend some quality time with loved ones, and give a good book or eBook a closer look. After all, you don’t want to fall behind just as the year begins, do you? This is an occasion to catch up on developments in the fields of Web design, Web development and coding.

The Smashing Bundle Countdown To Christmas

For each of the last seven days, we have been offering a different special bundled deal. We hope many of you have found an appealing offer in there, and we hope we were able to inspire some of you to get your colleagues and office friends a resourceful printed book or an eBook for the new year. In this post we’d like to kindly inform you about the books we’ve prepared for the last three days of our Bundle Countdown to Christmas and we are confident that they will make your visit to the Smashing Shop worthwhile.

The last three Smashing Bundle Deals of the year.

December 22nd – “Mobile Bundle” for just $9.99 instead of $20.93
Today Santa is mobile and so you should be, too. The “Mobile Design” eBook offers everything you need to keep up in the mobile Web game. Insights, techniques, trends and tips on getting your own mobile app set up are only a few clicks away. In addition to that, we threw in a mobile portfolio for your work. Be prepared and start the new year by optimizing your future projects for mobile use.

December 23rd – “Coding Bundle” for $9.99 instead of $17.82
Coding night, jQuery bright… This bundle is a treat for all truly smashing coders. It covers CSS, jQuery and JavaScript at an intermediate level. The eBooks are all authored by experts of the respective field and offer the Smashing quality you are used to. Two of the three eBook have just been published. Be one of the first to enjoy the still dewy read!

December 24th – “Smashing Book Super Bundle (Print + Digital)” for $34.99 instead of $89.96
Finally, the Christmas Eve bundle deal is the grand finale. We are proud to present the Smashing Book Super Bundle with both printed and digital versions of the Smashing Book #1 and Smashing Book #2. Each book comes in a printed and a digital version (EPUB, PDF and MobiPocket formats). If you’ve been avoiding the Smashing Books until now, you won’t be able to pass them up any longer. Read some of the outstanding reviews that the Smashing Books have received, and let the readers themselves convince you.

Let’s Get Merry!

Now you’re all set for these last Smashing special bundled deals of the year. We sincerely hope you find our offers valuable to you and your colleagues, and perhaps you’ll find gifts for people who you never know what to give. Please keep in mind that all Christmas deals are valid only for 24 hours and then will be offered at the normal price.

Thank you for reading, dear friends. We wish our worldwide Smashing community a blissful last couple of weeks of the year. Enjoy the countdown to Christmas Eve and always remember to stay Smashing!

Yours sincerely,
The Smashing Team

(al)

© Smashing Editorial for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

Today we are glad to release a yet another freebie: a Twitter GUI PSD for the recently released Twitter UI update, designed by Jon Darke of Every Interaction and released exclusively for Smashing Magazine and its readers. The PSD provides the full mockup with all layers in vectors, allowing you to scale up the design elements without loss of quality. The set includes two versions: one for personal accounts and also the new Twitter Enhanced profile page with 835×90 header image for brands and advertisers. The set is compatible with Adobe Photoshop CS4+.

Download the Set for free!

You can use the freebie for all your projects for free and without any restrictions. Please link to this article if you want to spread the word. You may modify the file as you wish.

• large preview – personal profile (.png, 0.3 Mb)
• large preview – enhanced profile (.png 0.3 Mb)
• download the .zip-package (.zip, 2 Mb)
• download mirror (.zip, 2 Mb)
• release post on the designer’s website

Features

• 100% pixel-accurate
• 2 versions: personal and enhanced profile pages
• All assets redrawn in vector, hence scalable
• All layers labeled and grouped
• Adobe Photoshop CS4+ compatible

Behind the Design

“As designers, we often produce various assets for our clients, be it their online presence on their Web pages or in social media. Hence, often we need to skin pages such as the Twitter profile pages for brands that we are working on. When those sites update their UI, we also need to update our resources in order to be able to display an accurate representation of what a client’s Twitter page would look like. So we thought that we could share the PSD file we created with the rest of the design community. Hopefully, it will help you save some time to focus on the creative work!”

Thanks Jon, we sincerely appreciate your time and your intentions!

(vf)

© Smashing Editorial for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

A couple of days ago, we launched a photo contest in which you could submit a photo of how upcoming holidays are celebrated in your city. For those who have participated, thank you for taking the time to shoot the photots and sending them to us. We’ve received hundreds of pictures from all over the world and we have to be honest and say that it was really hard to pick only ten winners! All winners have been contacted.

Of course, the owner of each photo owns all the copyrights.

Winners

Photo taken by Dorin Moise: Brussels, Belgium.
“All made by swinging a simple LED Christmas light decoration from IKEA…”

Photo taken by Dorte Fjalland.
“This photo is taken in London, UK.”

Photo taken by Angela Henderson: California, USA.
“My kind of Christmas…on the coast of California.”

Photo taken by Sankar Govind.
“This was taken at the Empire State Building, New York.”

Photo taken by Ken Thorsteinsson: Whitsunday Island.
“The image was taken at Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island. Christmas seems to be a bit different here in Down Under.”

Photo taken by Dennis Vieira.
“As a fulltime RVer, i gotsta light up the motorhome! Peep the wifi antenna! ;)”

Photo taken by Maya Bielik.
“My photo was taken in Tel-Aviv, at the Silvester party at my house!”

Photo taken by Doug Cornett: Richmond Kentucky, USA.
“Smells of the holidays…”

Photo taken by Wesley F. Oliveira: São Paulo, Brazil.
“Christmas in love…”

Photo taken by Denys Mishunov: Tønsberg, Norway.
“A Ukrainian girl who speaks Russian and lives in Norway :) The text says “Happy New Year” in Russian.”

Merry Entries

Photo taken by Hoang Nguyen Khanh Nhat: Quang Nam Province, Vietnam.
“This picture is taken from Hoi An acient City…”

Photo taken by Jordan Hilario: Manila, Philippines.
“My entry to the Christmas photo contest…”

Photo taken by Brenda Gottsabend.
“Happy Holidays!”

Photo taken by Melissa Steep: Ontario, Canada.

Photo taken by James Doan: Greenwood, Indiana, US.

Photo taken by Tif Mulally: New York City.
This picture was taken from my first holiday trip to NYC.”

Photo taken by Dear Daniel: British Columbia, Canada.

Photo taken by Sabine Abou Daher: Lebanon.

Photo taken by M�ris Meļņikovs: Riga, Latvia.
“In this picture you can see our Christmas fair. Happy holidays everyone!”

Photo taken by Debbie Burkhoff.

Photo taken by Juliette Giannesini.
“Happy holidays!”

Last Click

Photo taken by Kamala Crestwell.

Join In Next Time!

Thanks to all who have participated in this contest. Next up: a coding contest in January. Please let us know in which contest you would participate and stay tuned!

Yours sincerely,
 —  The Smashing Team

(il) (vf)

© Smashing Editorial for Smashing Magazine, 2011.

Christmas is near and the spirits are rising but why not speed it all up a bit? To make the days prior to Christmas much more exciting, we’ll provide you with something to look forward to each day for the next ten days. This year, we’d love to help you out with your Christmas presents. We have some truly smashing Christmas deals lined up for you, and with very affordable, special prices for our dear readers and customers.

We have put together extremely content-rich and valuable bundle deals at prices you have not seen at Smashing Magazine. Seize the opportunity while it lasts and if you are lucky, you might just win one out of the 10 Golden Tickets (further details below). Where’s the catch you ask? There is none — better yet: you can win a bundle deal of your choice daily with a little touch of whimsy fortune!

The Daily Christmas Deals

For the next 10 days, starting today, you will find special deals on our Christmas Deals page. Each deal is limited to 24 hours and will not be sold at comparable prices again. This is a unique opportunity to get your Christmas presents together. To make sure you don’t miss out on any of the deals, better set your alarm clock since all bundle deals run out at exactly 12pm CET midnight.

Which Bundles are Offered?

We’ve carefully assembled all the bundles which will be offered according to relevance and topics. The bundles contain eBooks, printed books and digital goodies such as a mobile apps, WordPress themes and design templates. Here is a quick overview for your convenience:

The Smashing Magazine Christmas Special: Ten Bundle Deals at truly smashing prices!

December 15th – “Smashing Digital Book #2 + Lost Files” for only $9.99 instead of $29.90
You’ve probably heard of the Smashing Book #2 — the eBook version is finally ready and here is your chance to get your copy for a special price. The book shares valuable practical insight into design, usability and coding. It gives professional advice for designing mobile apps as well as practical applications of psychology and game theory to create engaging user experiences. Get the eBook for your iPad or Kindle and feed it with the Smashing Book #2 to enjoy it on your way to work.

December 16th – “WordPress Bundle” for only $26.99 instead of $54.81
This bundle is fresh and just out of proofreading. WordPress Essentials, Mastering WordPress and WordPress Tutorials are three eBooks filled with all the knowledge you need to get a firm grip on WordPress. Additionally, this bundle comes with two WordPress themes for you to adapt, tweak and publish. Now that’s a deal worth twittering!

December 17th – “Corporate Design Bundle” for only $29.99 instead of $54.81
You don’t have a corporate design yet? Establish your brand with a consistent appearance and get set for business contingencies. Use the WordPress Theme and the eCommerce eBook to get your business rolling and spice your publicity with some rad Swiss Retro Design icons.

December 18th – “Printed Smashing Books Bundle” for just $24.99 instead of $59.80
The Printed Smashing Books Bundle has never been offered at this price. Take advantage of it and get a couple of books to give to your friends and colleagues. The Book #1 looks at Web design rules of thumb, color theory, usability guidelines, UI design, best coding and optimization practices. The Book #2 gives professional advice for designing mobile apps as well as practical applications of psychology and game theory to create engaging user experiences.

December 19th – “Creative Package” for $14.99 instead of $30.77
This bundle deal gets you set for your first eBook production and publication. On top, the two Photoshop eBooks will guarantee an improvement of your design skills and the Workflow eBook gives valuable insights and tips on streamlining corporate as well as administrative processes. Don’t miss this bundle, you’ll regret it!

December 20th – “Web Design Package” for $9.99 instead of $23.76
Here comes one for the Web designers out there. We bundled four quality eBooks for your reading and learning pleasure. “Professional Web Design” and “Professional Web Design Volume 2″ provide you with the most important fundamentals and principles while the “Modern Web Design & Development” eBook covers current and upcoming design trends. Finally, the bundle is topped up with the “Smashing Typography” eBook to make your font choices more confident. Set your alarm to the 20th of December for this one!

December 21st – “Smashing Digital Books 1+2″ for $14.99 instead of $29.98
Get both digital copies of the Smashing Book #1 and #2 at an unbeatable price. Twist and turn it as long as you like: there just is no better offer out there for the value this bundle has to offer. That’s 50% off! We don’t have to elaborate on the pros of having a digital copy of the Smashing Books with you all the time, do we?

December 22nd – “Mobile Bundle” for just $9.99 instead of $20.93
Today Santa is mobile and so you should be, too. The “Mobile Design” eBook offers everything you need to keep up in the mobile Web game. Insights, techniques, trends and tips on getting your own mobile app set up are only a few clicks away. In addition to that, we threw in a mobile portfolio for your work. Show your customers what ‘mobile’ means and get your mock ups and designs to them in the wink of an eye.

December 23rd – “Coding Bundle” for a smashing $9.99 instead of $11.88
Coding night, jQuery bright… This bundle is a treat for all truly smashing coders. It covers CSS, jQuery and JavaScript at an intermediate level. The eBooks are all authored by experts of the respective field and offer the Smashing quality you are used to. Two of the three eBook have just been published. Be one of the first to enjoy the still dewy read!

December 24th – “Smashing Book Super Bundle (Print + Digital + Lost Files)” $34.99 instead of $89.96
Here comes the ultimate Smashing bundle deal and the grand finale of our countdown to Christmas Eve. Get Smashing Book #1 and #2 both in printed and eBook versions for an unbeatable price with 56% off. Make sure to get it while the offer lasts! And we wish you a merry Smashing Christmas!

What is a Golden Ticket?

Are you subscribed to our Smashing Magazine Newsletter yet? If not, you should subscribe to our email newsletter to get a chance to win a Smashing Golden Ticket! It allows the winner and owner of the ticket to choose one of the ten offered bundles  —  completely free of charge.

Subscribers to the Smashing Newsletter can win a Golden Ticket daily.

The daily winner of the Golden Ticket is drawn from the pool of all newsletter subscribers and will be contacted via email. The winners can use their ticket within the 24 hours upon receiving the winning notification, so make sure you keep an eye on your inbox!

Stay Tuned for Updates!

We will be sure to keep you posted about the daily deals via Twitter, Facebook and Google+ as well as in our email newsletter. So, if you are not subscribed to our channels yet, hurry up to catch the bundles you are keen to call your own!

Let’s Get Merry!

Now you are all set to get your special Smashing bundle deals. We sincerely hope that you’ll find our offers valuable and useful for you and your colleagues, and perhaps you’ll be able to find the presents that you were looking for anyway.

On Smashing Magazine, we pay a lot of attention to quality of our work. The bundles feature high-quality products as offered in our Smashing shop. Please keep in mind that all Christmas deals are valid only for 24 hours and will then be offered at the normal price.

If you prefer to buy an eBook as a standalone product, feel free to get our eBooks on Amazon or on iTunes. We wish our worldwide Smashing community a blissful last couple of weeks of the old year. Enjoy the countdown to Christmas Eve and always remember to stay Smashing!

Yours sincerely,
The Smashing Team

© Smashing Editorial for Smashing Magazine, 2011.