We tend to spend more and more time at our computers, both at work and at home. Many of us even spend our entire working days at a computer and computer related hobbies or utilities are getting increasingly common.

We write and check our e-mails, surf and perhaps we make online purchases, chat with our friends and family, handle our banking online, organize and share our photos, post on forums, write our blogs, play video games, watch films on YouTube or browse our social forums in our spare time. The list of things one can do on a computer is endless!

This makes the computer desktop a really important environment! Imagine just what an impact your digital environment has on you for all that time you spend on your computer!

Lets take a close look at four benefits of customising your desktop.

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Tags: productivity, declutter, folder icons, desktop customization, feel-good, motivation, usability, gui

I just finished sending out the free members-only desktop treats for September!

This month members of Club Marmalade Moon receive three minimalist buttons designed in the sleek iPhonica style. These graphics can be used for any personal, non-commercial project and there are many possibilities. You can make navigational buttons for your blog or website or create your own icons for a very clean and minimalist look, combining elements with Gluestick for Mac OS X. Consonance Software offers a free trial of Gluestick on their web site if you want to give it a spin.

Being a Mac enthusiast, I am not sure what kind of applications there are out there for this kind of image editing on Windows? I’d be interested to hear if any of you have some applications to suggest for Windows users!?

There is also a September desktop calendar version of the popular desktop picture with Nasturtiums.

Tags: seasonal, nature, summer, floral, desktop calendar, gui, desktop customization, buttons, graphics

I am delighted to announce that my article about how to create 512x512 icons for Mac OS X Leopard has been published at Smashing Magazine!

Smashing Magazine delivers useful, inspirational and innovative information for designers and web-developers and it's a great pleasure for me to contribute to such a creative designer environment!

“In 2000 Apple released the visual theme Aqua, a stunning leap forward in graphical user interface design. At the same time Apple published the Human Interface Guidelines (HIG), a tool for developers and designers that gives a detailed breakdown of the design philosophy behind Aqua. Apple recently updated their Human Interface Guidelines (HIG), to include the way the visual theme Aqua has evolved in Apple's latest operating system, OS X 10.5 Leopard. This is the first update since 2006.”

Aqua: "Gorgeous, artistic icons are an important part of the Mac OS X user experience. Users expect beautiful icons that tell an application’s story in a clear and memorable way". Well, how do icon designers go about creating beautiful icons in 512x512 glory? Leopard and the Updated HIG: A Designer's Guide to Icons examines Aqua's interface. Realism, symbols, silhouettes, transparency, light source and perspective. We take a look at the Dock, Leopard's file browser Cover Flow and the icon sizes. Finally you will find some practical tips on how to scale your art work so that the smaller versions become crisp and clear.

Tags: Apple, Mac OS X, Leopard, usability, interface, gui, realism

Sick of that boring, impersonal, generic computer desktop but not quite sure how to change it and make it yours? The Help Desk is open! Here you you can find out how to use icons to declutter your desktop and create a personal and productive work space.

Step-by-step tutorials walk you through how to save desktop art to your computer with ease and how to change the desktop icons on Mac OS X or how to customize the icons on Windows, how to use system replacement icons as well as how to customise your desktop picture on a Mac or your wallpaper in Windows with just a few clicks. Tutorials both for Windows and Mac.

There is no need to worry about which operating system you are using! These simple steps work in both Windows Vista, Windows XP as well as the classic, older Windows operating systems. Mac users can use these tutorials both to customise Mac OSX Leopard, the previous verisons of Mac OSX and the classic older versions of Mac operating systems.

There is also a printable PDF version that provides a way for you to keep an offline copy or print a copy for later use. Sometimes it can be handy to have a printed version on one's desk, whilst going through the different steps.

It's fun and easy to beautify your desktop! To make your digital working and leisure environment personal, functional, organized, uncluttered, practical, productive, gorgeous, delightful, to give it the look and visual cues you want it to have!

Tags: gui, guide, how-to, desktop customization, productivity, declutter, interface, Mac, Mac OS X, Leopard, Windows, Vista

I am so excited that xScope 2.0 is being released!

This handy tool really is a “Swiss Army knife” for designers and developers. xScope is a powerful set of tools to measure, compare, and contrast literally anything on the screen. xScope will increase your productivity and free you from mundane tasks like measuring on screen elements.

Version 2.0 introduces Dimensions. This tool is like laser tape measure for the screen that projects a beam out from your cursor instantly finding the edges of images, margins and blocks of text. The days of taking screen shots, opening them and measuring them by hand are finally over!

xScope will change the way you work and take all the effort out of measuring onscreen elements.

An Iconfactory and ARTIS Software production.

Tags: gui, interface, productivity, software, design resources, review