2025-01-19 06:42:52
A trio of custom-made die-cut vinyl stickers.
Over the holiday break, I had a chance to update my merch store, which included updating the entire layout, adding new clothing, renaming it (Merch → Merchantile), and releasing three brand-new stickers I've been working on. Unlike my Minimal Apple Stores stickers available through RedBubble, I will ship these three new stickers directly.
This project posed new challenges logistically, like figuring out reasonable shipping costs and making sure I dedicated time to mail orders promptly. Still, it also creates new creative opportunities for me to pursue, like having the chance to design custom stationery for mailing the stickers to people.
There are three stickers I am releasing at launch: my BasicAppleGuy logo, a BasicAppleGuy logo printed on shimmery holographic vinyl, and an Apple Intelligence Inside, also printed on holographic vinyl.
All three are available in very limited quantities at the Mercantile. Enjoy!
Apple Intelligence Inside
Durable sticker printed on holographic die-cut vinyl.
Dimensions: 1.01″ × 1.29″
Basic Apple Guy Logo
Durable sticker printed on die-cut vinyl. Available as a standard and holographic die-cut sticker.
Dimensions: 1.13″ × 1.5″
Note: I tried to keep the shipping cost as reasonable as possible and had to factor in the processing fees, as well as the cost of shipping materials, which include a custom-designed envelopes and seal, postage, and a protective sleeve to ensure the product reaches your doorstep safely and securely.
Orders will be dispatched within 1-3 business days using Canada Post letter-mail. Please allow 2-4 weeks for delivery (depending on location). Tracking will not be available, but if you don’t receive your order, please send me an email with details, and I’ll work with you to resolve the issue.
2025-01-13 22:54:50
Announcing my first wallpaper pack of 2025: Fluted Gradients.
I'm pleased to be sharing Fluted Gradients, my first wallpaper pack of 2025.
I wanted a simple and minimal backdrop across my devices to start the year. While I firmly believe there's no such thing as too many gradient wallpapers, this time around, I wanted to add a bit more texture to the design while at the same time not having it feel distracting or busy.
The design I settled on was a fluted or ribbed gradient look. After creating dozens of different gradients, I used a displacement filter to create the finished look on the files I liked most. I hope you enjoy this first batch of eight wallpapers for your Mac, iPad, and iPhone!
The downloads are numbered top-to-bottom, left-to-right, with Fluted 01 being at the uppermost left and Fluted 08 at the bottom right.
Fluted 01: iPad | Mac | iPhone
Fluted 02: iPad | Mac | iPhone
Fluted 03: iPad | Mac | iPhone
Fluted 04: iPad | Mac | iPhone
Fluted 05: iPad | Mac | iPhone
Fluted 06: iPad | Mac | iPhone
Fluted 07: iPad | Mac | iPhone
Fluted 08: iPad | Mac | iPhone
January 26, 2025: Fluted 09: iPad | Mac | iPhone
I’m a one-person operation, working in healthcare by day & running this site as a passion project in my off time.
If you enjoy my work (the articles, the wallpapers, my general demeanour… anything really), consider leaving a tip & supporting the site. Your support is incredibly appreciated & goes a long way to keep this site and the works I produce ad-free & free of charge.
☕️ Tips2024-12-31 23:28:13
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.
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 | 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 | 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 | 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.
2024-12-30 23:15:56
Part I of my fourth annual Rewind Series highlights my three favourite articles of 2024.
Welcome to the 4th Annual Rewind Series, where I look back & highlight three of my favourite articles from the past year.
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.
On Wallpapers. | Published: 2024.09.25
I wrote On Wallpapers. in late September following the launch of a wallpaper app that, to put it mildly, had a rocky launch. The app bombarded users with ads, had a costly subscription, weird tracking, and some poor-quality wallpapers. I strongly disagreed with how this application showcased wallpapers and wanted to write a piece for the site expressing my views on creative works. Benefiting from the headwinds of the moment, this article became one of my most popular of the year and also helped broaden my exposure to many new people across social media.
The article also served as a launch point to dozens of wallpapers I created over the years, so I invite new readers to check it out to see a snapshot of my work over the past four years.
Max Miss | Published: 2024.09.30
As much as I enjoy making wallpapers, writing remains one of my favourite avocations. I wrote Max Miss as a mini review/reflection on the AirPods Max, a product that went nearly four years without an update (1,371 days to be exact), only to see the most meagre of changes. You could argue that it lost about as much as it gained because while we gained USB-C, we lost the ability to use them wired.
Designed by Apple in California | Published: 2024.11.20
This is an entry I had intended to write for years. Designed by Apple in California was a $199-299 coffee table book that Apple released in 2016. The book showcased the hardware, materials, and manufacturing processes of products Apple created from the late 1990s until about 2015. I was lucky enough to get one of these books when it was being sold in-store, and since Apple discontinued to book in 2019, the only place to really see it is through a small handful of videos online or by paying thousands of dollars and nabbing one off eBay. The intention behind this post was to showcase some of my favourite images from the book and collect some of the interviews and history of this book into a single entry.
2024-12-22 23:53:39
This year, the Ugly Christmas Sweater for the Mac pays homage to the 80s.
63,158 individual knitted stitches go into creating my Annual Mac Ugly Christmas Sweater. And like with the iPhone wallpapers released earlier in December, these wallpapers are more of a refresh than a brand-spanking-new design (or, in Apple's marketing parlance, an S-year update).
Ugly Christmas iPhone Wallpaper
Download the matching Ugly Christmas Sweater wallpaper for your iPhone by clicking on the image.
This year, I've scrapped the Happy Mac (but don't worry, he's still on last year's Mac wallpaper & the 2024 iPhone wallpaper) in favour of the Apple lettering. Backstory: the design & colour inspiration came from an old Apple catalogue from the 80s featuring mousepads, clothing, pens, and sailboards (not kidding). And in that catalogue was a heavyweight cotton sweatshirt featuring the Apple lettering in five garish colours and the Garamond typeface. Once I saw it, it felt right that it should adorn this year's Ugly Christmas Sweater wallpaper for the Mac.
Catalogue Description: “After a rough day windsurfing, the Apple sweatshirt is just the thing. And a perfect companion to our sweatpants. Unisex sizes (S-XL) in jade and black. Letter Sweatshirt #3950, $15.”
In addition to the new lettering, this refreshed design comes in four new colours: Arctic Blue, Cranberry Red, Mistletoe Green, and Amber Hearth, along with some minor edits, design tweaks, and a new row of icons on the bottom featuring an assortment of Apple Products; from AirPods to Vision Pro.
The design was entirely created in Sketch, after which it was imported into Pixelmator Pro for some final adjustments (noise, gradients, background, shading, etc.) before being exported and uploaded. Enjoy.
Arctic Blue | Cranberry Red | Mistletoe Green | Amber Hearth
I’m a one-person operation, working in healthcare by day & running this site as a passion project in my off time.
If you enjoy my work (the articles, the wallpapers, my general demeanour… anything really), consider leaving a tip & supporting the site. Your support is incredibly appreciated & goes a long way to keep this site and the works I produce ad-free & free of charge.
🎄 Tips2024-12-20 23:27:20
A refreshed Ugly Christmas iPhone Wallpaper just in time for the holidays.
Hoping to start an annual tradition, I am releasing my 2024 Ugly Christmas Sweater Wallpaper for iPhone today. The Ugly Christmas Sweater series began in 2020 and was rebooted in 2023 with an all-new sweater design featuring the Happy Macintosh and Clarus the Dogcow.
Ugly Christmas Sweater: Mac Edition
Download the matching Ugly Christmas Sweater wallpaper fro your Mac by clicking on the image.
While I wanted to do more, the lack of time and the myriad of other commitments got the best of me, and as a result, I could not churn out an all-new design for 2024. Instead, I am releasing a refreshed design of four new wallpapers featuring an updated Happy Macintosh, some minor design tweaks, a slight colour update, and an all-new bottom row featuring Apple hardware with a splash of their iconic six colours.
I hope you enjoy these garish & kitschy wallpapers that were all digitally hand-stitched with love during the holidays—my best to all of you for your support over the years. Enjoy!
Arctic Blue | Cranberry Red | Mistletoe Green | Amber Hearth
Edit 1: Fixed the missing mini white snowflake on the right of the Mac.
Edit 2: Fixed the mixing coloured stitch on the left of the Mac.
Edit 3: Fixed that the left diamond was higher than the right on either side of the Mac.
I’m a one-person operation, working in healthcare by day & running this site as a passion project in my off time.
If you enjoy my work (the articles, the wallpapers, my general demeanour… anything really), consider leaving a tip & supporting the site. Your support is incredibly appreciated & goes a long way to keep this site and the works I produce ad-free & free of charge.
🎄 Tips
