DavidLanham
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The Iconfactory's David Lanham on building homescreen-worthy icons
When you admire an app icon on your Mac or iOS device, chances are that it may have been designed by The Iconfactory's David Lanham. I had the unique experience of having him sketch me over FaceTime for a custom avatar portrait, and he's a talented and friendly artist. The Verge's Ellis Hamburger recently interviewed Lanham about his work, his training and the reason why eye-catching icons are so important. Lanham, who has created such classic and whimsical icons as Twitterific's "Ollie," Acorn's acorn, Coda's leaf and the gorgeous calendar for Fantastical, notes in the interview that "icons are the face and branding of an app, and they set the tone and give people an idea of what to expect for an app's purpose, quality and content. It's extremely important to really nail the message and content of the icon if you want the best chance of someone initially checking out your app as well as keeping it on their device (or at least out of a subfolder)." Personally, I was happy to hear that Space Doggy is one of Lanham's favorite drawings, since I've used that drawing (a small fragment of which is seen below) as my Mac desktop for two years. It's a great interview with one of the people who makes working with Apple products such a joy.
2048px.com lets you customize iPad wallpaper
Tired of the same old wallpaper on your Retina display iPad? 2048px.com may be just the place to visit in order to turn your wallpaper from boring to WOW! The site is the brainchild of Kal Michael, Joe Workman and former TUAWite David Chartier. To quote the "About" page on the website, "Apple released the new iPad in March 2012 and the internet called out for a way to give it beautiful, Retina-quality wallpapers. We answered with 2048px.com." The site is now at version 2.0, and has a number of new features to make it even more useful. There's a selection of nice wallpapers, including some great ones from one of my favorite artists, David Lanham. Once you've selected one you really like, there's an option to tap a small triangular "fx" tab in the upper left corner of the image to add either pixelation or blurriness to varying degrees and even add grain, lines or a mesh to the image. Once it looks just the way you want it, the wallpaper can be downloaded with a tap (yes, you can do this all on your iPad), emailed or shared via Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest. There's no charge for 2048px -- it's ad-supported -- and the proprietors are actively seeking submissions from artists. If you're bored of your current iPad wallpaper, give 2048px.com a whirl.
Sitting for a portrait with FaceTime on iPhone 4
So, you're tired of your Twitter avatar, the photo of your face that you took in Photo Booth. Maybe a nice portrait would be in order... David Lanham, who is probably best known for his work with Iconfactory (he designed Ollie, the Twitteriffic bluebird), is an accomplished artist whose body of work using electronic media and traditional art media is whimsical, thought-provoking, and beautiful. I've used one of his vector drawings (Game Hunter) as my desktop wallpaper on my iMac, and it never ceases to make me smile when I look at it. Lanham recently broke his foot, which forced him to hang around his house. A friend of his volunteered for a portrait, with the traditional "sitting" being done over a FaceTime call. He decided to make a few bucks while immobile, so he's been picking up FaceTime portrait work at $50 a pop. Once the portrait is complete, you can use it as your online avatar, and perhaps even order a giclée print for your study. According to a developer who is currently working with Lanham, the artist's inbox is now jam-packed with requests for these cool drawings, so don't expect him to respond immediately if you're in the market for a FaceTime portrait. Thanks to Jack (second from the right) for the tip!
Desktop of the Week for 4/22 - 4/28/07
This week's TUAW Desktop hails from Flickr user brianpunx and makes use of a number of Mac OS X software and icons which brianpunx was kind enough to list (hint: that makes my job easier when picking a TUAW Desktop of the Week, though it doesn't influence my decision). First, it's running a ShapeShifter theme by the name of Amora Pearl by well-known Mac OS X icon and desktop artist David Lanham. Now I couldn't track down the wallpaper, but the album art/iTunes controller in the bottom left is CoverSutra (which we've mentioned before), and the date/time display at bottom center is the work of Panic's excellent Stattoo. You have to view the larger version of brianpunx's desktop, however, to really take in the view and clever placement of icons in relation to the wallpaper.If you'd like to see your unique, functional or otherwise interesting desktop featured in our TUAW Desktops of the Week series, check out past featured desktops as well as the original post for the rules and to get an idea of what we're looking for. Then, upload your desktop screenshot to our TUAW Desktops Flickr group. We'll feature one or more desktops each weekend, giving credit to the desktop owner, wallpaper creator and any apps featured in the screenshot (if available). Keep those desktops rolling in!
Apple Matters interviews David Lanham
I have long been a fan of David Lanham's work, whether it be icons from Iconfactory, or drawings of mice in space suits. Apple Matters had a chance to ask David a few questions about his process, what kind of Mac he uses, and how he got started with art. Head on over and read about this up and coming artist and icon crafter.
