Desktop Wallpaper Calendar: May 2008
Desktop wallpapers can serve as an excellent source of inspiration. However, if you use some specific wallpaper for a long period of time, it becomes harder to draw inspiration out of it. That’s why since April 2008 we supply you with fresh desktop wallpapers. And to make them a little bit more distinctive from the usual crowd, we’ve decided to embed calendars for the upcoming month. So if you need to look up some date, isn’t it better to show off a nice wallpaper with a nice calendar instead of launching some default time application?
This post features 17 19 free desktop wallpapers with calendars, created by designers across the globe for Smashing Magazine and its readers. Both versions with a calendar and without a calendar can be downloaded and used for free.
Please notice:
- all images can be clicked 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?
- Desktop Wallpaper Calendar: April 2008 features desktop wallpapers from the last month.
So what wallpapers have we received for May?
The happy month
“When I think of May, images of happiness, sun, flowers come to my mind… the summer approaches and the faces of the people become smiling. This happiness is the one that I wanted to express in the calendar.” Designed by Alba Soler from Spain.
- with calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
- without calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
The Model
“The model? She’s my cousin, she’s a model here in Mexico City. I was updating some of her pictures (for her site), and suddenly decided to do the may calendar with her.” Designed by Patricia Villanueva from Mexico.
Saxophone
“Saxophone. She is dancing…” Designed by Rogers Sampaio from Portugal.
- preview (0.3 Mb, jpg)
- with calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
- without calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
Calendar Eater
“Today I discovered a tiny animal that eats notes from my books! So I took a picture immediately!” Available in 12 desktop resolutions — both widescreen and fullscreen. Designed by Vlad Gerasimov from Irkutsk, Russia.
- preview (0.4 Mb, jpg)
- with calendar:
800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×1024 , 1280×800, 1280×960 , 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 2560×1600
Surprise
“I made this last winter, being moody and waiting for warmer days. Looks like they’re here soon. Designed by Stefan Sicher from Switzerland.
- preview (0.3 Mb, jpg)
- with calendar: 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
- without calendar: 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
Blooming in the rain
“This design is inspired by the rainy and sunny May. Hope it will Bloom you away.” Designed by Vane Kosturanov from Macedonia.
- preview (0.3 Mb, jpg)
- with calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
- without calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
Rise Above
Designed by Rafal Tomal from Poland.
Time Flies
“The theme is: rainbow, time, joy, spring weather, magic and fantasy”. Designed by Sandie Sørensen from Denmark.
- preview (0.3 Mb, jpg)
- with calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
- without calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
There is always an open window
“The idea came to me when I was working on a project, and it wouldn´t work out like I wanted it to. So I just got up, and saw a flock of birds through my open window. I took my time watching them disappear and spent some time on my balcony outside, just to get my head clear and fresh. Whatever there is, there is always an open window to get out.” Designed by Dirk Worring from Sonsbeck, Germany.
- preview (0.3 Mb, jpg)
- with calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
- without calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
Mayper
“I saw a design a few months ago that I haven’t been able to get out of my mind. I’ve been looking for somewhere to use the techniques used in what I saw to create something unique. This wallpaper is that attempt.” Designed by Pat Dryburgh.
- preview (0.3 Mb, jpg)
- with calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
- without calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
Chocolate Landscape
“For this project, I just had fun and made something that I would want on my own desktop. I created a simplified landscape using basic shapes and an earthy color palette. I also wanted to make an elegant, yet simple calendar, so that it added to the design, instead of disrupting it. The chocolate sky gave the design a fresh look, and I happen to like darker wallpapers in general, so I went with it.” Designed by Richard Roche from USA.
- preview (0.3 Mb, jpg)
- with calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
- without calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
I Am The Stag
“A couple of friends of mine are getting married over the next few months (not to each other I might add) and it got me thinking about weddings and traditions, in particular the Stag Night. The wallpaper is representative of lucid dreams that we all get when we’re anticipating things to come, especially things the worry us or make us anxious, in this case the big day and the shenanigans of the Stag Night.
It also gave me chance to play around with lighting effects and have a good play in photoshop which I hadn’t done in quite some time. The calendar was layed out simply in a less traditional manner across the bottom of the main image, which I felt pulled it into the design better than having it set to one side in a traditional style layout..” Designed by Peter Coles.
- preview (0.3 Mb, jpg)
- with calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
- without calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
Reviving nature
“”Reviving nature” represents my feeling of spring with all it’s fresh, mostly green colors and blue skies. The lines are representing the activity of nature during spring after a winter sleep.” Designed by Jelmer Kuiper from Netherlands.
- preview (0.3 Mb, jpg)
- with calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
- without calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
Blue and Gray Columns
“I drew inspiration from David Seah’s Compact Calendar for the calendar layout… I love the idea of the days, months and weeks being contained in one unit. I always enjoy the bright vibrant desktops when I’m not actually using my computer, as soon as I start working I’m back to the muted medium grays that don’t distract me. I wanted to create something with energy and color but subtle enough to use long-term, we’ll see how long I leave this one up!” Designed by Amanda Hawkins from Phoenix, USA.
- preview (0.3 Mb, jpg)
- with calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
- without calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
Runing
Designed by Ronen Berliner from Israel.
- preview (0.3 Mb, jpg)
- with calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
- without calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
Morning Love
Designed by LoveMyDesktop.com.
- preview (0.3 Mb, jpg)
- with calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
- without calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
Important Days
“I really like the Smashing Magazine logo. So I decided to use the SM logo as the colour scheme for my concept. Then I thought of the month “MAY”. “MAY” is the most happening of all the months. There are 16 important days celebrated in this month. That made me to symbolically show these important days in my design. The important days which are symbolically shown in this design are international labour day, world asthma day, world press freedom day etc.” Designed by Guru Thilak from Chennai, India.
The Concrete Jungle
“The wallpaper is an illustration telling the story of an elephant leaving where he came from because of people turning his home into a parking lot. He is taking the jungle with him only to find more parking lots. The places where he and the wild can live are becoming very limited.” Designed by Tim Newton from USA.
- preview (0.3 Mb, jpg)
- with calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
- without calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
Treasure your life
“I have taken photos of the roses in my garden. They look so precious and beautify while they are young and alive, but sadly I have to cut them down when they are dying… In a way it really reminds me how precious the life is and we really should treasure our lives and everything along with our lives when we are young, healthy and alive!” Designed by Yan Z. Hughes from USA.
- preview (0.3 Mb, jpg)
- with calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
- without calendar: 1280×960, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200
Join in next month!
Please notice that we respect the ideas and motivation behind artists’ work which is why we’ve given artists full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience through their works. And this is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us, but designed from scratch by the artists themselves.
Thanks to all designers for participation. Hopefully, in May we’ll receive as many entries as in April. Join in next month and smashing May, folks!
Paul
April 29th, 2008 1:32 amAwesome walls! Don’t know what to choose….
Skeku
April 29th, 2008 1:53 amNext month, I’ll try it :D
Marc Dandoy
April 29th, 2008 2:02 am“”Surprise”
404 not found =(
Jeroen Verhulst
April 29th, 2008 2:16 amGreat work again!
Jseen
April 29th, 2008 2:19 amExcellent Wallpapers. But the list is small. Post more wallpapers next month.
TRka
April 29th, 2008 2:19 amnice collection -)
K.K.Shankar
April 29th, 2008 2:21 amWaiting for my calender 4 next month onwards!
Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz
April 29th, 2008 2:54 am@Marc Dandoy: all links should be working now.
James
April 29th, 2008 3:20 amThank you very much Smashing Magazine and all you talented artists for brightening up my desktop next month. Your work and skill is much appreciated.
kristarella
April 29th, 2008 3:23 amNice variety and good quality. Sweet!
Enrique
April 29th, 2008 3:26 amGreat Wallpapers!! Thank you!
And, I have a question… You said in this post “…Designed by Patricia Villanueva from Venezuela…”; but if I remember well, she is from Mexico. Am i wrong?
Thanks again!
Andy Montoya
April 29th, 2008 4:12 amReviving nature!! Great green.
AndyMontoya.com
Tadd
April 29th, 2008 4:28 amhmm .. I may try and do one for next month (or the next, or the next …)
These are brilliant.
Jelmer Kuiper
April 29th, 2008 6:04 amLol, my name is Jelmer Kuiper. Not Jelmer Kuipe.. :-)
Lerentina
April 29th, 2008 6:07 amThanks!!! It is a great site with creative images and paintings! thank you all :)
Feel
April 29th, 2008 6:23 amThe dates in the calendar “Rise Above” are incorrect :o
(in the preview version, I haven’t downloaded any of the others)
Zen
April 29th, 2008 6:39 am“Treasure your life” – it really looks bad.
John O'Robert
April 29th, 2008 6:43 amWow dudes! Awsome collection – fantastic work, keep going.
Rafal
April 29th, 2008 6:59 amFeel: Sorry, I’ll correct it!
rogers sampaio
April 29th, 2008 7:45 amthe comments 21 and 19 (at least the 21) could be classified as span, isn’t it?
That Blogger Guy
April 29th, 2008 8:38 amWhat an awesome approach to what is normally a mundane item. Great way to combine form with function! Check out my write-up on http://www.ocdesignguy.com.
Cherish
April 29th, 2008 10:01 amreally appreciate “calendar eater ” , just put funny together with classicality perfectly!
love SM, expecting more great post.!! :)
Greg K
April 29th, 2008 10:18 amRise Above is designed beautifully but written with errors. The dates are reflecting April 2008!
RedesignYourBiz.com
April 29th, 2008 10:21 amNot really exciting :(
Edwin
April 29th, 2008 11:15 ambeautiful!
Untitled
April 29th, 2008 11:30 amLack of overall quality seems to be apparent this month. Though I do like Alba’s The Happy Month, Vlad’s The Calendar Eater and Peter Coles’ Stag.
Greg
April 29th, 2008 11:41 amLove the newest Calendar (19) just replace my current one.
modaser
April 29th, 2008 12:50 pmthat is very good
http://www.modaser.com
Heri
April 29th, 2008 2:10 pmI refuse to use wallpapers with watermarks on them – they’re distracting and unnecessary. Watermarks often ruin a perfectly good wallpaper. Put “Smashing Magazine” in the JPEG-info or something, but not a visible watermark. I often get the next size up and set it to “center” – I lose some of the image, but at least I get rid of the stupid watermarks that artists insist on putting in their wallpapers.
Steven
April 29th, 2008 8:42 pmCouldn’t agree more about the watermarks. Very distracting and they keep me from using the wallpapers on my desktop.
Dirk
April 29th, 2008 11:10 pmHi,
great wallpapers.
I’ve found a mistake in the Rise Above wallpaper by Rafal Tomal. The calendar is wrong – the 1st of may is a Thursday, isn’t it?
jbcarey
April 29th, 2008 11:47 pmWell, I suppose the simplest way to get an “unwatermarked” wallpaper is to just, open it in photoshop and remove the logo’s…
dani
April 30th, 2008 12:14 amniiiice :)
Peter Coles
April 30th, 2008 1:24 amCheers for the comment ‘untitled’
Angela
April 30th, 2008 1:44 amI love Calendar Eater — so funny, and so appropriate for my preferences and hobbies. :D
(No, not eating words, but reading them… or maybe that’s the same thing.)
kinjal
April 30th, 2008 2:54 ami always use to have this calender wall papers on my pc. i have surfed so many sites for the same. but this is best.
Erik Reagan
April 30th, 2008 4:50 amI just noticed one that I’m using on my desktop at work, Maypaper, is missing day 31 of the month. I had to add it myself in photoshop. I was really confused for a few minutes trying to plan something for the 2nd of June! :p
-Erik
jbaone
April 30th, 2008 7:40 amdude alert! great walls, great mag. keep it up.
major digg on the elephant/smokey/teleport looking wallpaper.
Pat
April 30th, 2008 11:06 amA big reason the artists will put logos on work like this is because they’ve taken their time to create something for free. Rarely is work like this going to generate cash (aside from possibly landing a job lead or two).
I like a lot of these (I wish I had taken more time on mine and possibly used photographs of scrap paper rather than using a mixture of brushes and shadows). I plan on using them because they are very helpful when trying to quickly come up with a date.
Pat
Yan
April 30th, 2008 1:55 pmI am honored to be selected!
I will try to make better ones and get selected again :-)
Maciej
May 1st, 2008 11:04 amHi !!!
Rise Above is designed beautifully.
It’ s my favorite calender and he is The best.
Congratulations Rafal Tomal.
rajaraman
May 1st, 2008 8:57 pmreally its good stuff
Website Design
May 1st, 2008 9:41 pmI like the first one. Its great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
switchback
May 2nd, 2008 12:03 pmI love that first wallpaper, but to the creator….if you’re going to spend that much time making the wallpaper, at least cut out your images cleanly!
Roly
May 2nd, 2008 1:51 pmboring…this time (i think the first) i dont like something from S. Mag…
sandie sørensen
May 4th, 2008 10:38 pmI’ve used this myself: The happy month. Thanks for sharing.
And to all you people who dislikes the wallpapers: did I see anything from you in this post? If you can’t show us something better- then don’t critizise!
Perhaps you didn’t have the time for it? Well perhaps that is also the reason why the wallpapers don’t meet your standards. Maybe they have also been made in a hurry, but at least they contribute to the post!
Am I right?
Thanks to all contributers for sharing your creativity for free!
Diluna
May 6th, 2008 4:23 pmThat images?
I do not understand you
Diluna
May 6th, 2008 4:26 pmThank you very much!
Alba Soler
May 6th, 2008 4:33 pmI am the authoress of the first calendar.
For Sandie sørensen:
You have reason great. Thank you for your commentary. There are persons with bad intention in your opinions.
I am very happy to be the first one of the list though that my calendar is not perfect.
ramadon
May 12th, 2008 5:12 amI love these!! but a word of advice to the artists…try to keep the dates to the left, because I think most people have all their desktop icons on the right and they cover up the numbers!
Steve
May 12th, 2008 8:53 amMayper 1920×1200 w/calendar is 404 :(
The Automatist
May 15th, 2008 12:38 pmAfter reading this post I created a little automation for the Mac to change the desktop calendar picture automatically to the correct image on the first day of every month. You can read about it at: http://www.theautomatist.com/the_automatist/2008/05/automatically-c.html#more
Alcia
May 23rd, 2008 1:15 ammayper does not have 31 days on it!
Alis
May 28th, 2008 2:17 amThe hippest & most creative calendar wallpapers out there! I’m waiting on June – where is it? I accidentally stumbled on this site here in Seattle and can’t wait for the June edition Calendars!!! Thanks for providing them!
speedcu
June 4th, 2008 12:40 amreally cool wallpapers …. I really like the idea with the calendar on it ’cause I am often aksing myself which day is today ;)
Waiting for June!
biswajit
July 1st, 2008 8:09 amreally cool wallpapers! keep it up!
jabalik
July 26th, 2008 7:55 amcool!!! waiting for more…. !! me too is an artist. stiil speachless….
jennifer
October 20th, 2008 8:21 ami hate may i hate this website it gives no info
krupa
April 27th, 2009 2:53 amI love the calendar eater and blooming in the rain…great job guys..
Stan Scott
April 30th, 2009 7:29 amLove these calendars!! For my desktop setup, I like to have a calendar on the right, not the left. Most of the artists have them on the left side. Maybe more next month?
Stan