Ubuntu 12.04 Wallpaper Contest Launched

By , Published January 23, 2012

The wallpaper contest for Ubuntu 12.04 has kicked off. 

The contest runs an open submission process that allows anyone to submit their own photographic and illustrated wallpapers to a public pool on social networking photography site Flickr. Of the submissions received by the deadline a dozen or so will be selected to form Ubuntu’s default wallpaper pack and ship on the Ubuntu CD.

The deadline for art aiming at inclusion in Ubuntu 12.04 is March 15th.

Need inspiration? Take a look at previous years winning entries.

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  1. Wallpaper Switching Lands in Precise Login Screen
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  • Jean-Philippe Green

    Doesn’t really matter which ones get chosen, the default will still be some ugly aubergine puke.

    • Xaahu

      agreed.

    • Károly Lengyel

      +1

    • http://profiles.google.com/hansioux Rex Su

      skittles puke for the default win.

    • Anonymous

      Nobody denies you to change your default wallpaper to any picture you want.

    • Anonymous

      What a stupid comment. This is not a competition for the default wallpaper. It’s a competition for the non-default wallpapers.

      • http://profiles.google.com/peter.podgorski Piotr Podgórski

        “This is not a competition for the default wallpaper.”
        The point is, it should be.

        • Anonymous

          It never has been, never will be. Live with that.

          • moarbewbs

            Doen’t mean it’s not a stupid decision though. 

          • Anonymous

            Ah, the spirit of open source.

          • https://launchpad.net/~fader fader

             The “spirit of open source” isn’t that everybody votes on every little thing.  It’s that the *source* is *open* and available.

            If you’re not happy with how Ubuntu is being built, you’re completely free to go build your own distro.  You can even use all the components in Ubuntu as a base.  Mint seems to be doing quite well at that.

            Or instead you could make snarky and entitled comments on a message board about the work other people are doing for you for free.

          • Anonymous

            I can’t seem to reply to fader, so I guess I’ll reply to myself.

            I think a default wallpaper is part of the core branding of the distribution/Unity, so it’s something that deserves a lot of thought and collaboration, just like the color scheme and theme.

            I don’t insist that people who know nothing of design have any sort of control over the process- only that everyone has a chance to give good reasons for a new wallpaper. The current wallpaper is okay, but it’s not what I’d call impressive (it doesn’t leave an impression).

            That said, I haven’t used Ubuntu for a long time for these very reasons. As a designer and a contributor, I think I am entitled to talk about these kinds of decisions. I think it’s too bad that the artists in Ubuntu’s community have such a small voice just because fanboys support every decision made by Ayatana without asking the tough questions. The design team needs to have focus, but that doesn’t mean they should be entirely inaccessible.

            I don’t see this changing, and so I don’t use Unity (or Ubuntu), but I’m still going to take the opportunity to point it out.

          • http://nosheep.org.ua Алексей Раю

            Sounds like Ghaddafi, “Oh that will never happen..!” Things happen. Live with that.

      • Jean-Philippe Green

        Never said it was

      • http://devonyoung.com Devon

        What a stupid reply. This competition’s best entries “will be selected to form Ubuntu’s default wallpaper pack”. Tell me how that means nobody’s wallpaper can become THE default. Maybe you’re right, but there’s nothing written above to indicate it, so you can’t go around telling people their comments are stupid because they didn’t read something that wasn’t there. Sorry, but that just irritates me when people say someone was stupid for something like that.

      • Yoann Menelet

        Do you realize guys that you are arguing about a wallpaper ? Yeah that thing that doesn’t stay the same more than a month…

        • Anthony Venable

          Exactly its a wallpaper something that can very easily be changed.

        • Anonymous

          I agree, if you don’t like the default wallpaper, just change it

    • Anonymous

      Good thing Ubuntu provides more then just the default or you could just use your own.

      • http://profiles.google.com/peter.podgorski Piotr Podgórski

        Yeah, it’s not like the first impression matters, right?

    • Anonymous

      Its same sort of puke found on mac OS X that most americans love to gulp down on breakfast.

      • Samuel Orr

        No. It’s some sort of thing that people do where you are from that makes no sense.

        • Anonymous

          Seriously not meant to Offend anyone. It is the same sort of wallpaper found on mac that everyone ( Especially americans ) love so much. But when it comes to linux- people call it “puke”. Apologise for the harsh tone.

      • Anonymous

        What on earth is that supposed to mean… ?

    • http://www.benjaminkerensa.com Benjamin Kerensa

      I quite like Aubergine….. You should see the Canonical dress shirts they are snazzy

    • Bart Willemsen

      And you always stick with the default settings? :P Come on, a new wallpaper is just one click away. Some community wallpapers are really good actually.

      • Jean-Philippe Green

        Of course I don’t =) and yes, I agree, a lot of community wallpapers are amazing! But the first impression is important and it’s one of the things Apple wins a lot of users from. Commercials would attract more eyes if the artwork is good looking.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OCZ2XNYGCNSJSRYEBVX3SYJVAQ Marius

    i bet the default one will be the same as 11.10 with some random dots and circles,just wait

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GE4EYP3QOQ246PLG2Y2DOD2NIQ Dr. Fly

      You mean the one originally planned for 10.10?

  • Jacob Millward

    I’m hoping they go for something new this year, something that looks really sleek. Preferably NOT purple.

  • sd

    It would be nice if your wallpapers (summer and winter) land in Ubuntu 12.04

  • http://twitter.com/alexlongshaw Alex Longshaw

    Hasn’t been a good default since 8.04. The others don’t really matter since most users have access to the internet.

  • https://launchpad.net/~exeleration-g Exeleration-G

    I hope they keep the purple. Like it or not, it gives Ubuntu a thing people remember it with.

    • http://profiles.google.com/peter.podgorski Piotr Podgórski

      Agreed. The color itself is not the problem. Its usage is.

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_IK3GYJHISHUG7XCTGBTMOXTHWU Trigger

        there probably going to use the ubuntu standard like the ubuntu tv picture.

        • http://www.frothingthefrap.com/ Shannon Black

          I agree .. i love the default wallpaper .. however if you look at the adverts here : http://www.techdrivein.com/2012/01/4-new-professionally-done-ubuntu.html : i think silver and orange really looks amazing!!

  • Benjamin

    Why do people make such a big deal of a wallpaper? It’s just an image and you can download millions from the Internet.

    • Yaseen Noorani

      It’s more of a matter of pride for the people whose wallpapers are chosen, in a way

    • Anonymous

      i do not agree!  ubuntu is aiming to arrive to the non tech audience, grandpa’s and granma’s. right?
      i think that for such people, the first impression and look are crucial.  wallpaper is 90% of what you see, and the theme also is super important.
      not everyone, want’s to “hassle” and change wallpaper and theme.

      the current default is not a disaster, but it needs some tweaking urgently, so it fits the unity interface better.

      look at lightdm… the default one…it is beautiful, slick and elegant… the wallpaper with the dots.. etc.. it makes you, to want to look at it… it says welcome… in a beautiful way.

      try to look at  the gdm from last releases… and you will think you are in 1998.

      so tweak, get it elegant and make fit with the theme and unity.
      because it does matter.!!

    • http://www.facebook.com/elslunko Edward De La Torre

      I think it’s part of what makes OSX so attractive out of the box. It’s important for an OS release to have some visual appeal out of the box since many won’t even go that far in terms of customization.

      True, eventually the wallpaper will be changed to a snapshot of someone’s grand kids covered in food but when Ubuntu get’s reviewed it’ll be the first thing many people notice.

      • SuAlfons

        as an OSX user, I found the current one (Andromeda) a lame pic. Changed it to a slideshow of Girl Genius WPs ..

    • http://www.dylanmccall.com/ dylan-m

      Because everyone’s really excited to know what the install slideshow’s next background picture will be :b

    • Arkadius

      Because most people don’t bother to change defaults?

    • http://twitter.com/howythegeek Howy

      Because it’s very joyful for photographers, maybe?
      It’s one of the times of the year that my pictures gain views, comments and faves. And it’s… The only reason I use Flickr.

      And besides, there are multiple wallpapers. It freshens up the system. Twice a year. It’s good for the folks who prefer sticking to what is available.

      Plus, the wallpapers included have a good quality, because they have most probably not been tossed around the internet.

  • http://twitter.com/levudev Florian

    I’d like to see some wallpapers with abstract geometric objects, something like the stripes wallpaper of gnome shell

  • http://profiles.google.com/pablolbapablo Pablo Olbap

    one of theese: http://www.cabargas.com/blog/2011/09/un-toque-ubuntero-a-gnome-shell/

    and yes! purple/orange/violet are Ubuntu’s unique colors and even nature wallpapers would be colored to match this preset. 

    • Freddi

      The last one is the best!

      Although the bluish violett of the 2&3 ones is certainly not a Canonical/Ubuntu color.

  • http://twitter.com/heminder Mattias Nordström

    they should just have a wallpaper slideshow as the default.

  • http://twitter.com/howythegeek Howy

    Oh well… I’ll start another search for nice wallpapers in my library. Again. I bet I’ll do this every 6 months now… xD

  • Alessandro L

    I was waiting for it, I come up with something like that http://flic.kr/ps/Zt6Qh during the testing of LightDM new features..

  • Anonymous

    Submit the one you posted here, the one with the cardboard mountains!!!!

  • Anant

    I found this nice one http://www.equinoxos.org/2011/12/sexy-ubuntu-wallpaper.html

    • Anonymous

      Thankyou alot, I’m the Designer of that wallpaper

  • http://www.facebook.com/elslunko Edward De La Torre

    I love this time of year. Going to run out after the rain dies down a bit and snap away.

  • Badreddine Moon

    I love you ubuntu , and I love everything that’s open source, every one can participate in it’s development ;you can copy it  upload it download it and “SOPA & PIPA” won’t do a damng thing 

  • Rain Man

    Ubuntu 11.04 is the most beautiful wallpaper..

    • Satchit Bhogle

      Do you mean default wallpaper or wallpaper set? Because I can’t really tell the difference between 10.04, 10.10, 11.04 and 11.10.

  • http://www.portalmedia.co.il/ Schiwe

    I added my photo under the title “Free Flower” :)

  • http://fun24.tv/ Yanek

    Those pictures are not relevant to Ubuntu. You can download a lot of wallpapers from the internet. But contest is fine.

  • http://twitter.com/kyentei Jeffrey ☮

    How about HD wallpapers this time? I’m quite tired of the 1024 or 1280 res wallpapers. It’s not 2003 anymore.

  • André Herrmann

    My only wish would only be to use straight pastel purple colours. Just not too shiny and too much light effects. And maybe a small ubuntu logo at the right bottom corner.

  • http://twitter.com/howythegeek Howy

    Oh… I forgot this is an LTS, actually… :O
    So, this release is especially important, because people will be seeing it for 2-4 years.
    Better make some good submissions…

  • http://twitter.com/thomas_vandeven Thomas Vandeven

    I don’t think that a contest is the best way of determining what wallpapers would be best for ubuntu. people end up picking their favourite, and while that can be a good thing on it’s own, it creates a lower quality variety.

    • Satchit Bhogle

      “The contest runs an open submission process that allows anyone to submit their own photographic and illustrated wallpapers to a public pool on social networking Flickr. Of the submissions received by the deadline a dozen or so will be selected to form Ubuntu’s default wallpaper pack and ship on the Ubuntu CD.”
      It is not a popularity contest run by votes. There is a panel which will select the wallpapers out of the pool submitted by the community.

  • Anonymous

    Joey, are you going to submit yours?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GE4EYP3QOQ246PLG2Y2DOD2NIQ Dr. Fly

    I can’t wait to see what the new included animal wallpaper will look like!

    Maybe I should try my hand at a wallpaper, myself…

  • Conscious User

    “There’s nothing wrong with homosexuality, except that I use it as a standard of wrongness.”

    • Satchit Bhogle

      Respect, @conscioususer:disqus . Respect.

  • Yodel

    For the haters. 1 if you don’t like the default then don’t use and stop complaining cause it makes no sense to do so. 2 I had used windows 7 before and for me that it possibly the worst wallpaper ever it’s just blue with some lines and a big logo… At least Ubuntu has some variety don’t you think

  • Jean-Philippe Green

    I was never against the color brown. Neither am I against the color aubergine. I’m against wallpapers that look like puke or some other weird abstract thing. 8.04 and 8.10 had awesome wallpapers, and I think many people agree with me. No need to please everyone, but the more we can please, the better. no?

  • Lars Clausen

    I am going to regret that I have just committed wallpapers :))

  • Lars

    “am I going to regret that I have just committed wallpapers” it should have been, aaaahe :(

  • Martin Stibor

    Please, more pre-installed wallpapers in 12.04 !

  • http://twitter.com/Karriereguide Oliver Förster

    Done! Uploaded my idea for a very simple desktop wallpaper. 

  • The Negative Shape

    PLEASE let the default wallpaper be clean gray/silver like in http://www.techdrivein.com/2012/01/4-new-professionally-done-ubuntu.html
    Then the rest of the colour scheme can stay the same.
    First impressions aren’t everything, but the purple-orange mush that every newcomer sees only makes ubuntu look amateurish.
    Also, what happened to default wallpapers featuring animals??

  • http://www.manishsinha.net Manish Sinha

    Do you know that “gay” actually means “cheerful”
    You just cooked up a random definition out of thin air. Such definition of gay makes sense mostly for homophobic people

  • Arkadius

    ”
    Because…?”
    Does it really matter? I subscribe to relativism wholeheartedly. Otherwise I would be a hypocrite. You would be probably too, because You seem to have Slayer (so I suppose you’re a fan) in Your avatar and their lyrics are quite (sometimes) antisemtic and inflammatory – but it’s called art, so they are not guilty (as a matter of fact, I like them too, just saying that everything is within some context). Sorry for double-post.

  • http://twitter.com/reivanen kim reivanen

    I really liked the “animal” one in natty narwhal. The oneiric ocelot one, not so much.

    Something like natty narwhal animal one. There is no way though to make an ocelot to look as cool as an narwhal.

  • Conscious User

    @595618ec4cf46fe2ce1032fea3ef38c6:disqus The context in Slayer case is that *writing about* and *supporting* are very different things, as they have explained in countless interviews.

    What exactly is the context in your case? Please explain your point on relativism with more details.

  • http://hathix.com/ Neel Mehta

    I LOVE Ubuntu’s wallpapers, they’re the only good ones IMO. I’ve looked for tons online but they’re all low-quality or really hard to find. Keep it up guys!

 
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