Ubuntu’s default wallpaper changes every 6 months, with its official reveal forming a major part of the distro’s development cycle.
An estimated 22 million people use Ubuntu on the desktop so its choice of background image matters. With so many eyes impressed upon it, a good impression counts.
Which is why every Ubuntu release since 2004 (except one – find out which and why below) has included its own unique desktop image. To date there have been 39 distinct default Ubuntu wallpapers.
Being a bit of a nostalgic dweeb I decided to sift through this site’s image stash to pull out and compile those wallpapers into a single post for me us to look back at, reminisce, and evaluate the evolution of Ubuntu’s rich visual history.
If you fancy a trip down memory lane, scroll on!
Default Ubuntu Wallpapers
Ubuntu 4.10 ‘Warty Warthog’
Once upon a time ubuntu was very brown and earthy — very brown and earthy. Just take a look at the very first Ubuntu wallpaper: a spiritless block of brown with a smudge and a logo. It’s hard to think that this uninspiring, pallid design is from the same distro as the one we used today.
Ubuntu 5.04 ‘Hoary Hedgehog’
First release out of the way, Ubuntu was able to deliver a more engaging design for its follow-up.
Those booting in to the stock desktop of the Hoary Hedgehog were greeted by wispy light effects overlaid on a darker, richer, and homely brown hue with an off-centre distro logo. While not a bona-fide classic, this background better represents Ubuntu’s burgeoning personality.
Ubuntu 5.10 Breezy Badger
The lighter ‘tan’ brown used in the stock Ubuntu 5.10 wallpaper helped give the desktop a much calmer, softer feeling. The use of light refractions adds a bokeh-esque effect frame around the (intentionally off-centre) logo is both elegant and impactful.
This was the last wallpaper to display the full Ubuntu logo word mark.
Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake
One word sums up the Dapper Drake wallpaper: dark. Swirly, curvy lines overlaid on a rich, chocolate brown background delivered a warm, luxurious, and distinctive drape. Not as instantly iconic as other entries in this list but by no means bland either!
Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft
Virulent Mac haters took issue with Ubuntu 6.10 wallpaper due to its (not entirely subtle) design influence: the then-default Mac OS X 10.4 wallpaper ‘Aqua‘. Riff or rip off? Doesn’t matter: the light skin tones and intersecting arcs offered a calm, pleasing aesthetic.
Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn
When the Ubuntu 7.04 wallpaper was revealed a number of people remarked that it resembled a patch of bruised skin! I can’t quite see that but, given it’s an indistinct illustration, it’s hard to see much. Whatever aim lay behind the design appeared to have got lost in translation…
Ubuntu 7.10 ‘Gutsy Gibbon’
Ubuntu 7.10 saw a return to the rich brown tones from the Dapper Drake era after a couple of releases favouring fleshy tones. As Gutsy Gibbon was the first version of Ubuntu I ever used I do have a real nostalgic bias looking this. It is quintessentially “Ubuntu” to me.
Ubuntu 8.04 ‘Hardy Heron
The Ubuntu 8.04 ‘Hardy Heron’ wallpaper is considered by most to be Ubuntu’s best wallpaper, bar none. It’s hard to argue. An illustration of the release mascot (a first) that’s intricate, colourful, and imaginative. This presentation personified the distro’s popularity at the time.
Ubuntu 8.10 ‘Intrepid Ibex’
The Intrepid Ibex also featured its titular mascot in abstract style. Too abstract perhaps as some claimed to see a coffee stain rather than a charging ibex! Regardless, 8.10’s wallpaper was distinctive, different, and dripping in personality – which can’t be said about some of the art that followed it…
Ubuntu 9.04 ‘Jaunty Jackalope’
It was back to basics with the Ubuntu 9.04 wallpaper. Imaginatively rendered mascots were ditched, and simple gradients, swooshy lines, and lighting effects brought back. This design was, for most of us at the time, something of a let down given the originality of the previous 2 releases.
Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala
Long-time Ubuntu users booting into Ubuntu 9.10 “Karmic Koala” for the first time were surprised to see a distinct lack of brown. The earthy tones that had been a staple of the distro’s identify were replaced by vivid orange.
It’s fair to say this wallpaper gives off warm and inviting vibes. Plus the texture and focus blur (I still can’t tell if it’s a macro photograph or a digital effect) gave the desktop a truly tactile, tangible feel.
Ubuntu 10.04 ‘Lucid Lynx’
With the launch of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS came a new look for the distro: new colour scheme, new logo, and a new theme and icon set were introduced. Orange and brown no longer vibed with the distro’s rebooted visual identity.
And this carried through to the Lucid Lynx wallpaper, which boasts a striking new purple/pink gradient with lens flares and blurry artefacts overlaid. The result: a truly lucid, dreamy default wallpaper.
Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat
A more ambitious wallpaper was planned for Ubuntu 10.10 but, alas, time ran out to make it happen (and the idea subsequently forgotten). This substitute image made for a competent stand in. Ethereal strobes spanning orange, purple, and pink give it an otherworldly vibe.
Ubuntu 11.04 ‘Natty Narwhal’
Ubuntu 11.04 saw the start of a new era of wallpaper designs where only subtle changes would be made between releases. Opting for a more consistent, iterative approach did generate less excitement among long-time fans during artwork drops but, looking back, there’s method to the blandness.
Ubuntu 11.10 ‘Oneiric Ocelot’
Remember how I said the new era would only make subtle changes? I really meant it — the Ubuntu 11.10 wallpaper is barely distinguishable from the one in 11.04. If you switch between them really quickly you can see the changes, but they’re incredibly slight…
Ubuntu 12.04 ‘Precise Pangolin’
As the default background in Ubuntu 12.04 would be seen for 5 years (LTS releases were previously supported for 3 years) Ubuntu’s design team swapped the steely cold purple tones used in the previous 3 wallpapers for a warmer, more welcoming hue — same design, but less austere.
Ubuntu 12.10 ‘Quantal Quetzal’
After 5 years of barely distinguishable drapes the default wallpaper in Ubuntu 12.10 was a shock. It wasn’t a thematic departure as such (still an orange and purple gradient) but it had a dark splodge in it. A few folks likened this to a close-up photo of someone’s nostril…
Ubuntu 13.04 ‘Raring Ringtail’
Unusually the Ubuntu 13.04 background was revealed super early in the development cycle. Was there a reason for it? Some suggested it was the 12.10 wallpaper flipped vertically. Either way, the “nostril” (as it became unaffectionately known) is better best forgotten…
Ubuntu 13.10 ‘Saucy Salamander’
The Ubuntu 13.10 wallpaper looked less like a blurry nostril but continued with the indistinct “smudge” theme, albeit set amidst luxuriously richer purple and aubergine tones. Although I didn’t think much of it at the time, I sort of don’t mind this looking back.
Ubuntu 14.04 ‘Trusty Tahr’
Smudge begone! We enter a new era in Ubuntu wallpaper designs, this being the first to echo the origami-inspired “Suru” design language being developed for the Ubuntu Phone project. The lines in the background represent folds in paper.
Ubuntu 14.10 ‘Utopic Unicorn’
There was no new wallpaper in Ubuntu 14.10. Instead, the distro re-used the preceding design. To date, this is the only Ubuntu releases to have its own unique background — a rare occurrence, somewhat fitting for a release named after a mythical unicorn…
Ubuntu 15.04 ‘Vivid Vervet’
For a release called ‘Vivid’ the desktop wallpaper that debuted made an immediate impact by introducing an (unexpectedly at the time) darker look. The Suru folds/lines remain present, albeit shifted more towards the right with a small orange “glow” emanating from the lower corner.
Ubuntu 15.10 ‘Wily Werewolf’
The wallpaper used in the Wily Werewolf refashions the Suru design motifs for a more angular, geometric appearance and the brightness was bumped for a less “inky night sky” look.
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS ‘Xenial Xerus’
The Ubuntu 16.04 wallpaper was the brightest, lightest entry for several years. The rich, royal purples were swapped for pinker hues, and more orange introduced. The faceted geometric sectioning lends this design a spiders’ web-like appearance.
Ubuntu 16.10 ‘Yakkety Yak’
The higher, brighter theme continued in 16.10 with the inclusion of more orange. The geometry in the overlaid lines continued to shift and expand.
Ubuntu 17.04 ‘Zesty Zapus’
The Ubuntu 17.04 wallpaper isn’t a major departure over the previous one. The orange purple gradient remains virtually unchanged though the area of geometric interest shifts towards the righthand side of the screen.
Ubuntu 17.10 ‘Artful Aardvark’
The Ubuntu 17.10 ‘Artful Aardvark’ wallpaper was the first to feature artwork of the codename animal since 2008. The aardvark (Ubuntu went back to the start of the alphabet for codenames) is rendered using bisecting circles and is overlaid on the (now) familiar gradient.
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS ‘Bionic Beaver’
For Ubuntu 18.04 the mascot revival continued. The default background boasts a giant beaver motif which, like the aardvark in the preceding entry, is created using intersecting circles and arcs. Very clever, and very cool.
Ubuntu 18.10 ‘Cosmic Cuttlefish’
The Ubuntu 18.10 wallpaper re-introduced a darker purple and orange gradient and continued to construct its central mascot motif using (mostly) circles. Cosmic? Rather.
Ubuntu 19.04 ‘Disco Dingo’
The Ubuntu 19.04 wallpaper depicted a diligently designed dingo donning headphones atop a deep purple gradient. What do you think he’s listening to, GNU-metal? 😉 Notable, this was the first wallpaper since 2005 to include the Ubuntu logo on it.
Ubuntu 19.10 ‘Eoan Ermine’
The Ubuntu 19.10 wallpaper boasts a round stoat motif created (like the aardvark, beaver, and cuttlefish) from using circles and arcs. It sits atop an orange-ier and pink-ier gradient.
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS ‘Focal Fossa’
Ubuntu’s design team returned to line-art for the Ubuntu 20.04 wallpaper, giving the fossa (it’s a type of cat) extra flair by adding ‘focal lines’ to its eyes — though most saw it as a feline firing lasers!
Ubuntu 20.10 ‘Groovy Gorilla’
Ubuntu 20.10’s colourful codename was always going to result in a characterful mascot and users got exactly that on their desktops: a polygon gorilla boasting a pair of slick Ubuntu-branded shades!
Ubuntu 21.04 ‘Hirsute Hippo’
Hmm, so we come to the Ubuntu 21.04 wallpaper. It had a hairy codename that Ubuntu’s designers took heed of in their interpretative illustration. But in an echo of the “coffee or ibex” optical illusion of 2007, not everyone saw a hippo in this design. Some saw a pair of hairy… Let’s call them coconuts.
Ubuntu 21.10 ‘Impish Indri’
A symmetrical indri framed in by intersecting lines on a purple gradient. What more could they do? Or more honestly: what more were you expecting?! 😅
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS ‘Jammy Jellyfish’
The Ubuntu 22.04 wallpaper has a fantastic geometric jellyfish as its centrepiece, flanked by new 3D protrusions. This design gave us our first real update to the background in years, with the side elements adding a real textural variance that heightens the impact. A true statement piece.
Ubuntu 22.10 ‘Kinetic Kudu’
The Ubuntu 22.10 wallpaper came with a leaping kudu, adding a dynamism to the default wallpaper that was reflective of the codename if not, alas, the release itself (which was rather sedate).
Ubuntu 23.04 ‘Lunar Lobster’
In the Ubuntu 23.04 wallpaper Canonical’s designers took the celestial codename and ran with it, giving us a star-studded background replete with half moon, and an eye-catching lobster constellation in the center — truly epic.
Ubuntu 23.10 ‘Mantic Minotaur’
Ubuntu 23.10’s wallpaper makes an intricate maze the focal piece. The walls of the maze make up the ‘minotaur’ mascot motif itself, which is very clever. This is classically classy wallpaper and the first background to feature the “new” version of the Ubuntu logo.
Ubuntu 24.04 ‘Noble Numbat’
And so we come to the most recent wallpaper, that of the Noble Numbat. The design for this drape leans heavily in to the royal, regal connotations with a pair of numbats straddling a crown emblazoned with (a new tradition?) with the Ubuntu logo.
