It was 2 weeks before we were going to begin shipping our new Atlas laptop line. Our VP illuminated a glaring mistake, we didn’t have a branded wallpaper.
We were a small ODM carving out our place. And we wanted something fun and unique. So, a few of us put our heads together and scribbled on whiteboards. Knolling, laying objects flat at 90 degrees to each other, quickly emerged as a compelling approach.
Naturally everything needed to be educational-focused. Our marketing team had already developed messaging centered on time-travel, science, and exploration. We pulled these themes and added ones on education, sports, and space.
We picked iconic objects that would capture the idea of the theme. For example, Sputnik is so quickly recognizable. It’s also a perfect piece of history for a student to learn more about. The themes were further grouped into color families. All the colors draw from the Bak USA or Atlas brand. Six total wallpapers were released. The desktop was imaged as a slideshow that would rotate through the different artworks.
Behind the Scenes:
Texture and color were critical elements. Pictured below is a very early concept. The textures worked OK but none of us were excited about the skeuomorphism. If all the objects were portrayed this realistically, the wallpaper could quickly get too busy.
I played around with a few methods. Ultimately, we settled on an x-ray or electron microscope imaging feel. The graininess and see-through quality created interesting base artwork that I could color wash. The image below was one of my personal favorites. There’s something about the blue and reds here that I found really compelling. Ultimately, we made it purple to fit with our brand colors.
