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designers and users started to reach me. I removed the branding,
adjusted the lightness and made some minor corrections until I got to
the final designs.
I really thought that the Lion wallpaper was going to be the one with
more possibilities, since the lion fur is more close to brown, but I was
surprised to see that the elephant was the one people liked most
(elephants being mostly grey, not brown.)
The "secret" of the elephant was given to me by my 3 years old son: even
though I erased the most prominents aspects of the photograph (the eye,
the ear fold, etc.) he immediatly recognized it as an elephant. The
"Lion" was more abstract, less emotional (inspiring I'd say).

So, by what people told afterwards at the forums, it was a popular
wallpaper not only because I put all my knowledge into it and tried to
make it work, but because people thought there was a connection between
the wallpaper and Ubuntu (the Ubuntu site stress a lot that it's an
african distro), it was a "fair" and not whimsical use of brown, and
although it was a texture, the motif was easily recognizable, without
being intrussive. And also, I believe a lot of people thought it was
original, very different from Windows' or Apple's wallpapers, and that
really helped.

So, there you have it.

I took the time to read what people said at the forums after Gutsy was
launched, and that gave me more ideas. But it was too late to use them.
If I feel in the mood, I'll probably make a couple more of that series,
for people to use with Hardy, but those would not be submitted to the
wiki, since the requirements are different now.
I also have a couple of ideas that respect the guidelines, but I feel
less inspired by the idea of a dark UI. I just don't like dark
interfaces and believe that are harder to read than light ones. I try to
have my own style, and I'd try to avoid a dark interface for a popular
product if it was by me. And I strongly believe that a dark interface
for a LTS Ubuntu is a bad idea. But that's only my personal opinion
based on my taste. I think everybody will have his/her own opinion on
the subject.

That's all. If you have further questions I'll be glad to answer. I hope
this mails can be of some use to somebody. I always liked to share what
I know, that's why I gave Web Design lessons many years ago and write a
blog about design (though, not very frequently.) I think that, if you
share your knowledge with your colleagues and learn how to take and give
a good advice, you're contributing a lot to your profession. Of course,
always having respect for others and being courteous.
Regards,

Demian

Anton Kerezov escribió:
> Hi all,
>  
> I would like to ask Damian (if it is not too impudently) to tell me
> more about the way he creates wallpapers and how are they accepted by
> so many people? Any specifics on the elephant wallpaper?
>  
> Thanks