This desktop wallpaper design was largely inspired from a brief conversation I had with Bert Arians, an AIM tech manager, while in the lunch line today. He was explaining to me how he felt that many people confuse “community” with “social networks” and how they are not necessarily synonymous. He described to me a meadow full of flowers where a community of bees networked from flower to flower. To be honest, I’m not sure I understood the analogy completely but for some reason the conversation stuck in my head and served as good inspiration when I needed it. So for that, I thank you Bert (but I may need you to walk me through that one more time).

In addition, I wanted to design something that evoked Spring and what better to do so than cherry blossoms, bees, pollen and springtime colors. Ahhh chooo!

Download the Pollen Nation wallpaper for your desktop:
Large (1600×1200)
Small (1024×768)

Thanks to the following people whose photos were available for remix via Creative Commons: tanakawho, *vlad*, bulletproofbra and TeraRoop11. Font used: Helvetica Neue.

-Tom

Update:
Bert just informed me that “bees are social networking with each other; flowers are the communities”. Now, I’ve got it. Thanks, Bert!

NOTE: originally posted on the AIM Design Blog.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 29th, 2007 at 5:52 pm and is filed under AIM, Desktops, Portfolio. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.