这个截图是 Chuck Anderson 的网站。Chunk，谁？地球上这么多设计者里又一个在网上闲逛过程中被我无意发现的“嗯…还不错”的设计师？

Chunk 是 Windows 7 那个轻松可人的蔚蓝桌面的作者（包括墙纸和登录界面），一个获得将其作品轻松送抵数亿受众之机会的幸运艺术家（我知道你又开始想重定义“幸运”这个词儿，行，我同意……）。

这是早几个星期在 Gizmodo 看到的访问，Ask the Artist: How Windows 7′s Iconic Home Screen Evolved ，挺有意思。很多人还在纠结 Windows XP 的那片葡萄园，还有些人知道那片很无奈地被人忽视的 Vista 的 Oregon 海滨 —- 其实 Vista 的桌面照片也很不错，也有背后摄影师的小八卦故事。不过，现在是 Windows 7 的时代啦。

图片较多，请转文章页面阅读全文 。

Gizmodo 这篇文章简单回顾了 Chunk 的历程，道出了 Windows 7 login 和 墙纸的设计变化过程。DeviantArt 上有无数像 Chunk 这样的艺术家（Chunk 是他们的梦想的化身） —- 或者艺术爱好者 —- Chunk 从高中后就开始做 网印 screenprinting，Chunk 白天的工作是给 T-Shirt 制造商 Threadless 做设计，晚上则在网上活动建立自己的王国。网名 NoPattern —- 也就是顶上截图的网站。他年纪不大就获得了难以置信的成功：他的作品已经出现在 Pepsi，Urban Outfitters 和 Reebok 等等公司的项目里。

Lupe Fiasco 的首张专辑 Food & Liquor 的封面也是 Chunk 的作品：

不知道 Windows 7 的预览和 RC 版本里的墙纸 是哪位设计的，我也挺喜欢。

Chunk 今年只有 24 岁，看来他的成功要因为 Windows 7 而被推上一个新高度了，我们常用“成千上万”这个词来做修辞，不过他的作品可是要实打实地被成亿的人享用了。这个活儿是 Microsoft 找到他的，从结果上看，我觉得他们选对人了。历史上 Windows 桌面（或者整个风格）不能说低俗，只能说可能是某个程序员作为艺术爱好者兼职打理了本该设计者做的活儿嘿嘿。Vista 相比之下是个大的改观，Windows 7 则算步入正轨了。

下面这些是 Chunk 的其他作品，和 Windows 7 无关，可以看看他的风格（第二个是涂鸦风格的 Zune 设计）

Gizmodo 问了 Chunk 作为一个独立设计师 —- 咱都知道搞艺术的不光独立，还独行 —- 和 Microsoft 合作有没有什么麻烦。Chunk 说与他合作的 Microsoft 的设计团队实际上很精简 quite small 并且对他的 idea 出人意料地 open。MS 给 Chunk 看的第一样东西就是 2008 年 12 月的那份极具冲击力的 Dr.-Seuss-as-read-by-Hunter-S.-Thompson 墙纸（也就是上面 预览/RC 版的截图）。从这儿开始 Chunk 很快就明了了 Microsoft 这次的风格和行事方法。

Chunk 花了 4 个月干活。从铅笔和纸张开始，然后转入 Photoshop，在保留素描感觉的基础上着上 Windows 7 的光泽设计。登陆界面的那些纹理，全是 Chunk 在 Wacom 手写板上手绘的。

这是 login 界面的设计演进过程，英文文字是 Chunk 的原话
第一张

Chuck says: “The point of the login screen is to provide a nice, simple, elegant environment that the login buttons and information can sit on top of. The aesthetic of Windows 7 is all about light, energy, transparency, and quickness. All things that, to me, implied combining natural elements with futuristic/digital style.

“[This is] the first iteration I did. Unexpected colors, simplicity, and fluidity…but not quite on brand and, as with any first round, in need of further exploration.”

第二张

“Sort of a horizon, astronaut’s eye-view…but considering Mac OS X’s astral aesthetic, it was pretty quickly realized that anything ‘space’ wasn’t really the way to go. Still though, experimenting with lines, form, and surprising colors.”

从感觉上讲，头两张还是比较类似的，没有特别大的变化，第二张还要考虑是不是会被认为在偷师 Mac 而注定必须改改。

第三张

“In my opinion, this version was the breakthrough in the aesthetic that shaped everything moving forward. Simple, thin lines, a lot of atmosphere and light, and the cool blue/green/white color scheme. I think the problem here was that it was feeling underwater, which didn’t make a lot of sense with the bird, but the idea was there.”

看得出来，从这张开始变化就大了，特别是色调 —- 要不 Chunk 自己都说是 breakthrough 呢 —- 不过同时，光晕啊线条啊看得出还是 Chunk 的风格。基本的 idea 应该就是从这个设计开始确定的。但就这一版设计来说，有种 underwater 的感觉，（确实，看上去好像上面的光亮射进水里，观察者在水下呆着呢），所以还得进一步改动。

第四张

“I flipped the composition and started trying out different amounts of lines, line weights, playing around with a few more colors, different densities in the atmospheric haze, more detail, less detail, etc. The consensus among everybody was that simpler was better, which ultimately led to the final design.”

挺省事，这张图是 Chunk 把第三张图样旋转下来得到的。这一张 Chunk 调整了很多细节，包括线条数量，粗细，更多色彩，淡淡阴霾的浓重程度等等。设计团队里的一致意见是“越简洁越好”—-这就是决定最终设计的核心思想。

第五张

“For whatever reason, I horizontally flipped the composition to present an identical but mirrored version of the last one and everybody was into the way the design originated from the bottom right versus the bottom left. Can’t really put my finger on why, it just felt right, as cliche as that might sound. Everything was fine-tuned and after several back-and-forths, this was finally given the thumbs up.”

嘻嘻，又调整光源了？不光是光源哟，仔细观察，这一张其实是第四张左右翻转后再设计得来的。没多少道理可讲， it just felt right。在这张的前身上做了不少微调后，就成了登陆界面的最终设计。

算作一个复活节菜单式的设计是：7 这个数字在 login 界面出现很多次哟。Chunk 和 Microsoft 偶然发现自己的图样里左下方正好有 7 条白光，他们就决定把 7 多引进点儿：最后就是 7 片叶子，7 个分叉，Windows logo 上的 7 个花瓣等等。

Windows 7 的桌面墙纸也经历了类似的变化过程：

第一张

Chuck says: “The desktop was obviously heavily influenced by the look of the login screen. Microsoft had made the decision to make the Windows logo the centerpiece of the default desktop. But you always worry about the classic complaint you hear from designers about clients: ‘Make the logo bigger!’ In response to this first desktop experiment, Microsoft told me straight up, ‘That’s too big. Tone it down.’ Awesome. I agreed. The colors were also feeling a bit washed out here and there were too many places for your eyes to wander.”

桌面受 login 界面设计的影响是毋庸置疑的。Microsoft 要求把 Windows logo 放在设计中央。一般来说，设计师的用户都会贪婪地要求“把 logo 搞大点！”，而 Microsoft 对 Chunk 的第一版试验设计的反馈是，很直接地，“太大了！小些吧” 。棒极了！此外，Chunk 还觉得色彩数量和兴趣点需要改进。

第二张

“This was a total experiment of making the logo incredibly subtle by making it feel more transparent and like glass. But it had problems: If you’re Microsoft and you decide to put the logo in the middle of your default desktop for your new OS, you’ve gotta do it shamelessly and confidently. This wasn’t feeling either. It was feeling like a way to ‘sneak’ the logo in there and that was simply not the point.”

感觉有简化，不过貌似变化不剧烈。logo 变得更温和，通过透明设计变得不那么扎眼和夺目。问题是如果你是 Microsoft，而且决定把个 logo 放到全新 OS 的缺省桌面的中间，你就该把这事儿办得绝对厚颜无耻且无比坚定。可是这个 logo 看上去有点让人觉得是谁偷偷摸摸地放了个 logo 在那—-这不行。

第三张

“There was a lot of enthusiasm for this idea initially, but when you saw it smaller or on a screen farther away, the logo started to disappear.”

这张变化很大，大家投入了很多设计激情，不过结果是，logo 看上去更小，而且正在远离我们亟待消失似的。

第四张

“Even smaller logo in this one! About these elements going on in the Microsoft window logo: There was no specific, set-in-stone instruction from Microsoft on what they wanted in those quadrants. I played around with lots of different ideas. We brainstormed in the very first meeting about all sorts of objects and things that could be within and emanating from the window. In the end, the objects absolutely had to be simple and they had to be universally recognizable. Elements from nature, basic shapes, and hints of digital iconography were the best fits. I really tried to push through the idea of using a few flaming skulls and some of the demons from the cover of Slayer’s South of Heaven but for whatever reason nobody was into it. Whatever.”

我觉得这张有点像第一张的“坚定版”，外加改进。logo 确实小了。Microsoft 没有对 Windows logo 那个旗帜里的内容有什么做硬性要求，所以 Chunk 试验了很多想法。他们最终的想法是要放些简单的容易辨别的对象。大自然的元素啊，基本图形啊等入围。Chunk 甚至还尝试想放个火骷髅和 Slayer 的 South of Heaven 专辑封面里的恶魔图样进去 —- 什么样的？下面就是。你觉得老板会答应吗？哈哈

第五张

“The logo finally arrives at its proper (and smallest yet) size. This felt right, we just had to go through a lot of options to realize it. But there are still a few too many loose strands, no balance on the top right, and the colors in the window are a bit harsh.”

Windows logo 终于确定了合适的大小。确定这么一个设计花费了不少功夫，尝试了很多选择。光缕的数量还是多了点，看上去有点左重右轻，不平衡。颜色有点刺眼。

第六张

And the final result: “Some slight balance added to the top right of the composition—appropriately enough there were now just seven total light strands (and, for what it’s worth, seven green leaves on the little branch), and everything was in the right place. This made the rounds and had to get OK’d by approximately 8 bazillion people and was finally approved. I was ecstatic—Microsoft was really into it and so was I.”

终于… 这一张可以和第五张一块拿来做找不同的游戏了嘛呵呵。右上加入了一些用以增加平衡感的元素。好，现在正好有 7 束光缕（小叉上也有 7 朵绿叶）。全都妥当！这个设计必须 ok ，它可是要面对天文数字版的观众数量的。

Gizmodo 形容 Microsoft 这次找到了一个年轻的新锐，一个独立的 mixed media digital 艺术家。他们的选择迥异于保守的从传统渠道寻找设计师的方法，结果：很成功。对我来说，艺术设计是个有点拿不准的，没有确定性的东西和过程，最“神秘”当然也好玩的地方是：完全不知道从哪里来。现在我至少管中窥豹看到一点，繁复迭代，不断求精的过程，这和技术开发时一样的。

这里是其他一些据说没有被加入 Windows 7 最后 release 的墙纸，看上去也不错，就是分辨率不是太高。