It is official, the Customization section just became a little more organised and a lot more awesome

I needed you guys and gals to help me finalize a list of what was needed and in the community spirit I've come to expect, the list was created. I submitted the list and $Moonbeam13 has been quick to listen and quicker to react. The list is now a reality

The Categories

Under each section a represents the new categories added:

Macintosh Utilities
Adium
Bowtie
Docks

Application Launchers
XWindows Dock

Cell Phone Themes
iPhone

Instant Messengers (within Trillian)
Trillian Astra

Instant Messengers (within Miranda)
IEView
Icons
Tabsrmm
Contact List

Windows 7 Utilities
Visual Styles 7
Windowblinds 7
Misc

Windows Vista Utilites
Bootskin

Windows Utilities
Applications (for custom made little apps)

Windows Utilities
Windowblinds renamed to Windowblinds Multi (This is for Windowblinds that are for or work on XP, Vista and 7 without having to submit to each individual section).

What Now?

Submit to them, browse them, love them

Alot of your deviations have been posted in random categories because the one you needed didn't exist at the time. Over the next couple of days I will be going through the galleries and moving your deviations to the proper place for you, that just how awesome I am . If you know how to re-place your deviation then by all means do, if you are unsure how, note me and I will do it for you if I haven't already done it

Go and show $Moonbeam13 some love because she is busier than Obama but put you deviants top as always oh and show me some love because, well, erm, I'LL KEEL YOU

The Contest

[link] Deviants had to create either a working theme or a mockup of whole new Windows Operating System. The choice was too make the new Windows 7 into what you think it should have looked like or what a new Windows would look like, Codename Windows Deviant8.


30 brilliant entries were submitted but the best part was that not every body that entered was an actual themer/skinner. This is exactly what I hoped for .

The Judges

I selected 11 judges, yes that's right, 11 judges I chose 11 because I wanted a true varied opinion from people of different artistic platforms but who were fully experienced in what they were judging. The judges were:

`mrrste ~jg-visuals `JJ-Ying ~thuglifejunior `OtisBee ~lypnjtu ~d37nu1l `Bobby-Sandhu $Thunderstatement !violentsamurai *iiswiis *EnzuDes1gn

The Winners

There was simply so many amazing entries to choose from that getting it down to just 3 was not an easy task. The votes are all in and I am happy to announce the winners of the Windows Deviant8 Contest.

In 1st place is Windows Dev 8

by ~Jaziel

~Jaziel wins $50 deviant dollars and a 1 years subscription to Deviantart


In 2nd place is Gaia 2009

by ~imrik

~imrik wins $25 deviant dollars and a 6 months subscription to Deviantart


In 3rd place is Mockup- Windows 8
:thumb125487508:
by !mr-bonheur

!mr-bonheur wins a 3 months subscription to Deviantart


As part of the 1st place prize I promised that I would turn the winners entry into a working theme, if possible. Sadly the layout of ~Jaziel's theme is not 100% possible due to Windows restrictions. However, I will work my magic and try to bring the overall concept to life

Final Thoughts

I have to say that I would love to be able to use just about every entry there was. The designs were amazing so I don't want anyone to feel like a loser because there all made of win. A big thank you to the judges but an even bigger thanks to all those who entered. I hope to see you getting some of the designs working for everyone to enjoy

I have finally dragged myself away from the television after seeing and hearing something I could never have been prepared for. Michael Jackson, my idol and my inspiration has "died".

I find it hard to say that he has "died" because I don't want to acknowledge it but more so because it sounds so final. I am by no means a religious person, maybe even anti-religious, but I felt a loss today that I could only describe that I felt to my soul.

Never before has 1 man reached so many with his music. He conquered racial barriers that politicians and activists have been trying to do for years. He set the standard for music and raised the bar to a level that ALL artists could only dream of achieving. He transformed dance and transcended above just being another dancer and choregrapher and became dance itself.

The most famous man on the planet has not died. He has left behind a legacy that will never be forgotten, music that will never age, videos that will never grow tiresome, dance moves people will still try to copy and an inspiration that will continue to bring new artists to the stage. The genius that was Michael Jackson will never die.

I may never see the likes of another Michael Jackson in my lifetime but I am honoured to be able to say that I witnessed the best there was, the best there is and the best there will ever be.

R.I.P Michael Jackson
:thumb73317032:

Windows Deviant8

Windows 7 is just around the corner. Compare Vista to XP and you have a totally different and better looking operating system. Now, compare Windows Vista to Windows 7 and your pretty well much looking at the same thing. It's time to upgrade to Windows Deviant8!

Windows Deviant8 is what 7 SHOULD have looked like or even what a newer Windows WOULD look like. It is down to YOU to create it.  

The Contest

It's very simple......or is it? You have to create a brand new Windows interface.

You can either create a working Windowblind / Visual Style OR create a  mockup in your graphics program. That's right, you don't have to actually create a skin for this so you don't have to be a skinner or themer. That is not to say you can't ever use your mockup. What do I mean? Read on

You wanted to know how you could still use it? I shall turn the winning design into a working skin, if you are not a skinner/themer and it is not already a working skin This part of the prize is purely dependent on if your mockup is actually do-able within the limits of a windowblind / visual style. I can't quite code a whole new operating system yet lol.

Rules

Contest runs from today, 27th May until 27th June. Winners will be announced on the 1st July.

DO's

Create a working skin OR mockup.

You can enter as many times as you wish.

All submissions MUST be posted in Contests > 2009 > Windows Deviant8 [link]

DONT's

Post you submission in any other section other than the one stated above. All entries must be in the one section so it can be seen and classed as an entry

Use stock images without crediting the original creator.

Send any bribes without special delivery

Prizes

1st Prize: $50 deviant dollars. 1 years subscription to deviantart and your design turned into a working theme by me (conditions stated above).

2nd Prize: $25 deviant dollars and a 6 months subscription to deviantart.

3rd Prize: 3 months subscription to deviantart


Now all is left is for you to open up your graphics programs and get designing the operating system of your dreams

Any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

I began my life as a skinner, porting and modding mac themes to windows. Taking a ready made theme and adapting it is possibly the easiest way to learn how to skin and theme. It was for me. One of the main factors in doing this was permission. You need permission from the original author to be able to officially release it to the public. Getting permission can be difficult, especially trying to contact someone.

With each theme you mod/create and release, you learn and get to recieve critique to help guide you in the right directions. I want to try and steer the customisation and deskmodding community in this direction by introducing a new concept: Blanket Permission.

PROPOSAL AND WHY

We have all seen and know about stock images but it is something this community is lacking. `LawrenceDeDark implimented an unrestricted stock useage group and it's growing all the time. How much do you think this community would grow and new work be produced if people were able to use elements from other peoples skins/themes, mod other peoples skins/themes/icons, port from mac to windows or windows to mac, create a matching skin/theme for another app based on someone elses work or just be directly inspired to create a variant of something, all without trying to get permission or worrying about copyright when releasing?

WHAT NEXT

I hearby propose a group for just this, where skinners/themers allow their work to be used in the manner stated above. So how would it work? You would effectively be releasing under a Creative Commons license. For those who don't know what it is, you are allowing people to use, copy, and share your work while giving you credit. Offering your work under a Creative Commons license does not mean giving up your copyright. It means offering some of your rights to any member of the public but only on certain conditions. You can select your terms when releasing anything here on DA.

This new group I would call SkinSwingers. You would be allowing your skins to be used in a swinger type of fashion and the name also sounds like a kind of slang for testicles, simply because skinners/themers are the nuts in my opinion lol Each person that joins the group will be given a psd badge of the group to put their name on and place in their, say, webcam box or dev ID, to show people you are part of this movement. You can then create a folder in your gallery and place the work in it that you are allowing to be used in this manner or you can state that your entire gallery is open to this. The badge can also be placed on the preview of your released work to show people it can be used in the ways I've already described.


I myself will be creating a folder in my gallery for just this purpose. I want to encourge new artists and show them that this community is pulling together to help. By letting others use my work, I am helping people to learn, seeing my work in new ways and ultimately reaching a wider audience. It is time that the NFR (not for release) culture stops, to which I am also guilty, and that skinning, theming and deskmodding is put back into it's rightful place. Deviantart was originally created for customisation. Let's keep the passion going!


Any questions or concerns you have, please raise them. This is long overdue but really needed. It's time the community takes a step in a new direction, a one that will surely see it grow

Who is with me???????

You have all seen the SkinMasters interviews, now welcome to the Creators Creator interviews. This is a new series of interviews with the person(s) behind the applications that have helped keep the customisation community going by supplying us with many amazing programs to help us customize our desktops.

If SkinMasters are the creators, these guys and gals are OUR creators. Without all of these people, there truly would be no customisation community. What are you going to use to customize or help you customize if these people didn't create such amazing things?

I thought it was about time that we all got to know the people behind the applications and what they are all about.


Hello Creators, meet YOUR creators
-------------------------------------------

The fifth interview in this series is with one of the biggest names in customization software there is. They have gave us some of the best tools out there to help artists with Icon creation and more. I am of course talking about the the company that is Axialis. I recently had a chat with Marc Emile, president of Axialis Software.

Marc is an awesome guy. Here is the chat I had with him about Axialis, himself and the future.


First of all, let me say a warm hello to you Marc and a big thank you for taking the time to speak to us. Let us begin with the introductions first ok? Can you tell our readers a little about Axialis, yourself and your position in the company?

My name is Marc EMILE, president of Axialis Software. I founded Axialis with Martine Boccanfuso in 1989 with one goal in mind: creating affordable and easy-to-use software for Windows. It was a long time before Windows XP and even Windows 95. At this time, operating systems were not very easy to use so we focused on Desktop Customization and GUI enhancement. We created AX-Shell in 1991, the very first versions of AX-Icons, AX-Cursors in 1992 and AX-Screensavers in 1994. For a long time I was the only developer in the company. Now I manage more than I develop


I believe it will be Axialis 20th anniversary this year. It just goes to show how popular and successful your products really are. Your main and most popular product, I would say, would be IconWorkshop. For those who are not familiar with IconWorkshop, could you tell us a little about it and would I be right to say that this is your most popular product?

Yes, IconWorkshop is our most popular product. Based on the feedbacks we receive, users like it mainly because they can easily create professional-looking icons even without drawing skills. Years ago, icons were easily designed pixel by pixel in 32x32, 16 colors. Now, icons are designed in high-resolution - 256x256 for Windows Vista and even 512x512 for Mac OS. Most icon users, especially developers, don't have drawing skills. That's the reason why we worked on this feature and probably the reason why IconWorkshop is so popular. We asked professional icon designers to create what we call "object images". They are in fact basic objects that can be combined together to create highly-professional icons with advanced effects (more info: [link]. What makes IconWorkshop unique is the ability for the user to "play" with objects using drag & drops. All the operations are easily done with the mouse which makes this feature highly addictive!

Of course the professional features have not been forgotten. IconWorkshop is compatible with the graphic industry standards such as Adobe products. For example, 2 plugins have been implemented to work efficiently with Photoshop and Illustrator (up to CS4). That way, professional designers can create icons in those products and transfer them instantly in IconWorkshop without temporary image files. This feature greatly enhances the workflow.

As I mentioned, I know IconWorkshop is not the only software you have produced. Professional Screen Saver Producer and CursorWorkshop are amongst your others. I know the names are quite self explanatory in hinting what their purpose is, but could you give us a little run down on them?

Axialis CursorWorkshop is the twin application of IconWorkshop but dedicated to static (CUR) and animated (ANI) cursor creation. All the tools that you find in IconWorkshop are included in CursorWorkshop plus additional features for animation in ANI cursors. Cursors greatly enhance the user experience when using an application or even a website by informing about the available mouse action. They often have been neglected by developers and we hope it will change with CursorWorkshop.

Axialis Professional Screensaver Producer permits to create all kinds of screensavers based on sprites (floating-animated objects), photos, video clips and even Flash animations. A new version 4.0 will be released Q1/09.

OHHHH, new version this month? wo0t! What was your main role in the production of these applications?

My role is to manage the creation process of the applications from conception to final release. However, sometimes I can't resist and jump into the code to enhance it or write a new feature. I presume it's written in my genes

Good to see you aren't afraid to "muck" in when needed . From the initial idea to the actual public release of, say, IconWorkshop, how long did it take to create?

Believe it or not, the very first version of IconWorkshop was released in 1992! Its name was AX-Icons 1.0. At that "prehistoric age", the icons were designed almost exclusively in 32x32 and 16x16, 16- colors. Drawing tools were basic and the product included only a few features. It was dedicated to the general public in order to customize the Windows icons. In 2002 we released version 5.0 which was the most important update in the product history. It was also a real change in the philosophy of use of the product: more tools dedicated to developers and professional designers were implemented, especially batch and productivity features which permit to make all the formats included in an icon in one single click. So as you can see, it took a long time to make the product as it is available today.

There is of course other software out there for creating icons. Icon Developer by Stardock and Microangelo by Impact Software, I would say are the other most well known programs. What would you say sets IconWorkshop apart from its competitors?

I think that the most difficult was to listen to users' needs and make innovative features to fulfill those needs. Innovation must propose new solutions to users but it must meet their needs. More important, it must not "enclose" them in a predefined solution. This is what we tried to do in IconWorkshop by adding several solutions for each need. Basically you can create an icon using so many different methods that you always find one that is natural to you. This is maybe what sets IconWorkshop apart from its competitors.

I use IconWorkshop. I am a big fan of it and always keep my eyes open for updates. Do you have anything in the pipeline for IconWorkshop, or any other of your products, or indeed any brand new products?

Yes, of course! Without telling too much about this [where is the gift without surprise?], I can say that we already work on products "thought" for Windows 7. Stay tuned and you won't be disappointed…

WINDOWS 7? SO SOON? WOW. You seemed to update very quickly to be able to deal with Microsoft Vista. Other software manufaturers took a little longer than others, but of course thats all dependent on the product. Did you find it a relatively straight forward process?

Yes and No: The new feature in Vista icons was the PNG compression. It is an easy-to-handle format and the way it is implemented in ICO files was technically easy to include in IconWorkshop. The difficult part was to offer a realistic Vista icon creation solution to the user. The new icons in Vista are capable of displaying 256x256 images and this is much more difficult to create an attractive image at that size, especially if you don't have drawing skills. This is the case for the rest of us, huh? That's why we implemented the concept of Image Objects in the product.

You also updated very quickly for windows users to be able to handle the new 512x512 icon format of OSX 10.5 Leopard. Is this maybe a little hint towards producing your software to be used on Macs, I know it's currently only a Windows program.

I would love to see a MacOS version of the product. Unfortunately this is not planned for the moment. But who knows, maybe it is part of the surprises to come…

Damn your teasing way .Now I have to ask, out of curiosity. You guys seem to enjoy making the tools to help people customize, but do any of you actually customize your computers and would we know you around deviantART?

Well, we're like most of developers: very bad at drawing. So I'm afraid you'll see us as visitors only, not contributors . Personally, sometimes I spend my time surfing on the site. I'm always amazed by the quality of the drawings and the incredible talent of the artists.

Yeah my gallery is pretty sweet Awesome to know you hang around here but I kinda knew already Anyway Marc, I think I have taken enough of your valuable time up already, but before I let you go, have you got any final words you would like to add for all those reading this?

To all the artists contributing at DeviantART I'd like to say "keep up amazing us with your talent and creativity" and, if any feature of our products could help, even a little, we would have reached our goal.


I would say you have reached your goal two fold . Thank you very much for honouring us by taking the time to speak to everyone here, and for giving us a little insight into the world of Axialis. I can speak for everyone here by wishing you all the more success and good luck for the future.


So, new stuff, Windows 7 and possibly Mac stuff on the way, is awesome news. I know I'm gonna be staying tuned. Hell, I may even bring you some early reviews cause I know Marc is going to keep me posted on news . You have to love how all these guys and huge companies are so willing to interact with the community

The end of another year is fast approaching. Where the hell did it go?

Over the space of the year, there has been hundreds and hundreds of skins submitted but some have stood out more than others, for me anyway. So, in an attempt to be awesome and clever I have selected my favourite 25 skins from the course of the year. Why 25? I hear you say. Christmas is on the 25th. That's where my attempt at being clever falls into play I don't really need to attempt to be awesome, that comes naturally.

Please note that this list is not in any particular order.



Phunk'n by ~CrystalPhoenixStudio  

MSN users got a sleek, modern and universal skin when this was released. It actually made me re-install MSN.
------------------------------



Greyhound for Objectbar by ~PoulNyrup

I don't know what I can say to do this justice except that this is probably the closest you will come to having and experiencing a mac's taskbar on windows. It stepped customisation up a notch.
------------------------------



Vienna 3 Rapture by ~vStyler

This could have been Vista's darker side. It's possibly one the best and most useable darker themed skins there is.
------------------------------



The ORNG and GRN Skin Suite by *blueslaad

One of the most useable and sleekest winamp classic skin's there is. It's the kind of skin that will use regardless if it matches with your setup.
------------------------------



MobileME for Styler by ~RaatsGui

Xp and Styler users were given a whole new way to experience a toolbar when this was released. I really really wish I could use this on Vista.
------------------------------



Tool Big by ~aroche

I actually re-installed cursorxp for this. It's well rendered with awesome animations. The ability to use it with any setup also makes it a winner.
------------------------------



XDJ Skin by *Pureav

Perfectly made with perfect graphics, I loved this as soon as I saw it. I loved it even more when I tried it and saw the animated decks.
------------------------------



cPro - Insomnis v2 by ~zrco

Crisp, clean and well designed made this a winamp skin that everyone must have. I still can't decide on my favourite colour scheme.
------------------------------



W.V.S  by ~lypnjtu

This skin made me do what I hardly ever do, and that's use the same skin for more than a week. I can't pay it a bigger compliment than that
------------------------------



DEUCE by ~invaderjohn

Possibly the best visual style for vista so far. I don't really need to say anymore after that statement
------------------------------



Plastic Fantastic by ~vStyler

This came 2nd in the GUI's 08 but this is my winner from the winning 3. I'm still trying to find something wrong with it but it's just so damn flawlessy made.
------------------------------



Azenis 2 VS by `JJ-Ying

One of the most popular windowblinds became a Visual Style and finally gave VS users what they had been missing.
------------------------------



Christmas Holidays Theme by ~adni18

This is one of the first windowblinds I tried back in the day. It's still the only Christmas based skin I will use and it got a makeover and update this Christmas to keep it as my fav holiday skin.
------------------------------



ThaWall-DLX by `OtisBee

CD Art Display went in a whole new direction with the ability to have a full screen experience with this skin. Choose 1 of the 10 supplied wallpapers in your resolution, and you have what could be a party centre peice.
------------------------------



Grass Blades by *EnzuDes1gn

Totally crisp and clean and really looks like a mini Vista. If I had a Sony Ericsson, this would be my default skin that other skins would have to try and turn me away from.
------------------------------



GAIAmini08 by ~jg-visuals

This is part of the biggest suite and collabs I know of. GAIA was a project to promote awareness on climate change and many many artists took part and created countless amounts of application skins, themes and icons. A minamilstic and stylish look was achieved but it is the community involvement that sets this one apart for me.
------------------------------



Dusk Pekwm by ~thrynk

I would try Linux if only just to use this skin. It's just simple and clean and that's all you need for something to be a good skin.
------------------------------


:thumb55789984:
Oxide by !TYCUS

The animations on this is what made me love it but the design makes it a winner too. I could actually see myself creating a theme for this
------------------------------



Hydrangea Visual Style by *lassekongo83

I don't use Visual Styles but if I did, this would be my default choice. It's highly useable, sleek and compact and, in my opinion, could have been an official XP sub style.   
------------------------------



DarkMatter: Solar Flare SE by *skinsfactory

Officially the sexiest media player widget there is. Don't expect anything other than awesome animations, perfect graphics and amazing execution.
------------------------------



Dreaming by ~toyotaTRD

Take one awesome photomanipulation, create perfectly matching graphics around it and you have a outstanding Sony Ericsson theme. Highly useable and fuctional made this an instant fav of mine.
------------------------------



SteelFlash Final by ~Steel89

Vista based skins are more than plentiful. There is so many of them, all offering nothing really new but this one stood out in the crowd. I would even go as far as to say that if this was an updated version of Vista, I wouldn't have thought twice.
------------------------------



Symbian S60 Prototype Theme by *Flahorn

With over 300 icons created, this is possibly one of the most complete Symbian Nokia themes there is. Now that's some theme!
------------------------------



Klodset by ~Soundy

These are the first iPhone/iPod icons that actually feel like true icons and not buttons. They have perspective and depth and brilliant detailing. This was a skin that offered something new and unique for the iPhone/iPod.
------------------------------



Teledock 2.1 by $endosage

Simplicity shone here. A simple and solid looking mac dock that would fit anyones config. Sleek with perfect fitting indicators and seperators made this full of win. Seeing an admin active in the skinning community also made his full of double win.
------------------------------


So there we have it, my 25 selections of 2008. I know for a fact that I have more favourites so please don't feel bad if I didn't show you here. Your all awesome and I look forward to seeing what 2009 brings

It's been a busy 5 months since I took over Skins & Themes. In that short space of time, amongst everything else, I have conducted 10 interviews with skinners and 4 interviews with the people behind the software we all use.

For anyone that may have missed them, here is a re-cap of the 14 interviews I have conducted. I urge you to check them all out, hell, even them to show your support for some of the biggest names in skinning and some of the biggest names in software. They all took the time to speak to us. You got's to love the community spirit


SkinMaster Interviews

Skinmasters #4 - Josephs   [link]
Skinmasters #5 - Badboythemer   [link]
Skinmasters #6 - 007Tinar   [link]
Skinmasters #7 - yingjunjiu   [link]
Skinmasters #8 - lypnjtu   [link]
Skinmasters #9 - lassekongo83   [link]
Skinmasters #10 - vStyler   [link]
Skinmasters #11 - WinGNOME-XP   [link]
Skinmasters #12 - PatrickL   [link]
Skinmasters #13 - Improvpastence   [link]

Creators Creator Interviews

Creator's Creator #1 - AveDesk   [link]
Creator's Creator #2 - RocketDock   [link]
Creator's Creator #3 - Corel   [link]
Creator's Creator #4 - Autodesk 3ds Max   [link]

Updates

Since the interviews, this is a small update on what the guys have been upto

Josephs ------- Is continuing to be a active member of the community and keeping everyone informed on developments in the skinning community through his blog [link]

Badboythemer -------  Continues to be everywhere on DA, changes his identity every week lol and has recieved a Daily Deviation for his Roughneck cell phone theme [link]

007Tinar ------- Continuing to develop his "INVI brand" and still producing skins.

yingjunjiu -------  Most noteable update is that he has joined the Customisation team here on DA and is now Gallery Moderator of Icons

lypnjtu ------- Still producing brilliant themes and currently has an entry in the GUI Champs'08

lassekongo83 ------- Producing new Visual Styles every week it seems and recieved a Daily Deviation for his Hydrangea skin [link]

vStyler -------  Continuing to create amazing themes. Designed 3 premium themes and entered into the GUI Champs'08

WinGNOME-XP -------  Now better known as ~jg-visuals has created his Retrofukation'08 suite and was part of the massive GAIA'08 suite to help promote awareness on Climate change.

PatrickL -------  Continuing to create amazing Cell Phone themes and recieved a Daily Deviation for his Xcolours theme [link]

Improvpastence -------  Poor guy is on a go slow due to Mac theming restrictions but is still active within the community.


Stay tuned for the last interview of the year with Axalias, the guys behind IconWorkshop