Dynamic Wallpapers for macOS

1 minute read by Erin 'Folletto' Casali

Dynamic wallpapers are special images in HEIC format that can be used on macOS Mojave and later, and they will update dynamically during the day.
For installation instructions and details see the Apple support page.

WordPress Creativity Marvel Wallpaper

Collaborating together with the amazing Joen Asmussen, we were inspired by the visual style of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, and came up with this colorful wallpaper with rough brushes and halftone patterns. Notably, each of the phases of the day in this wallpaper match the color schemes of WordPress’ admin.
This is a 5K wallpaper.

WordPress Diversity Wallpaper

This wallpaper takes the beautiful design done by Tammie Lister and Cristel Rossignol for the WordPress diversity t-shirt design and borrow its colors to create a dynamic sequence that follows you during the day.
This is a 5K wallpaper.

Plasma Dreams Wallpaper

I appreciate wallpapers that are both subtle and rich, adding something to the screen without however cluttering it or making it overwhelmingly complicated. Plasma Dreams takes a simple randomized circle pattern and combines it with a glow of sci-fi inspiration.

The dynamic design

While macOS dynamic desktop supports the sun position to switch a photographic location at the right time to match the sun outside, it also supports the normal 24h clock.

I thus tried to identify what could be a useful way to divide the day, something that is useful, not just an arbitrary change, and that can accomodate both people that wake up early and people that instead stay up late. The following times are thus a way to provide useful moments during the day to (hopefully) the largest possible number of people – and habits – without at the same time splitting up the day too much: for that, we have already clocks.

  • 6:00-8:59 — Early Morning
  • 9:00-11:59 — Active Morning
  • 12:00-17:59 — Active Afternoon
  • 18:00-20:59 — Wind Down
  • 21:00-23:59 — Evening
  • 24:00-2:00 — Nighty Night
  • 2:00-5:59 — Deep Sleep

Erin 'Folletto' Casali 2019·07·15