How to Design Wallpaper on a Mac

Computer wallpaper should add visual appeal to your computer.

Your Mac computer provides you with many beautiful wallpaper images from which to choose. Alternatively, you can find thousands of wallpaper options on the Internet. Premade computer images, however, lack personal elements, and Internet wallpaper images often come with advertisements or aren't quite exactly what you want. Designing your own wallpaper gives your computer a personalized look and feel, along with creating an opportunity for you to display whatever photos or personalized text you desire.

Instructions

1. 

   Use images to personalize wallpaper.

   Create a plan for your wallpaper. Gather any image files you would like to add to your wallpaper and place them in a handy location, such as the desktop. Consider the arrangement of the icons on your desktop. Plan for any important text or images in your wallpaper to work around your icons.

2. 

   Determine your computer's screen resolution.

   Figure out your computer's screen resolution. This will determine the size of your wallpaper. Click the apple menu icon at the top left of your mac. Select "System Preferences." In the System Preferences box, select "Displays." Take note of the highlighted screen display size. You will size your wallpaper to match your screen display.

3. Open your image-editing software and create a new file. Name your new file and change the height and width settings to match your screen resolution. Be sure to set your size settings to pixels.

4. 

   Choose a color.

   Add a background color to your wallpaper.

5. 

   Add your image.

   Add an image to your wallpaper. Select "File," "Open" to open the image that you saved on the desktop. The image will open in a separate document. Crop the image as necessary and drag it into the wallpaper file. Place the image where you like on the wallpaper.

6. 

   Add your text.

   Add text to your wallpaper. Experiment with the font, size and color of the text to create an interesting wallpaper design.

7. 

   Add photographic effects.

   Continue to use any other image-editing skills you have to add effects and pizzaz to your wallpaper. Experiment with filters to add unique effects. Experiment with tutorials to learn new effects. Hongkiat.com offers many tutorials and ideas (see References). You can always select "Edit," "Undo" to take a step back in your process. When you have completed your wallpaper, choose "File," "Save." Choose the desktop as your location to save the file.

8. 

   Move your wallpaper to your Pictures folder.

   Move your file to the Picture folder on your Mac. Select the Macintosh hard drive, navigate to your username and then to the Pictures folder. Drag and drop your newly created wallpaper into this folder.

9. 

   Enjoy your new wallpaper.

   Use the apple menu again to open System Preferences. Select "Desktop and Screensaver" and open the Pictures folder on the left. Select your wallpaper to see it instantly displayed.

Tips & Warnings

• When choosing a background color for your wallpaper, use the Eyedropper tool to sample a color from your image. This will provide a nice color compliment to the image and help to create a smooth design for your wallpaper.

• Size your wallpaper to match your screen display exactly. This way you will avoid displaying a stretched or cropped image on your desktop.

References

• Hongkiat.com: 41 Nicest Photoshop Photo Effects

Resources

• Smashing Magazine: Selected Wallpapers--For Desktop & Web-Design