You’re a unique person, just like everyone else. As a result of this, you’ve decided that your computer should reflect your deep inner reserves of beauty… and so you customise it! Everybody does this to some extent; some people decide that changing their desktop is good enough for them, and some people - most of them different from most folk - go as far as changing the entire look of their OS - icons, menubars and everything in between. As you’re reading this article on this particular website, let’s presume you’re one of these people.

So have you ever wondered where these themes come from? Well of course, they’re made by devoted ‘themers’, who pour an inordinate amount of effort and time into making themes. It’s no easy task - a theme may take months to complete. And that’s not even considering an icon set to match it.

So what does it take to make a theme? How do you get from the initial spark of an idea and take it all the way to the very end? That’s the very thing that this series of articles, The Zen and Art of theme Design, will be looking into. We will look at the conception, planning, work and wrap up of a theme, and everything that goes into it. Hopefully it will give insight into the efforts some people go into for a theme that will be released to the public for free.

So in the first of this series, we will look at the conception of a theme. How does it all begin? Some themers work around with different elements of other themes, mixing and matching and messing around for a while, but most of the ones I have come into contact with say that the themes they make come to them in a flash. It may come from some collective GUI subconscious, a higher being, or perhaps from the flickering effect of their monitors, but no matter where it comes from, it is interesting to see that most themes are visualised in their creator’s mind in an instantaneous moment of conception.

At this point, the themer may collect material to work from, textures and surfaces from real life materials to emulate, or perhaps even pieces of art to draw inspiration from. Or the aformentioned flash of inspiration was simply so strong that they abandon this stage altogether, jumping immediately into creating a mockup - a taste of what the fledgling theme may become.

In the mockup it’s very important that the themer captures exactly what the theme is all about. The widgets, loading bars, buttons, the atmosphere- nay, soul of the theme should be condensed within a preview not likely to be larger than 500 pixels by 500 pixels. How can you possibly hope to condense what could be months of photoshop work into a single picture? Indeed - this is what a themer must put themselves through.

Now the atmosphere is pretty important. Is this theme going to be soft and cuddly, cold and hard, or slimy and a bit… furry? The theme needs to have character. Compare Niqu and Milk, for instance.

Would you be able to make any guesses as to what kind of person might use either one? Or what mood and atmosphere either evokes? Which one is more friendly? Which do you like? The point is each of these themes has a distinct character and personality worked into them, and to their benefit.

Let’s make another, wilder comparison, this time between VOID and Somatic.

Now there’s a difference! Hard minimalism reminiscent of Dutch movement “De Stijl” and what looks like a composed illustration rather than an assortment of joined elements. From this, you can begin to get an idea of the kind of directions a theme can go to - that they are not at all restrained to the realm of slick plastic surfaces.

By now, the themer has their concept and atmosphere fully planned. When you use this theme, are you going to feel like a smooth operator or a hacker on the run? A clinical lab technician or someone messing round for for fun?

As strange as it sounds, theming is about letting people better relate to the machines they manipulate from a day to day basis. If you are going to spend time behind a glowing screen, it might as well be a pretty glowing screen.

But a theme will not make itself! And so that is why in the next instalment of The Art and Zen of theme Design, we will look at production, and the methods that people use to make their themes.