12-08-2005, 10:14 AM

Hey Ya'll,

I'm a newbie to the mac world, but ended up falling in love with Apple. I'm a graphic designer and just love everything about macs.

I created some desktop wallpapers and wanted to share them. I figured if I asked for a $1.00 donation to download the wallpapers, then I could pay for my hosting for the month.

Give me some feedback.. would you pay $1.00 to download a desktop wallpaper? Or should I just pull the page off the net, and share them with my friends?

Here's a sample:


The rest can be viewed at http://www.micahdesigns.com/ipaper/ipapers.htm .
You can't pull them up for download just yet. I wanted to make sure I was going this direction first.

Thanks for you input!

12-08-2005, 10:27 AM

The designs are cool but you could be infringing on legal trademark usage, especially by selling them. Just a polite fyi.

12-08-2005, 11:31 AM

You know, I thought about that. I was hoping that I wasn't stepping on any copyright laws.

Technically I'm not selling the product. I'm just asking for a donation to help support the web site.

Hmmm...

12-08-2005, 11:36 AM

I like your idea, and I think a $ is quite reasonable. However, if you're using somebody's trademark then you could have problems.

As you have the talent & skills, how about targeting other audiences? For example, I'm a member of some online Land Rover forums and if you came up with similar images aimed at that sort of user, I think you'd get a response. Apples not necessarily required.

12-08-2005, 11:53 AM

Those are very sharp wallpaper's, great job. I would have to agree though.. you are stepping on copyright laws. It's possible that it's ok, if the donation is indeed a donation and is not required.. maybe even having adwords up on the site.. you are getting paid for the ads and not making money on the graphics themselves which is definitely a copyright problem.

12-08-2005, 11:57 AM

Originally Posted by thermidor

I like your idea, and I think a $ is quite reasonable. However, if you're using somebody's trademark then you could have problems.

As you have the talent & skills, how about targeting other audiences? For example, I'm a member of some online Land Rover forums and if you came up with similar images aimed at that sort of user, I think you'd get a response. Apples not necessarily required.

Thanks for the compliment, Thermidor.
I feel you guys on the trademark. Other audiences might very well be ideal also.

In the beginning, I wasn't really doing this to make $$. It was one of those... 'Hmmm... I wonder what would happen if I crossed two things I love... cars and macs?'

But if it will work, then I'll look into some other target audiences and do some designs accordingly. Hosting isn't real expensive, but it would be nice not to have to worry about yet another bill.

12-08-2005, 12:37 PM

ta answer your Q. No , i wouldnt pay for a wall paper. Its not that i dont like yours but there are alot of places ta get them for free.

12-08-2005, 01:29 PM

I agree with Fallooza. The designs are very good, but there are a plethora of places to download desktop images for free. Even though a one dollar fee would seem to be minimal, it really wouldn't be necessary. Like Murlyn suggested, you could run ad-words or some other income generating feature, rather than ask it directly from the downloaders. With so many free ones, I don't think too many people would pay. If they were free and you ran ads, you would be more inclined to see some income.

12-09-2005, 08:43 AM

Thanks for all the input guys!

I think I'm going to (1.) Remove the logos, but only share the current wallpapers with friends. And (2.) Create other designs and try the Ad Words gig. I believe that's through Google. I'll have to do a little research.

Hardest part will be the SEO. But that's an entirely different topic, thread, and forum.

Well, if you're ever in the need for some design work, shoot me a message @ steve@micahdesigns.com . Maybe I can help out.