Screw it... 90fies your desktop 🖥️⌨️🖱️(Alts, notes, and reference images below… it’s a long yap session I swear)
I am in no way, shape of form a person who grew up in the 90s. Nor am I a computer savant (so everything might be in the wrong time period), but I thought it would be interesting to doodle Mac if their design was inspired by an older desktop vs a recent “gaming” one. I then spent an absurd amount of time designing and rendering it (bonus points because I didn't thumbnail first lmao) 😭
Instead of going into this without any extra notes like in my usual posts, I'm going to dive a little deeper into their design. This is my blog anyway, and I love reading about artists' design processes!!! So here’s my full brain on displayyy!!!
Original Mac design by the lovely art team behind Date Everything! 90s Mac by meeee!
I'm absolutely in love with the idea that there are multiple versions of the same characters we meet in the game, but with altered designs and personalities. For example; if we had a 90s Nokia, this would still be the same humanization as Phoenicia as the game, but with "analog buttons" on her dress rather than a colorful screen pattern. She probably wouldn’t have the same personality or social media fixation however.
For Mac, I figured their design would be inspired by the internals of early 90s desktops (or generally the other boxy, white computers of the time). Reference images below.
There was a bit more color and "texture" variance in the internal wiring, and I wanted something that fit the y2k aesthetic. Switch from the Matrix (and the movie in general) was also a pretty good jumping-off point, especially for the non-backlit screen (black/green vibe from the movie).
Add in a couple more display themes from the 90s/early 2000s Microsoft for more color inspiration, a large puffy sleeve for asymmetry, and there you have this Mac design!
Additionally, I completely forgot about the iMac G3 in color when designing. These things would have fit the y2k vibe so much better, but left the 90s time period!
For their wheelchair, I felt it wouldn’t make sense to put them in the same chair as the game (as much as the cooling fan would still work in my version, and how much I love the redesign 😔). Instead, I looked at circular pieces that could work as newer wheels, and that's when I stumbled across the floppy disk reader for Apple computers.
And the coils (?) of… a cooling fan- as the arm rests.
Anyway, I hope someone other than me is at least a bit intrigued by my process. It was fun rendering and drawing something else than my usual work for a change. Cringe is freeing, so do whatever the hell you want lol- thanks for reading of you did!
Also also... do y'all think Lady Memoria would even chat with this version of Mac???? 👀
I'm so done with this piece!!?!? Happy fridayyyyy!!!
