The future is a little silvery apple on the back of your laptop, apparently. So, in a world of homogeneous computers where the only difference between one Mac and another is how skinny and sexy and shiny it is: how does one differentiate oneself from all the other apples in the orchard?
Through the wonderful world of the decal, of course. Decal is just a fancy word for sticker you can peel off when you get sick of it. On my internet journeys I came across the wonderful online marketplace Etsy, where all your handcrafted crocheted nerdy collectors item needs (especially the ones you never knew you had) are met. Etsy is where these decals come from, especially the weirder of the bunch. They all fulfil the same purpose: frame the apple in the centre of your Mac with something visually witty that apparently differentiates it. They’re not exactly a statement but they’re a bit of a breath of fresh air (the ones that aren’t desperately cringey anyway!)
This is the first of the Snow White and Apple series. Standard, witty, quite attractive, but too girly for your taste? Then why don’t you try:
Bad Snow White. You know she’s bad because she has gloves and a scarf over her mouth. See it gives all the wit of the original Snow White image, only it’s masculine enough for the lads to get away with it. But if this isn’t masculine enough for you…
What more need I say.
Now I’ll move the brow up a little, for the art lovers out there:
This may also be a reference to the internet ‘anon’ user, as pointed out by a reader.
Renee Magritte, anyone? His surrealist paintings featured apples very heavily, normally blocking the face of a suited up man, with a bowler hat. This decal is only a vague reference, but here’s a more detailed version:
Now, let’s get down to the nerdy stuff. I know Lost is over, but thought this was really clever:
Not a fan of Lost? That’s just fine. There are plenty of cinematic references to be had instead of television…
And as for games, well, my personal favourite that I encountered was this one:
Simple and brilliant, that’s all you want really isn’t it? So speaking of simple and brilliant, here are my two picks of the batch (and trust me, once you start going through these decals, you spend far longer looking at them than you should!). My second favourite:
Apple Juice. Clever, clever.
And my number one, just because it caught my eye and made me smile:
From before the iPod. That’s what it used to look like: much prettier, eh?
So my little journey with the Apple Decal has been exciting: speaking as a very lo-fi Dell user, I can definitely say at this stage I have Mac envy, not only of the machine, but of the very cute and very funny things that can be done by merely framing that little icon with something else!
To finish off, I’ll leave you with this. The one that made me cringe…
All of these decals and many more other exciting ones, as well as an infinity of handmade products are available on Etsy.com, and by supporting this marketplace you support independent producers of handmade products and do your part for small businesses!
