One of the prime reasons to jailbreak an iPhone is to get access to its selection of gorgeous themes. Artists from the hacker community have put in a lot of effort in designing some really masteful pieces of art. These are relatively unknown designers, creating some really remarkable user interfaces expecting nothing in return.
To find out what exactly goes on behind the scenes, I asked Kon, the designer of my favourite iPhone theme “illumine”, a few questions on theme development. Let’s start with his profile. Kon’s design prowess can be seen on his numerous themes. The first one is Illumine, which iKon tells me has so far been downloaded over 1,00,000 times on Cydia, and that doesn’t include the little offshoots from other sites. For instance, DeviantArt itself clocks 23 thousand downloads of the theme. Then there’s Pearl, NorthStar, QS07, all of which are unique masterpieces.
My good friend Kevin and Salehh pushed me to get an iPhone theme out. I was hesitant at first, but after seeing all this great work I felt it was time for me to venture out of just desktop wallpapers and into the world of iPhone design. A lot of work goes into each theme—illumine contains 5000+ icons—but it’s worth it in the end. I don’t take credit for all of it however, as I had a lot of help along the way.
Kon has been designing things from a young age, starting with graffitti art, and then easing into technology as he grew up. He currently designs themes only out of passion, not expecting anything in return. In fact, the donations box hasn’t even allowed him to buy an iPad.
I was curious to know what goes through making an iPhone theme,
It’s pretty basic at this point. MacThemes has been a big part of breaking down the iPhone and helping theme it. Previous artist made it easier for people like me to develop themes. I don’t have much knowledge in the technical aspect of the phone. My knowledge is more visual.
Kon currently works as tech support for a company that develops account and property management software. I was shocked too. He does however intend on taking his passion into the professional space, building his portfolio as he goes. You can follow Kon’s work on his deviantart profile, or even get to know him on twitter (protected profile).