We all know the iconic image "Bliss," the default wallpaper of Microsoft Windows XP, taken by photographer Charles O’Rear. Widely believed to be the most-viewed photograph in history, this vivid green landscape with a perfectly blue sky feels familiar to just about everyone.
Now, can you imagine anything replacing this legendary wallpaper? It seems almost impossible. But what if we challenged creative minds to dream up the next great Windows wallpaper?
That’s exactly what Superdigital, a creative agency, did in collaboration with Microsoft. Together, they launched an exciting initiative: the “Windows 11 Wallpaper Expedition.” Seven creators from seven different regions were invited to use the newest features of Microsoft Surface Devices and Copilot AI to plan, capture, and edit an image that could one day grace millions of screens worldwide.
Scroll down to discover the stunning results of this groundbreaking project!
More info: superdigital.com
Horizontal Falls, Australia by Zac Watson
Image credits: Zac Watson
Bored Panda spoke with John Tringl, Superdigital's Group Account Director, to learn more about the Wallpaper Expedition. We began by asking about the inspiration behind the collaboration between Microsoft and Superdigital: “Superdigital and Microsoft have worked together closely on short-form video content over the last 3+ years. Specifically, on Windows, that relationship began with the launching of their TikTok account when the Windows 11 OS was released, so this has been a longstanding relationship evolving year over year in really fun and incredible ways.
At the center, our approach together has been focused on the blending of nostalgia with tech modernity, leaning into both core and aspirational audiences, and ultimately leveraging creators as partners on the pulse for culturally relevant, audience-first creative.
We’ve had so many successful creator partnerships across Microsoft brands, and so when the opportunity to help launch their newest category of devices via a creator campaign arose, the collaboration between us was natural and exciting.”
Val de Loire, France by Loic Lagarde
Image credits: Loic Lagarde
Glencoe, Scotland by Kate Hook
Image credits: Kate Hook
When asked how the seven photographers participating were selected, Tringl responded: “With the launch of a new device category and the scale of Microsoft’s consumer base, we knew from the jump that this needed to be a global campaign. That led us to prioritize creators in Microsoft’s seven key markets, which helped the campaign feel diverse even with the clear through line of photography.
Then, because we were asking creators to travel, capture and edit the content themselves—all activities made more efficient and exciting with the use of the Copilot+ PCs—we wanted to tap creators who were comfortable behind and in front of the camera, who had a signature style, who were confident in their ability to take on this journey, and of course, who could ultimately provide a kaleidoscope of different format types and personalities.
Just looking at the content, you can see that a level of polish was consistent, but unique authenticity was present across the board. This was all crucial in the selection process, and we could not be more proud of all seven creators—they blew our minds.”
Northern Canada by Justin Choquette
Image credits: Justin Choquette
Alaska by Caleb Wielhouwer
Image credits: Caleb Wielhouwer
We were also curious about how nostalgia for Windows wallpapers, particularly the iconic "Bliss," shaped the campaign and its creative direction. John explained: “Legacy brands, especially legacy tech brands like Microsoft / Windows, have a unique advantage when it comes to being one of the first, if not the first, experience with technology for a huge portion of active internet users—that core memory building can never be ignored in marketing!
But, with the speed of the AI boom, it is equally important to show off the incredible ways a brand has modernized and how they are leading the charge when it comes to a new era of devices, features, etc.
This tension was where ‘Bliss’ found its influence on the campaign. The concept of bringing a ‘modern-day Bliss’ to life got our creators amped and absolutely skyrocketed audience excitement, as it made the journey feel more personal and high-stakes and true to the Windows brand people love. After all, 'Bliss' is the most viewed photo of all time, and to potentially be the modern representation of that piece of history was super cool for us, the creators, and their audiences.”
The Account Director added: “I think our creators really wanted to respect that core memory and that piece of history and you saw that in how phenomenally out-of this-world each person went with their photos; but that journey was not possible without the modern tech that the Copilot+ PC, Surface Devices provided—and that was a really cool crossroads that we were able to create.”
Allgäu, Germany by Frauke Hamesiter
Image credits: Frauke Hamesiter
Mount Fuji, Japan by Kohki Yamaguchi
Image credits: Kohki Yamaguchi
Lastly, John told us how Superdigital measures the success of the campaign in terms of audience engagement: “Outside of incredible audience sentiment via comments, DMs and other trackable metrics, a really fun component of the campaign was using our Windows-owned channels to have users vote on their favorite photo captured.
Seeing the votes pour in, and then seeing the creators continue to post content of their journeys so their audiences would flood to our channels created some friendly competition and proved we selected the right creators who actually cared about the longevity of the idea, not just doing a collab and being done with it. Seeing them comment on each other’s work was also really special—social is all about niche community building and it was cool to see them feel a part of something together.
This resulted in tons of audience votes, and ultimately Microsoft decided to make ALL 7 photos available for download on their Wallpapers site, which was, in our opinion, the best conclusion to the campaign—cementing each of these partners in Windows background lore forever!”