Master Skins: The Mid-Year Review
Some of the best work of 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007 by Zoomba | Discussion: Community
With the launch of WinCustomize 2007, we introduced the Master Skins program. It was a way for some of our most senior and talented artists to sell their work directly through WinCustomize. It was our way of giving back to the individuals who have given us so much over the years and helped make skinning and WinCustomize what it is today.
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| Intrigue SKoriginals |
Knot Vista I.R. Brainiac |
Odyssey Suite vStyler |
Optix MikeB314 |
In just a little over half a year, the program has been a resounding success with more and more master skinners posting their outstanding work. And as the year has progressed we've promoted a number of Journeyman users to Master as well, so the ranks continue to swell.
Up until 2007, skinners wishing to sell their work often had to develop and maintain their own websites, and find ways to market themselves and spread the word to attract customers. That's a tall order considering how much noise there is out there on the web. By providing these skinners a space at WinCustomize to sell their work, we were able to provide millions of potential customers every month.
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| Relent brewman |
AeroS JJ Ying |
Nuage essorant |
StingRay Z71 |
As I said, the program has been an amazing success, with many skinners selling hundreds of units in just a few months. Some of these folks have made skinning a full-time job, and we've been helping support that decision through the Master Skins program.
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| Expanding Shapes Neil Banfield |
Suite 18 adni18 |
Challenger Treetog |
Aero-extreme gef |
We hope to see more master skinners step up to the plate with more of these outstanding skins in the future. Already we have seen WindowBlinds skins, full suites, Dreams, DesktopX Themes and Gadgets. I'm personally looking forward to IconPackages, and new WindowBlinds 6 skins with all the bells and whistles. There's a lot out there that's yet to be skinned, and a big opportunity with Vista slowly gaining acceptance. The skins we've already seen are just the tip of the iceberg I'm sure.
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| Holiday Countdown Pro RomanDA |
Customize gef |
DX-PDA gef |
Metal-vista gef |
In case you haven't been keeping up with releases, here are all of the community Master Skins uploaded to-date. These really represent some of the best skins ever uploaded to the site. There's no question that the folks making these deserve the title of Master.
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| Time Commander RomanDA |
SportStrip RomanDA |
Site Checker RomanDA |
Capsulated gef |
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| File Transporter RomanDA |
Xaphire JJ Ying |
Also, remember that if you're a WinCustomize Subscriber, you get a 20% discount on all Master Skin purchases.
Reply #2 Thursday, August 30, 2007 1:19 PM
Along with the week in review recaps and the regular new skin submissions,
another reason why I love coming to this site!
Congrats to all the featured master skin authors!!!
Just a question: Is there a readily accessible link on this site which lists all of this years (and I guess previous years as well) master skins that are available for purchase? I think it would make searching for master skins alot easier.
Reply #3 Thursday, August 30, 2007 1:25 PM
Reply #4 Thursday, August 30, 2007 1:32 PM
Reply #5 Thursday, August 30, 2007 3:27 PM
Reply #6 Thursday, August 30, 2007 3:49 PM
Happy with my purchases but I'm kind of peeved they havent been updated for WB6.
Reply #7 Thursday, August 30, 2007 4:20 PM
Reply #8 Friday, August 31, 2007 7:49 AM
I bought Aero,Nuage and Optix and they certainly didn't disappoint.Great stuff!
It would be nice to see updates to Aero and Nuage but for me Optix has become by regular skin since vista came along.Well,that and Diamond
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Reply #1 Thursday, August 30, 2007 12:47 PM
Great post Zoomba, these folks are truly masters in showing just what can be accomplished using not only Stardock programs but also showcasing thier own individual talents.
Yes, they all are extemely talented and deserve this exposure.
Just had a thought pop into my head, wouldn't a Christmas Catalogue be something.
Start with all the Premium Skins/Suites that Stardock currently has in the store, add in all the Master Skins. You might even get some of the Masters to make some new Holiday Skins. Stardock and WinCustomize could put in discount coupons for subscriptions.
I'm going to go make out my gift list right now!!!