3
basicappleguy.com launched three years ago, on April 21, 2020.
Today marks the third anniversary of basicappleguy.com. A challenging but also very successful year; I want to continue the tradition of recapping the year and thanking you all for the tremendous support.
I worked from home for the first two years of the site because of the pandemic. That meant 19,200 minutes saved on commuting each year alone, which afforded me hundreds of hours to write and work on new wallpapers. This also meant I had around-the-clock access to a Mac (and a good internet connection), giving me abundant opportunities to work on projects with much more freedom.
2023 has been a much different story. Having been back in the office for an entire year, the opportunities to work on the site have dramatically reduced. To underscore this change, from April 2021 to 2022, I posted 89 times (1.7 posts per week), while in the same period between 2022 and 2023, I posted 51 times (.98 posts per week). Posts now take longer to write, and wallpapers take weeks to produce. Halving my production while simultaneously growing the site has been an extremely challenging endeavour over the past year. To achieve this, I've focused on writing less frequent but *hopefully* more interesting, long-form content and have scaled my wallpaper production towards fewer, hopefully, better, wallpapers.
Amongst that change in routine, I also took on a couple of additional jobs, including developing a university course (while sick) that again took hundreds of hours away from things I wanted to produce for the site. Days became a frantic juggling act of commuting, working, commuting back home, teaching, working out, spending time with family, and working on content for the site. The behind-the-scenes was that the months between April & August of last year were some of the most frantic of my life.
Then there were rumours that ultimately became a reality when EM bought Twitter in October 2022. Since so much of my traffic and engagement begins on Twitter, disruption and reputation harm to that platform felt like an existential threat to my site. For this reason, I decided to expand my posting into Mastodon and have been growing a smaller but very engaged audience there. This sidestep has provided some assurance in helping continue a social media presence to connect with people and share content with them.
All that said, I wouldn't change it for the world. In 2022 the site hit a milestone I had been eyeballing for quite some time: over 1 million visitors! It's something I don't take for granted. In the past year, I also had the privilege to design a series of glyphs for Curtis Herbert, developer of the Apple Design Award app Slopes, work with the team at Flighty for an Alternate icon for their world-class flight tracking app, had my work discussed on Podcasts like AppleInsider, featured on IG including the accounts of @theapplehub & @appledsign, showcased on YouTube videos by tech royalty including MKBHD, zollotech, DailyTekk, and more; and even featured as wallpapers on mockups of the next iPhone by design artist Ian Zelbo on 9to5Mac.
But I also need to thank everyone who has personally reached out with a kind word, referral, or a tip. Emotionally this site is equally powered by my passion for Apple products and your appreciation. I keep a folder with all the notes of gratitude that you have sent because it really does mean that much. I'd be lying if I didn't say that they've been times when I've felt like packing it in only to get a timely note from someone sharing how something I wrote or made brightened their day to remind me why I keep this site going. Thanks a million.
I've also fought to keep this site free of charge. Keeping the site ad-free and the wallpapers available free of charge is an important personal value and affordance I can make now. The tips you send, whether $1, $3, or $5, make a difference, as I use them to pay the increasing costs of running this site, including web hosting, software licenses, and other apps & tools. And yes, I also use it to buy coffee (black, no sugar, if you're wondering).
So that's the year. I produced some of my favourite content these past 365 days and hope that trend continues until the next time I write an update. I have had many people inquire about more merchandise, so I am very keen to pursue that this year (including finally putting the BasicAppleGuy pins for sale). And, of course, I continue to work on new articles and wallpapers for you all as well. Thanks.
