Tattoos, as a form of self-expression, are now taking the form of popular software, operating system and gaming logos.
Tattoos have served as a means of self-expression for centuries, reflecting a person’s societal status, personal beliefs and passions.
In reaction to our modern technological era, consumers have turned to computer and web-based logos for tattoo designs, often as a visual statement of a person’s choice in software, operating systems or code platforms.
Operating Systems
The debate between the wisdom of choosing Mac, Linux or Windows continues; with consumers using their bodies as a canvas to state their personal choice.
Apple Mac Logo
A bold, clear statement that the owner of the tattoo is a Mac user and proud of it.
Linux Penguin Logo
A cute image that has been used as a tattoo design by many Linux users, especially female users.
Microsoft Windows Logo
A colorful and easily recognizable image that is gaining popularity among Windows users as a tattoo design.
Connected to the Web
Web-based logo designs are becoming chic choices for tattoo designs, with the colorful Google and stylish Firefox logos taking to the streets in the form of body art.
iGoogle
Because Google knows everything. The colorful, clear lettering makes it an attractive design for a tattoo.
Firefox
Not only is the web browser a powerful and attractive piece of software, but the Firefox logo is also attractive and makes a stylish tattoo design.
Lock-in the Code
Mathematics, pieces of code and binary translations are often used in humorous or meaningful tattoos.
HTML
Html code tattooed on the neck, using a snatch of code to create a humorous effect by labeling the head and body with html code.
Binary Code
Name initials in binary code – A personal expression of self, using a Binary translation of this person’s initials.
Mathematics
This tattoo has a meaning to the person who chose it, though the symbolism may be misunderstood by those who see it. As with many tattoos, the chosen design often has a meaning that appeals to the owner of the tattoo, but isn’t immediately clear to others.
A Walking Advertisement
Some people have decided to use their bodies as a walking billboard for their website.
GrownUp Geek
This tattoo is an advertisement for GrownUp Geek. Advertising takes many forms, but this particular advertisement is paid for once, doesn’t weather the way outdoor advertisements do, and will be the topic of many conversations.
Geek tattoos of games, computer symbols and hardware
Mario Brothers
A Mario Brothers “Game Over” tattoo. There are many Mario Brothers tattoo designs available, often with the Mario character in a large, colorful scene with other gaming characters. This one, however, is a series of separate images and has been tattooed on the neck, a painful and very visible area for tattoo art.
Mac Command Key
A bold, clean image with interweaving loops, similar to the popular trinity tattoo.
Space Invaders
A fun image from the classic computer game, shown here in its original pixilated form.
Power
Another simple, yet bold design that holds a deeper meaning for the owner.
Mac Finder
A modern, graphic design used in Mac operating systems that is both friendly and colorful.
Dell
This guy is obviously an avid fan of Dell, to have had the logo covering such a large area of his body. The clean lines and bright color of the logo make an impressive statement in a tattoo.
Many tattoos serve an aesthetic role and are simply an artistic decoration on the skin.
These tattoo design choices express the views and passions of computer and web consumers, and one can only hope that the company logo designs will not change before the tattoos fade.
July 8th, 2008 at 4:41 am
Going to get me an Ubuntu one.
July 8th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Tattoo’s are so cool, I think I’ll get one. What a cool way to express yourself to strangers.
July 8th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
the guy with the space invaders tattoo on his chest he’s hottt:P:P
July 8th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
The binary one says ACE
July 8th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
that power one is cool
July 9th, 2008 at 12:04 am
ascii, i find it scary you know that.
July 9th, 2008 at 2:09 am
Cant get over the guy with mario on his neck – how much would that have hurt!
July 9th, 2008 at 2:39 am
Nerds.
July 9th, 2008 at 2:45 am
You are missing this one:
http://www.nivas.hr/blog/2007/05/07/what-do-i-think-about-adobe/
July 9th, 2008 at 2:46 am
DELL?! Christ.
Help me out! http://www.bytecellar.com/archives/000157.php
July 9th, 2008 at 2:46 am
Dell? jesus christ. I guess just because you’re a nerd doesn’t mean you’re smart. Dell sucks. also anyone who gets a tattoo of an operating system should seriously consider ending their own life.
July 9th, 2008 at 2:59 am
I can’t believe people actually do this. Does nobody think about the future and how we can’t predict it. What if something happened to the apple empire and it was no longer cool but down right shameful to be a mac user. Same goes for a company tattoo. AND DAMN!! INKING MICROSOFT ON YOUR ARM????? COULD YOU BE MORE OF A TOOL??? I AGREE WITH #11 JUST END YOUR LIFE INSTEAD.
July 9th, 2008 at 2:59 am
you do realise that a number of them (Dell) are transfers and not really tatoos? Thats why around his ‘tattoo’ its shaved so the transfer attaches better. Its also a film on the leg and shiny, unlike real tats.
July 9th, 2008 at 3:13 am
@derr
the dell guy is shaved because his tat is fresh, which is also why it is shiny. Notice the redness around the lines?
July 9th, 2008 at 3:19 am
omg the firefox one sooo hot lol ;p. aww i hope it was a girl lol ;p
July 9th, 2008 at 3:26 am
wow, none of you are ever, ever going to get laid. Especially the dude with the WINDOWS tat… seriously?
July 9th, 2008 at 3:48 am
The dell one looks fake (ie it is a sticker or a fake tattoo)
July 9th, 2008 at 4:08 am
Maybe his initials are B.D.F.
Character as two bytes:
column one: 2^0 = 1
column two: 2^1 = 2
column three: 2^2 = 4
column four: 2^3 = 8
8421
—-
0100 0001 0*8+0*4+0*2+1*1 = 1; // or ‘A’ or ‘B’
0100 0011 0*8+0*4+1*2+1*1 = 3; // or ‘C’ or ‘D’
0100 0101 0*8+1*4+0*2+1*1 = 5; // or ‘E’ or ‘F’
Although, his initials are dependent on an index. So it is likely anything. [I know what his next tatoo should be.]
initial[ 0 ] = x
initial[ 1 ] = x + 2
initial[ 2 ] = x + 4
Where the variable x is a positive integer with some index associated characters. The variable x must be positive, because the binary string is signed – or flagged as some would say. Hopefully the index has consecutive characters, otherwise this fellow with the tatoo is in trouble and should locate and make use of a cheese-grater as soon as possible.
The H.T.M.L fellow had an interesting tatoo, however, he still managed to fail W.3.C. validation… brining further shame to the world wide web and all of the tatoo people that have made regretable mistakes.
Cheese-grater F.T.W!
P.S.
Awesome!: Ubuntu is for noobs… try Gentoo.
P.S.S.
proudofit: I love your comment!
P.S.S.S.
ascii: A person who has named themself after the acronym American Standard Code for Information Interchange, should not assume that the base ten number ‘1′ is associated with the letter ‘A’.
P.S.S.S.S.
me: That is a standby symbol, not a power on-off symbol.
P.S.S.S.S.S.
Ninja: Ignorance… A.Y.B.A.B.T.U!
July 9th, 2008 at 4:34 am
Most of those tattoo’s look fake! I feel bad for the people that actually have tattoos like that. Dont they realize that those tattoos will stay with them for the rest of their life’s.
July 9th, 2008 at 4:46 am
Intelligent comment, Sleepy, except that the symbol is in fact a power on/off symbol.
July 9th, 2008 at 5:00 am
memo: You missed my point. I did ignore the offset, but I explained why.
Golden Fleece: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_symbol
Have fun kids!
July 9th, 2008 at 6:25 am
Mine certainly isn’t fake: http://www.ear-fung.us/tattoo/
July 9th, 2008 at 7:07 am
google “mc router”
July 9th, 2008 at 8:09 am
@ sleepy:
it says also:
Alternatively, under IEEE 1621, this symbol simply means “power”.[2]
so don’t try to be cool or somethin’
July 9th, 2008 at 8:42 am
soon they’ll be obsolete.
/Man, This DOSShell Tat will never look old!
July 9th, 2008 at 9:41 am
An interesting and unique article – exellent stuff!
July 9th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Aw, Deliria beat me to it…
The Seven Dwarves were sitting in the bath and feeling Sleepy.
So Sleepy got out.
I think it was a pretty good comment though, Sleepy. Dunno how many people actually questioned the logic of these tattoos.
July 9th, 2008 at 10:31 am
everybody in 10 years: wtf was i thinking… ::sigh::
July 9th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Dell tat is going to hurt when the dude gets laid off or has to call them for support.
July 9th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
I have plenty of tat’s like this.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xamox/tags/tattoo/
July 9th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
I think that is cool. I really think that it is no different than people tatooing peoples names on them. I feel it is a way of showing who you are. I like them a lot, to me it shows character.
July 9th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
I have & hearts ; on my wrist. (w/o spaces)
July 9th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
OUCH!!
July 9th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
That guy that has the grownupgeek.com logo on his arm has all kinds of other website tats on him.. He was even on the Conan oBrian show a couple of years back showing them off. He’s like the walking Adwords.. He’s the one laughing all the way to the bank. or at least he was..
July 10th, 2008 at 2:24 am
Interesting topic and connection.
I am not interested in ever having a tatoo!
I am enjoying your articles though.
July 10th, 2008 at 6:05 am
That article was kind of pointless, I’ve never even seen anybody with an of the above tattoos, but they’re ok ideas I guess..
July 10th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Awesome! I love the firefox one, and the power one too. Entertaining article.
July 10th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Great Article.
July 11th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Dont care which ones are fake and which are real, the people who have them must be real crazy though. Whatever happened to creativity for self expression?
Very entertaining article.
July 12th, 2008 at 6:33 am
i like the power.it cool
July 13th, 2008 at 8:09 am
I like it!
July 13th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
haha i liked to linux one the penguin is cuuutteee
July 14th, 2008 at 9:28 am
If you liked these, you’ll dig this lot;
http://www.purpleslinky.com/Offbeat/Tattoo-Humor-Mooning-Belly-Buttons.168049
Humorous tattoos using belly buttons as a part of the mooning character’s anatomy.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
awesome!
July 14th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
I loooooooooove the power tat. It says a lot about a person.
July 14th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Some of those are crazy. I’d never stick some computer company’s name on my body. http://tattoodesignsheaven.info/
July 15th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Three inches up and six inches to her right would have made ms. firefox into a ms. firecrotch.
July 15th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
I dont have any tats but if I got one it would of mighty mouse or a ying&yang of a bull&lion for my sons.
July 19th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
There are definitely tattoos that are part of “today’s’” culture and these are for sure some, I love the Firefox. This shows just how much power art has even in operating systems ( who is the Firefox design artist anyway). The fact is maybe I would not have Dell however I would not have the Trix rabbit either. Each are a part of modern Iconography. The choice these ppl make are for sure going to have an impact on others relate to them. Also now for the not so creative/ more dated style of a tattoo is the new “I don’t want it anymore ” ink, one laser blast and it is gone,you still go through the needle baptism.If I did something so dated maybe this would be the best option a tattoo “delete button” if you will.
August 20th, 2008 at 3:53 am
Very interesting article but besides you need a tattoo design, right? Do you need a ton of ideas on how to design your own tattoo? Then look them here: http://tattoodesigngroup.com.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
However, most people and most cultures, for various reasons, do associate tattoos with some deeper meaning. They can be the outward sign of inner transformation, an appeal to the forces of luck, or a declaration of loyalty, love, or sometimes even hatred. They can be whimsical and ironic or reminders of events both grim and uplifting, but as containers of meaning, they are often rich in symbolism, providing a glimpse into our collective and varied past and the range of emotions and experiences that motivate us….But Tattoo your skin with Logo / Brand of products is RIDICULOUS. Tattoo Design Ideas http://www.tattoobody.org
September 26th, 2008 at 6:36 am
donkeyyyy
September 27th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
That is crazy. To see modern and unique tattoo designs go to this site…. http://www.TattooWoo.com
December 13th, 2008 at 3:49 am
i’m going to get the golden arches tattooed on my forehead, right after the labotamy
February 11th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
I dig the microsoft tattoo! For more crazy tattoos, you should check out http://www.tattoonest.com
February 11th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
The dude with “Game OVER” what a wanker!! Really mate! Hows that going to look in a few years time, Macca’s wont even give you a job you tool! AND YES I HAVE TATS, Just not where ppl can see them…. Your mum would be very proud!!
June 1st, 2009 at 4:23 am
i just really like that the person who wrote this article is pleasant and objective, instead of saying mean things about the people who got those tattoos. that’s all i’m saying!
July 8th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
This is sooo cool…I love the Apple logo tattoo seeing as though I am an Apple nut…..good on these guys for bringing tattoos up to pace in the modern times!
July 13th, 2009 at 6:59 am
it looks good, but black apple..? i think red colored apple would have looked really great
October 8th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
These tattoo design look so novel, I like them…
http://www.getbetterlife.com/blog
October 11th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
OMFG!
Was this titles the dumbest, worse, most idiotic tattoos ever?
Idiots. I love my ink, but use some common sense people….