The wallpapers depict all the animal signs in the Chinese zodiac and follow the twelve-part cycle, beginning with user 's image of a rat and ending with 's tattoo design of a pig. Each of the images is striking in its own way; many use contrast to show the beauty and power of the animals. Most impressive is a close-up of the piercing eye of a tiger. User 's big cat is nestled in a fiery golden coat, with ripples of black and white. 's snake has a sublime appeal, with its lush scales of varying green tones against a background of darkness.

Other deviantART images include the Chinese zodiac ox by , the rabbit by , the Chinese dragon by orgastic, the horse by , the sheep by , the monkey by , the rooster by , and the dog by .

In addition to the unique images, the Chinese Zodiac 2012 Windows 7 desktop theme features sound effects from members of the Freesound.org online collective. Reinsamba's work starts Windows with the vibrant, hollow sound of a gong, and Gorgoroth6669 shuts it down to the mellifluous tune of a Chinese flute.

Note: To install this Windows 7 theme, unzip the downloaded archive and double-click the themepack file within. Windows does the rest. Make sure to read the readme file to get details on the images and sound effects in this theme.