alt Hacker NewsmacOS Icon History
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I find the 2025 versions to be a nicer looking than pre-2025 variants, so it’s overall an improvement. But I also find the 2014 to be usually a lot better (clearer and more obvious). So incrementally it’s an improvement, but historically still worse.
Nicely executed. The website, I mean. It's like a memorial to principle.
If y'all like icons, I'm not above plugging my free Mac screensaver, Iconic, an "Aqua Icons" screensaver remake which attempts to showcase the icons you didn't know you have, and highlight some noteworthy icons of Mac history:
No doubt about it, the icons from the early 2000s up until 2012 are the ones I generally still like best, especially in this direct comparison with the later ones. The later ones are not exactly bad, but they just lack the panache.
I miss the design language of OS X where things were supposed to have the perspective of being viewed from above resting on a flat surface, but with some depth. Most things looked beautiful like that, the things that didn't (Internet Explorer) stuck out. iPhoto, Stickies, Mail, had beautiful icons.
I loved and love the look of macOS 9. I like how the menu interactions work, everything. I’ve been thinking about going back to it as my primary for personal/non dev computing. I anticipate some challenges with the browser, etc though and not sure if all can be overcome. Modern macOS brings me no joy.
I had a similar love for the BeOS UI, happy to see Haiku humming along.
I find the 2025+ icon style difficult to discern.
Something about the lower contrast and fuzzier/blurs - makes the icons too muted for my liking.
Squint/blur your eyes as you skim the list of icons. Think of this as an approximation of peripheral / partial vision. Some new icons fare well, other are a muddy mess.
The glass metaphor seems inconsistently used in iconography, and semi-transparent gears are just plain silly, even if it’s in keeping with the aesthetic standard.
I miss the Finder plugsins pre-SIP that overrode built-in and added custom icons for special folders not based on resource forks.
2014-2020 was the best in every category. That calculator icon was perfect.
Nice, but quite the short list (iTunes, Safari would be nice).
A lot of experimentation went on with the iTunes icon in particular (and iTunes in general). It was the UI playground for new ideas before they would release in the next OS version.
https://www.versionmuseum.com/history-of/itunes-app
As you can see the icon changed multiple times even within the same year or same OS version.
Tragically missing the NeXT and Rhapsody versions that preceded many of these programs. Rhapsody DR2 has its own Stickies icon that got skipped, along with the checkmark-monitor Preferences from NeXTSTEP 4.0PR1 Mecca.
I have a big dump of 48x48 NeXT icons here if anyone craves them: http://rhetori.ca/next/
(but holy shit you better not tell ClaudeBot about it or i'll scream)
I used to love the CandyBar app by Panic. It was fun to customize my Mac and people shared such amazing icons and themes. Miss those days.
One thing to note that isn’t captured by the graphics on the site, is that the new 2025 icons are layered and have material effects. So they look flatter on the site than they do in use.
I recommend folks watch the introduction to icon composer video they put up https://youtu.be/4usD1hP1nYY?si=XRKba9Png6Gju12_
I’d be very interested in a survey that presents each group in random (non-chronological) order, asking to pick a favourite for each.
I went through and I have favourites that are all over, and not just a specific era.
I really like the 2010-2015 era. Something seems lost after that.
Is it me or do others find that always 2020-2025 category icons were the best looking compared to 2025- except for podcasts icon? (And I do not give a damn for podcasts :D )
I tried to find a site with more examples than the linked post, and I think https://guis.org/macos/icons/ is a pretty good overview for those who may be interested.
It's interesting how each of these icons looked new to us at one point. Now most of these icons seem quite old-looking.
At least the system preferences icon has improved, the 2020 one looks like it's AI generated.
I would assert that iChat evolved into messages. There are a few more icons that could be added in that category.
It's progressively got worse.
The evolution of the App Store icon from drawing utensils (pencil, brush and ruler) to transparent popsicle sticks is definitely the most interesting. Ask someone today what the A icon represents, and they would probably have no idea, or think something like building blocks.
Game Center is definitely the worst. The bubbles have never represented anything remotely intelligible. Multi-colored blobs equals games? If you say so, Apple.
I miss 2014.
from all of these examples, the only new icons I prefer are PhotoBooth and Podcasts.
Man, that 2012-2014 Game Center Icon. Love it in retrospect. Also please bring back the green, that 2025- icon looks so stale compared to the others.
The entire catalog just prior to 2015 was so good. I know that's an unpopular opinion these days.
Notes 2012 icon, the best !
I think photo booth had the most depressing “evolution”.
macOS has a history of app icons which are highly detailed and almost photo-realistic. I think this trend started with OS X and the skeuomorphism hype. In my opinion, this is exactly the opposite of what a good icon should be like (reduced, stylized, simplified to the extreme).
Some bad examples you can see in the latest version of macOS:
- Xcode (photorealistic hammer)
- TextEdit (photorealistic pen)
- Automator (rendered robot)
- System Settings (gearwheels with tiny details)
- Preview (literally a photo, with a photorealistic "loupe" in front)
- Trash bin in the dock (photorealistic bin)
I understand free-shaped icons can sometimes be really bad designed and look really shitty, but one of Apple's distinguished features was their high-quality icons. It was even transmitted to other software companies that target Apple devices. You could tell with high confidence when a software was made specifically for Mac and when it was ported just looking at the icon.
Now everything is this sad rounded cornered square.