The Big Sur-ification of macOS Icons

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Style Pass

2024-04-25 03:00:08

While some apps made this transition fun (and further infused their brand with character), others did not. They did the bare minimum and moved on.

A few years ago I tweeted about this “bare minimum” phenomenon where app makers updated their icon for macOS Big Sur by taking their previous icon/logo, putting it on a white squircle, and calling it a day.

That always felt like a bit of a shame when compared to the alternative: take an opportunity to imagine a new expression of your brand/logo/icon in the context and constraints of macOS Big Sur’s new icon template (i.e. the squircle).

It’s fun to see how folks take advantage of “the ever-so-subtle yet unique-to-macOS opportunity” to break outside of the outer edges of the squircle and provide some dimensionality to their icons.

As a self-professed icon-noisseur, I love browsing through app icons that people have re-imagined for their desktops — wresting control of the visual appearance of the app icon from its maker and appropriating it to themselves.