Please Point Me at Some Nice Icons

November 28, 2006 8:07 PM

I'm looking for simple, spare, classy Mac icons—I'm tired of looking at the stuff in my dock. I'd like to replace everything with some icons that are cool and unified, but not fancy. There are lots of sites out there that have icon sets, but I'd like some specific suggestions. Thanks!

Oh yeah, and this has to be free.

posted by interrobang to Computers & Internet (18 answers total)

Hide's Icons.
posted by argybarg at 8:09 PM on November 28, 2006

Response by poster: Those have a definite System 7 feel. I'm looking for something a little less cartoony.
posted by interrobang at 8:11 PM on November 28, 2006

Response by poster: Also, I need them to be somewhat more obvious. The icon should obviously be for iTunes, Preview, Word, Photoshop, and so on.
posted by interrobang at 8:13 PM on November 28, 2006

I collected a ton of cool stuff when I got a new Mac this year. Email me at Hotmail and I will send you a zip file.
posted by DudeAsInCool at 8:25 PM on November 28, 2006

I'm a fan of the Puft icons, which are about as spare as you can get.
posted by stefnet at 8:40 PM on November 28, 2006

Response by poster: Alternately, I could make them myself if anyone could tell me how to create images on Photoshop that are not square—i.e., suppose I wanted a small irregular circle for something. How do I make that on Photoshop so it doesn't automatically have a square or rectangular space around it?
posted by interrobang at 8:43 PM on November 28, 2006

Response by poster: Those are closer to what I was looking for, stefnet.
posted by interrobang at 8:46 PM on November 28, 2006

I love the various SNOW icons designed by Sascha Hoehne.
posted by cribcage at 9:37 PM on November 28, 2006

Best answer: Try the icon factory. They have a *lot* of free ones, which you might not immediately notice. Do a search, dig around, have some fun.
posted by nadise at 9:44 PM on November 28, 2006

Best answer: InterfaceLIFT.com has a shiftload of free icons, screensavers, etc. Some browsing led me to the following, which you might find appealing. Only the first set is app-specific, but it might be fun to customize the others:
- SY Black
- Letter Tiles
- Marblicious
- Think Different Stamps
- Flat White Bezels
Also, here's a replacement set for the Safari icon only, but it's quite something:
- Safari
posted by rob511 at 9:59 PM on November 28, 2006

Here's a list of icon sites, a large number of which have excellent Mac icons.

(via Aqua-Soft, a community for people who customize their PCs to look like Macs, and their Macs to look completely freakin' awesome. The linked thread has been in existence a long time, so do note that some of the sites may be defunct—but a fair number should still be "in business," so to speak.)
posted by limeonaire at 10:01 PM on November 28, 2006

How do I make that on Photoshop so it doesn't automatically have a square or rectangular space around it?

You can't, technically. What you can do is create a mask that's in the shape you want. A selection is a type of mask for these purposes, so if you make a circular selection, copy it, and paste it into a Get Info window, you should get a circular icon with no background. If you want a more sophisticated mask (for transparency, drop shadows, etc.) you have to draw it separately.
posted by kindall at 10:33 PM on November 28, 2006

Take a look at the "Black and Blue" icon set. It's beautifully done, and it's amazing how a more limited color palette can add an air of class to the dock. The whole collection is spread out in several sub-sets on various icon sites. This site at DeviantArt is a good place to start:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/34700737/
posted by purplegenie at 10:56 PM on November 28, 2006

If you don't make your own, I second deviantart. Just pilfer around the site and you can find all sorts of really good ones.
posted by damnjezebel at 1:17 AM on November 29, 2006

PMJIH, but having all your icons in the same color scheme, while perhaps more attractive, may be less functional, especially when scanning the dock. The more distinct the icons, the faster you can home in on them. I noticed one day that half the icons in my dock looked like blue globes, and I'm pretty sure that slowed down my ability to pinpoint the one that I want, by some small but significant amount.

Also, the Iconfactory (linked above) sells a Photoshop plugin for creating icons, which (I believe) includes all the masking fanciness.
posted by adamrice at 7:11 AM on November 29, 2006

Anything by mattahan over at DA. Go, now.
posted by prostyle at 7:16 AM on November 29, 2006

Here's a selection of his GANT sets (1-3) as an IconPackager file, with permissions. Dig it. Death to Aqua!
posted by prostyle at 7:27 AM on November 29, 2006

Response by poster: All right, thanks, everyone.
posted by interrobang at 8:18 AM on November 30, 2006