120+ Icons and Counting

Back in 2019, we undertook a radical overhaul of how GNOME app icons work. The old Tango-era style required drawing up to seven separate sizes per icon and a truckload of detail. A task so demanding that only a handful of people could do it. The "new" style is geometric, colorful, but mainly achievable. Redesigning the system was just the first step. We needed to actually get better icons into the hands of app developers, as those should be in control of their brand identity. That's where app-icon-requests came in. As of today, the project has received over a hundred icon requests. Each one represents a collaboration between a designer and a developer, and a small but visible improvement to the Linux desktop. How It Works Ideally if a project needs a quick turnaround and direct control over the result, the best approach remains doing it in-house or commission a designer. But if you're not in a rush, and aim to be a well designed GNOME app in particular, you can make use of the idle…