Desktop Icons For Mac Os

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App Icon

Desktop Boss Icons for Mac OS v.2010.1 The collection of Desktop Boss Icons include highly detailed images representing various kinds of leaders and forepersons: from army and police officers to corporate executives, from members of royal family to teachers and administrators. For example, all the documents on your desktop can be grouped in one stack while screenshots are grouped in another. On your Mac, do any of the following: Turn on stacks: Click the desktop, then choose View Use Stacks or press Control-Command-0. You can also Control-click the desktop.

Beautiful app icons are an important part of the user experience on all Apple platforms. A unique, memorable icon evokes your app and can help people recognize it at a glance on the desktop, in Finder, and in the Dock. Polished, expressive icons can also hint at an app's personality and even its overall level of quality.

In macOS 11, app icons share a common set of visual attributes, including the rounded-rectangle shape, front-facing perspective, level position, and uniform drop shadow. Rooted in the macOS 11 design language, these attributes showcase the lifelike rendering style people expect in macOS while presenting a harmonious user experience. To download templates that specify the correct shape and drop shadow, see Apple Design Resources.

IMPORTANT When you update your app for macOS 11, use your new app icon design to replace the icon you designed for earlier versions. You can't include two different app icons for one app, and the macOS 11 app icon style looks fine on a Mac running Catalina or earlier.

Design a beautiful icon that clearly represents your app. Combine an engaging design with an artistic interpretation of your app's purpose that people can instantly understand.

Embrace simplicity. Find a concept or element that captures the essence of your app and express it in a simple, unique way, adding details only when doing so enhances meaning. Too many details can be hard to discern and can make the icon appear muddy, especially at smaller sizes.

Establish a single focus point. A single, centered point of interest captures the user's attention and helps them recognize your app at a glance. Presenting multiple focus points can obscure the icon's message.

To give people a familiar and consistent experience, prefer a design that works well across multiple platforms. If your app runs on other platforms, use a similar image for all app icons while rendering them in the style that's appropriate for each platform. For example, in iOS and watchOS, the Mail app icon depicts the white envelope in a streamlined, graphical style; in macOS 11, the envelope includes depth and detail that communicate a realistic weight and texture.

macOS 11

Consider depicting a familiar tool to communicate what people use your app to do. To give context to your app's purpose, you can use the icon background to portray the tool's environment or the items it affects. For example, the TextEdit icon pairs a mechanical pencil with a sheet of lined paper to suggest a utilitarian writing experience. After you create a detailed, realistic image of a tool, it often works well to let it float just above the background and extend slightly past the icon boundaries. If you do this, make sure the tool remains visually unified with the background and doesn't overwhelm the rounded-rectangle shape.

Make real objects look real. If you depict real objects in your app icon, make them look like they're made of physical materials and have actual mass. Replicate the characteristics of substances like fabric, glass, paper, and metal to convey an object's weight and feel. For example, the Xcode app icon features a hammer that looks like it has a steel head and polymer grip.

If text is essential for communicating your app's purpose, consider creating a graphic abstraction of it. Actual text in an icon can be difficult to read and doesn't support accessibility or localization. To give the impression of text without implying that people should zoom in to read it, you can create a graphic texture that suggests it.

To depict photos or parts of your app's UI, create idealized images that emphasize the features you want people to notice. Photos are often full of details that obscure the main content when viewed at small sizes. If you want to use a photo in your icon, pick one with strongly contrasting values that make the main subject stand out. Remove unimportant details that make primary lines and shapes fuzzy or indistinct. If your app has a UI that people recognize, avoid simply replicating standard UI elements or using a screenshot in your icon. Instead, consider designing a graphic that echoes the UI and expresses the personality of your app.

Don't use replicas of Apple hardware products. Apple products are copyrighted and can't be reproduced in your icons or images. Avoid displaying replicas of devices, because hardware designs tend to change frequently and can make your icon look dated.

Use the drop shadow in the icon-design template. The template includes the system-defined drop shadow that helps your app icon coordinate with other macOS 11 icons.

Consider using interior shadows and highlights to add definition and realism. For example, the Mail app icon uses both shadows and highlights to give the envelope authenticity and to suggest that the flap is slightly open. In icons that include a tool that floats above a background — such as TextEdit or Xcode — interior shadows can strengthen the perception of depth and make the tool look real. Shadows and highlights should suggest a light source that faces the icon, positioned just above center and tilted slightly downward.

Avoid defining contours that suggest a shape other than a rounded rectangle. In rare cases, you might want to fine-tune the basic app icon shape, but doing so risks creating an icon that looks like it doesn't belong in macOS 11. If you must alter the shape, prefer subtle adjustments that continue to express a rounded rectangle silhouette.

Consider adding a slight glow just inside the edges of your icon. If your app icon includes a dark reflective surface, like glass or metal, add an inner glow to make the icon stand out and prevent it from appearing to dissolve into dark backgrounds.

Ubuntu for mac install. Keep primary content within the icon grid bounding box; keep all content within the outer bounding box. If an icon's primary content extends beyond the icon grid bounding box, it tends to look out of place. If you overlay a tool on your icon, it works well to align the tool's top edge with the outer bounding box and its bottom edge with the inner bounding box, as shown below.

In addition to the bounding boxes and suggested tool placement, the icon design template provides a grid to help you position items within an icon. You can also use the icon grid to ensure that centered inner elements like circles use a size that's consistent with other icons in the system.

App Icon Attributes

All app icons should use the following specifications.

Don't provide app icons in ICNS or JPEG format. The ICNS format doesn't support features like wide color gamut or deliver the performance and efficiency you get when you use asset catalogs. JPEG doesn't support transparency through alpha channels, and its compression can blur or distort an icon's images. For best results, add deinterlaced PNG files to the app icon fields of your Xcode project's asset catalog.

App Icon Sizes

Android on mac. Your app icon is displayed in many places, including in Finder, the Dock, Launchpad, and the App Store. To ensure that your app icon looks great everywhere people see it, provide it in the following sizes:

• 512x512 pt (512x512 px @1x, 1024x1024 px @2x)
• 256x256 pt (256x256 px @1x, 512x512 px @2x)
• 128x128 pt (128x128 px @1x, 256x256 px @2x)
• 32x32 pt (32x32 px @1x, 64x64 px @2x)
• 16x16 pt (16x16 px @1x, 32x32 px @2x)

Maintain visual consistency in all icon sizes. As icon size decreases, fine details become muddy and hard to distinguish. At the smallest sizes, it's important to remove unnecessary features and exaggerate primary features to help the content remain clear. As you simplify icons that are visually smaller, don't let them appear drastically different from their larger counterparts. Strive to make subtle variations that ensure the icon remains visually consistent when displayed in different environments. For example, if people drag your icon between displays with different resolutions, the icon's appearance shouldn't suddenly change.

The 512x512 pt Safari app icon (on the left) uses a circle of tick marks to indicate degrees; the 16x16 pt version of the icon (on the right) doesn't include this detail.

When you download an app on Android or Windows, you get an option, or it automatically creates a shortcut on the home screen or the desktop. On Mac too creating a folder or app shortcut is extremely easy. It hardly requires four clicks. We first make an alias and then move it to the desired location.

You can add shortcuts for folders and apps to the desktop or Dock of your Mac. The first method below is the one I prefer. The second method is also quick, but it at times copies the folder instead of making the shortcut. Anyways, here are two easy ways to create desktop shortcuts on Mac running macOS Catalina.

How to Create Desktop Shortcuts on Mac

Step #1. Decide which folder's or app's desktop shortcut you want to create. Find where the folder is located. If you cannot find it, see the end for instructions.

Diptic for mac. Step #2.Right-click on the folder or app name and click on Make Alias.

Step #3. You will see that a shortcut is immediately created for that folder or app. Press enter key. It has the word alias at the end of the name.

Step #4. Drag this shortcut to your desktop or Dock. You may also copy the shortcut and paste it on the desktop.

This is it!

You have successfully created the desktop shortcut for a folder or app. Now you may quickly use this to open that folder, or launch the app. You may repeat this with as many folders and apps you like.

If you wish, you may select the shortcut, press the enter key, and rename it to remove the word ‘alias.'

Desktop Icons For Mac Osx

Finally, if you wish to see the original folder, right-click on the shortcut icon and click on Show Original.

Note 1: Even if you move the original folder to some other location, the shortcut you created still works. Beautiful! Isn't it.

Note 2: You may use this method to create shortcuts even for files like image, document, zip, music, movie, etc.

Not able to Find the Folder Location?

Finding applications is clear. You click on Finder → Applications, and there you have all your applications. Knowing the location of the Folders you create is also straightforward.

But for some folders, especially system folders like Downloads, Documents, etc. it may be a bit tough to know the path. Here are some ways to know it.

#1. From Sidebar: Launch Finder, place your pointer on the folder name in left Sidebar, and then right-click. Finally, click Show in Enclosing Folder. Now follow the above steps.

#2. Using Path Bar: Be inside Finder and click on View from the menu bar. Now click Show Path Bar. A tab will be added to the bottom of the Finder. It has the location/path for the folder you click or select.

#3. Use Spotlight Search: Launch Spotlight Search by clicking the search icon in menu bar or press Command (⌘) + Space Bar. Now type the folder name and then scroll to the bottom of the search result and click on Show all in Finder… Click on the folder and follow the above steps to make its shortcut.

#4. Use Siri: I do not like Siri on Mac, notably older Macs. Anyways, you may ask Siri on Mac to ‘Show Download Folder' (or any folder) and then go to the bottom of the result and click on Show all results in Finder… Now you may follow the above steps. Please note that this does not always work.

Create Desktop Shortcuts on Mac Using Drag and Drop

The above method is swift and simple. It is the one I prefer. However, there is an additional way to create folder and app shortcuts on Mac.

Consider adding a slight glow just inside the edges of your icon. If your app icon includes a dark reflective surface, like glass or metal, add an inner glow to make the icon stand out and prevent it from appearing to dissolve into dark backgrounds.

Ubuntu for mac install. Keep primary content within the icon grid bounding box; keep all content within the outer bounding box. If an icon's primary content extends beyond the icon grid bounding box, it tends to look out of place. If you overlay a tool on your icon, it works well to align the tool's top edge with the outer bounding box and its bottom edge with the inner bounding box, as shown below.

In addition to the bounding boxes and suggested tool placement, the icon design template provides a grid to help you position items within an icon. You can also use the icon grid to ensure that centered inner elements like circles use a size that's consistent with other icons in the system.

App Icon Attributes

All app icons should use the following specifications.

Don't provide app icons in ICNS or JPEG format. The ICNS format doesn't support features like wide color gamut or deliver the performance and efficiency you get when you use asset catalogs. JPEG doesn't support transparency through alpha channels, and its compression can blur or distort an icon's images. For best results, add deinterlaced PNG files to the app icon fields of your Xcode project's asset catalog.

App Icon Sizes

Android on mac. Your app icon is displayed in many places, including in Finder, the Dock, Launchpad, and the App Store. To ensure that your app icon looks great everywhere people see it, provide it in the following sizes:

• 512x512 pt (512x512 px @1x, 1024x1024 px @2x)
• 256x256 pt (256x256 px @1x, 512x512 px @2x)
• 128x128 pt (128x128 px @1x, 256x256 px @2x)
• 32x32 pt (32x32 px @1x, 64x64 px @2x)
• 16x16 pt (16x16 px @1x, 32x32 px @2x)

Maintain visual consistency in all icon sizes. As icon size decreases, fine details become muddy and hard to distinguish. At the smallest sizes, it's important to remove unnecessary features and exaggerate primary features to help the content remain clear. As you simplify icons that are visually smaller, don't let them appear drastically different from their larger counterparts. Strive to make subtle variations that ensure the icon remains visually consistent when displayed in different environments. For example, if people drag your icon between displays with different resolutions, the icon's appearance shouldn't suddenly change.

The 512x512 pt Safari app icon (on the left) uses a circle of tick marks to indicate degrees; the 16x16 pt version of the icon (on the right) doesn't include this detail.

When you download an app on Android or Windows, you get an option, or it automatically creates a shortcut on the home screen or the desktop. On Mac too creating a folder or app shortcut is extremely easy. It hardly requires four clicks. We first make an alias and then move it to the desired location.

You can add shortcuts for folders and apps to the desktop or Dock of your Mac. The first method below is the one I prefer. The second method is also quick, but it at times copies the folder instead of making the shortcut. Anyways, here are two easy ways to create desktop shortcuts on Mac running macOS Catalina.

How to Create Desktop Shortcuts on Mac

Step #1. Decide which folder's or app's desktop shortcut you want to create. Find where the folder is located. If you cannot find it, see the end for instructions.

Diptic for mac. Step #2.Right-click on the folder or app name and click on Make Alias.

Step #3. You will see that a shortcut is immediately created for that folder or app. Press enter key. It has the word alias at the end of the name.

Step #4. Drag this shortcut to your desktop or Dock. You may also copy the shortcut and paste it on the desktop.

This is it!

You have successfully created the desktop shortcut for a folder or app. Now you may quickly use this to open that folder, or launch the app. You may repeat this with as many folders and apps you like.

If you wish, you may select the shortcut, press the enter key, and rename it to remove the word ‘alias.'

Desktop Icons For Mac Osx

Finally, if you wish to see the original folder, right-click on the shortcut icon and click on Show Original.

Note 1: Even if you move the original folder to some other location, the shortcut you created still works. Beautiful! Isn't it.

Note 2: You may use this method to create shortcuts even for files like image, document, zip, music, movie, etc.

Not able to Find the Folder Location?

Finding applications is clear. You click on Finder → Applications, and there you have all your applications. Knowing the location of the Folders you create is also straightforward.

But for some folders, especially system folders like Downloads, Documents, etc. it may be a bit tough to know the path. Here are some ways to know it.

#1. From Sidebar: Launch Finder, place your pointer on the folder name in left Sidebar, and then right-click. Finally, click Show in Enclosing Folder. Now follow the above steps.

#2. Using Path Bar: Be inside Finder and click on View from the menu bar. Now click Show Path Bar. A tab will be added to the bottom of the Finder. It has the location/path for the folder you click or select.

#3. Use Spotlight Search: Launch Spotlight Search by clicking the search icon in menu bar or press Command (⌘) + Space Bar. Now type the folder name and then scroll to the bottom of the search result and click on Show all in Finder… Click on the folder and follow the above steps to make its shortcut.

#4. Use Siri: I do not like Siri on Mac, notably older Macs. Anyways, you may ask Siri on Mac to ‘Show Download Folder' (or any folder) and then go to the bottom of the result and click on Show all results in Finder… Now you may follow the above steps. Please note that this does not always work.

Create Desktop Shortcuts on Mac Using Drag and Drop

The above method is swift and simple. It is the one I prefer. However, there is an additional way to create folder and app shortcuts on Mac.

Step #1. Be at the location of the folder or app you want to create the shortcut of.

Step #2. Press and hold Option (⌥) + Command (⌘) key together. Do not leave the hold. Now click on the folder or app and drag it to the desktop.

Note: When you use this method, there are chances that you may unwillingly and unknowingly copy or move the folder instead of making its shortcut. Don't worry. Press Command (⌘) + Z to undo and try again, or use the first method.

Add Folder Shortcuts to Dock on Mac

Desktop Icon Size Mac Os

I recently wrote a post where I explained how to add website shortcuts to Dock on Mac. It is an interesting article. Similarly, you may add shortcuts to your Dock too.

Follow any of the above methods and make the shortcut of the folder or app (you may directly add an app to Dock, but anyway). Now drag that shortcut from Desktop to the rightmost part of Dock (Second left to the Trash icon).

Wrapping up…

These were two easy ways to create shortcut icons on Mac. There is a third method that I know of, which requires Terminal and some command lines. However, it is tricky and beyond the simplicity of the average user. Also, if you change the folder location, the shortcut stops working. So I did not mention this method.

Secondly, on Macs running OS versions before Catalina, you may also click on a Folder or App and then press together Command (⌘) + L. It will instantly make the alias. It works on my old MacBook Pro running macOS Sierra, but on a different MacBook Pro running the latest version of macOS Catalina, this quick method does not seem to work.

Free Desktop Icons For Mac Os X

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What are your thoughts regarding shortcuts on Mac? Have you used it on Windows? How was the experience there? Share your opinion in the comment section below.

Free Mac Desktop Icons

Suraj is a digital marketing expert on the iGB's team. He contributes to the social media section along with tips and tricks for iPhone, Apple Watch. Apart from blogging, he likes to work out as much as he can in his gym and love to listening to retro music.

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