The 1988 movie was god-awful or wonderful, in that god-awful sort of way depending on who you ask. Blob 2.0 Snow Leopard is an entirely more pleasant experience, and a sequel of sorts to the equally wonderful Blob Interface, both by Martin Lexow. This release includes icons for an astonishing 105 different applications for those of you who like a little uniformity in their Dock.
Cyril Seillet has been working on an iconset for a long time. It’s pretty, it’s detailed, and it’s been slowly revealed— icon by icon— since the middle of March. Now that it’s nearly August, Seillet has released NOD2, a stunning iconset comprised of silver hard disks, hyper-detailed folders, and glowing blue highlights. He admits that some icons are currently missing (coming soon in an update), but as far as the current offering goes, I’d easily place it in the top tier of “high technology” system icons. NOD2 is available on deviantART, and I highly recommend watching the page until it becomes complete enough to apply to OS X (and so we can stop just staring at them in awe).
From Homer Simpson to the greek poet Homer, no one could deny the sweet, indulging, unapologetically unhealthy beauty that is a donut. They come in a multitude of flavors to suit whatever your palette, and now they can also adorn your dock. So have at them, courtesy of Louis Harboe, who is clearly on a streak of inspiration. I expect we’ll see equally fantastic renditions of tires, the letter O, or perhaps even a life saver candy. The download is a bit massive but includes more donuts than my local Krispy Kreme. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go buy a donut now.
Useful? Debatable. Stylish? I say yes. Though most computers have very little need for personal flotation devices, when used elsewhere it can give an app like the Help Viewer a bit of cosmetic pizazz. Louis Harboe’s beautiful Life Saver icons are detailed, colorful, and well-supplied; a five-color set of pixelified PFDs to strengthen your Dock’s aesthetic appeal. The work is available on deviantART, and is quite easily the safest icon you’ll probably ever download.
Adobe really screwed the pooch on the icons for CS3. Few apps have had so many people feel the need to create improved versions. Some are attempts to “fix” the Adobe-designed icons and others a throw back to a previous generation of icons based on sea shells, butterflies, flowers and feathers. In either case, most were somewhat familiar; now for something completely different. Alejandro Lopez of Dimension of Deskmod apologetically released his Adobe Folders icons onto our forums. To his credit, the icons are not only different and stylish, but clever enough that some are already asking for a complete set. Make that +1.
In another bid to prove my theory that we’ve got a classy bunch of forum contributors, I bring you Pinstripes by LionHart. In naming alone both the author and the resulting wallpaper ooze class. These are pinstripes that would please the most demanding of client; from a Old Scicilian Mafia Don to a Savile Road tailor. Big Shot to Big Pimpin’. MacThemes reader or writer. Available in the forums or deviantART.
The green revolution is in full swing. Incandescent light bulbs are gone, trash requires quite a few different bins, and, if I could afford it, I’d drive a Prius— but I can’t, so I own a bike. The only remaining obstacle is what to do about these damn environmentally un-friendly hard drive icons. Jonas’ “Summer Drives”, for example, don’t look very biodegradable. I’d sort of resigned myself to maybe buying carbon credits until I came across Box Drive by spiralstairs. His icon is made from 100% recycled material: clean and simple icons that come in 7 different colors.
When modding the Dock in Leopard became possible I was excited at what I imagined were the possibilities. It soon became clear though that there is only so much you can do with so few pixels, and so a myriad of beautiful but not terribly different Leopard docks were released. Most of them are tweaked versions of dark black, metal, or glass dock designs— with a few notable exceptions. Alu Curved 3D is one such exception. Simply put, it surprises; its subtle downward curve gives it a sense of being anchored to the screen instead of floating, something different to hold all those pretty dock icons.