GNOME 3.32 will redesign big app icon

The GNOME 3.32 desktop environment, which will be released in mid-March, will receive a number of improvements to the default apps, wallpapers, and core components while enabling a more “radical new icon style.” Today GNOME designer Jakub Steiner posted a personal blog saying that the GNOME 3.32 desktop environment will enable a new icon style.

Jakub Steiner wrote, “Just as Builder is about providing a seamless development workflow, and Flatpak is about enabling direct distribution, this initiative is about making good icons more attainable for more apps.”

The new icon style will include several components – “a grid, a set of recommended base shapes, and a new color palette“, making it easy for newcomers to design icons for the GNOME ecosystem. The Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) also updated more details on how to design app icons.

With the upcoming redesigned icon style, Jakub Steiner has launched a new app called Icon Preview. Developed by Zander Brown, the app promises to make the design icon flow faster and smoother with quick templates. Icon Preview also allows you to export icons to SVG format for use in your application. Jakub Steiner said he welcomes graphic designers who want to contribute to GNOME’s new icon style to join the team.