Style
GNOME uses a soft, three-dimensional look. This style is achieved by using antialiasing, shading and highlighting techniques. The Gnome Icons tutorial details how one of GNOME's leading artists creates some of these effects.
Components of an icon style can be broken down into several categories such as perspective, dimentionality, lighting effects and palette. These components play an important part in giving a group of icons a collectively distinctive look. For instance, the Java Look and Feel is recognizable by its use of a primary eight-color palette, interior highlighting and diagonal gradients. The Macintosh Aqua style is recognizable by its use of a cool palette based on blue, lighting effects mimicking reflectivity and antialiasing. The GNOME style exhibits a subdued thirty-two color palette, soft drop shadows and a mix between cartoonish and photorealistic graphics.
| Java Metal | MacOS/X Aqua | GNOME |
|---|---|---|
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- 9.1.1. Perspective
- 9.1.2. Lighting
- 9.1.3. Palette
9.1.1. Perspective
Presents objects as if they were sitting on a table or desk in front of the user.
Presents objects as if they were propped up on a shelf at eye level. Make it look like a police line-up.
9.1.2. Lighting
Design as if there is lighting coming from the upper left corner, with a soft drop-shadow cast within the icon's 48x48 (original design size) borders (120 degrees, 4 pixel distance, 4 pixel blur).
Design as if there is a light source placed above the "camera", casting a shadow down.
9.1.3. Palette
Icons should use colors based on the basic thirty-two color palette, darkening or lightening the colours to achieve the desired look. See Section 8.1.1 ― Palette