Chris Barnett | GD252 Blog

Custom Icons

// May 1st, 2009 // Graphic Design, Tutorials

My Macbook Pro is anything but stock. In addition to cool apps that make my workflow more efficient I have customized most of the icons on my system. Everything from folders to external hard drives. It really gives the interface a cool, unique look. My favorites are the ones that I see in my dock.

Custom icons are no secret. I found the set I use on my computer called Litho at the Iconfactory. It is a free set of downloads including a standard system set and there are now 5 additional sets for other various applications.

How to Replace System Defaults

You can go about this a couple different ways. First I’ll explain the teadious, boring way of switching over to a slick new set of icons. This technique can be effective if you only want to change a handful of icons.

First, get the info for the icon you wish to use to customize the look of your application. To do this select the icon in the Finder window and press command + I.

Do the same for the application you want to replace the icon for by going to the Applications folder, finding the application, and again pressing command + I.

Next, it is just a matter of copying and pasting the new, custom icon over the old, default one. To do this click on the new icon in the top left of the “get info” window. This will highlight the icon in blue. Press command + C to copy that icon. Then switch over to the “get info” window for the default icon and click on it. Then press command + V. That’s it, the icon will be replaced with a new, cool look!

Now just do that for the other hundreds of icons you might want to replace on your computer. Yeah right! This is where Candy Bar comes in. Candy Bar lets you collect, organize, and change Mac OS icons and works well with the Iconfactory’s download options. When downloading an icon set you have to option to chooce from a Mac, Windows and an iContainer download. iContainers are the files that Candy Bar uses to help you implement your new icons. I managed to get all the icons on my entire computer switched during the free trial period of Candy Bar. This app is such a life saver because it lets you change a big batch of icons with just one click. It also supports a cool drag and drop feature to avoid copying and pasteing. Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial, show come comment love!