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Icons

These icons, many of which are a precursor of what you’ll see when you open the application, use a straight-on perspective (rather than the “on a desktop” user application style). You never see the Calculator on screen in three dimensions, for example, so its icon doesn’t depict it that way.

Utility Icons

Icons for utility applications—which are used less often and not simply for fun or creative activities— convey a more serious tone than those for user applications. Color in these icons is desaturated, predominantly gray, and added only when necessary to clearly communicate what the applications do.

Figure 11-9 Discriminating use of color in the Process Viewer and Print Center icons

Because utility applications are normally focused on a narrow set of tasks, it’s best to keep the number of elements in the icon to a minimum. The focus should be a single object that represents what the utility does. The perspective of utility icons is straight-on, as if they are on a shelf in front of you. For more information, see “Icon Perspectives and Materials” (page 213).

Non-Application Icons

Document Icons

Traditionally, a document icon looks like a piece of paper with its top-right corner folded down. As previously suggested, Aqua document icons should make it obvious which application they are associated with. Preview documents, for

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Icons

example, include a graphic of the media (the pictures) used in the application icon. For simplicity and to avoid confusing the document with the application itself, the viewing tool is not repeated in the document icon.

Figure 11-10 Icons for the Preview application and a Preview document

Document icons are presented as if they are hovering on the desktop, with the shadow behind the document. For more information, see “Icon Perspectives and Materials” (page 213).

In cases where you want to put an identifying badge over a document icon, treat the badge as an integrated element within the document, instead of putting it over the top of the base image and breaking out of the overall document shape.

Figure 11-11 Incorrect and correct badging of a document icon

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Icons

Icons for Preferences and Plug-ins

The files that store user preferences are identified by a light switch on the left side.

Figure 11-12 Icons for a preferences application (System Preferences) and for a file that stores preferences (for the iTunes application)

Plug-in icons look like stackable components, with the associated application identifier on the left side and a plug-in–specific image on the right.

Figure 11-13 A plug-in icon

Icons for Hardware and Removable Media

Hardware icons represent devices as you most often see them: on your desk. Because these devices are also frequently handled and carried, people are familiar with them as three-dimensional objects with weight. The Aqua treatment of hardware icons reinforces their association with real objects.

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Figure 11-14 Icons for external (top row) and internal hardware devices

To help users distinguish between external devices, their icons provide a region for an identifying symbol (FireWire, SCSI, and so on).

Removable media such as CDs, floppy disks, and PC cards are depicted the way they look when you hold them in front of you—that is, the perspective is straight on.

Figure 11-15 Icons for removable media

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