Rockstar Icon Designer - Kate McInnes [4]
1997 Macintosh OS 8
Mac OS 8 was built using technologies developed for the failed Copland OS and was one of the most significant upgrades to the Mac OS at the time. Bridging a six-year gap in Apple's major release schedule, OS 8 was built as a faster, better looking, modern OS for the Apple Computer. Mac OS 8 was also one of the top selling software titles released by Apple with 1.2 million copies sold within the first 2 weeks of its release[7]. In Mac OS 8 the icons are brighter and rendered to show a strong light source. Macintosh also starts to implement an isometric style with a strong drop shadow effect.
Bright saturated icons are introduced to Macintosh OS8.
1997 - 2001 BeOS
Founded by former Apple Computer executive Jean-Louis Gassée, Be Inc. produced both the BeBox personal computer and BeOS Operating System. Released as a competitor to Mac OS and Windows, BeOS was marketed as a platform for multimedia desktop use. BeOS originally ran on AT&T Hobbit processors and was modified to run on PowerMac and Pentium processors. As a major contender to be the new Mac OS after Apple discontinued the Copland project, BeOS was passed up at the last minute for Steve Jobs and NeXT's OPENSTEP OS. Showing remarkable potential to become a key player in the OS market, Be Inc. ran into several roadblocks, one of which being Microsoft's near monopoly of the PC space, and eventually sold all Be Inc. copyrights to Smartphone manufacturer Palm Inc. in 2001. A modern offshoot of BeOS is Haiku, a free open-source operating system that began development in 2001 when BeOS was discontinued. The aim of Haiku is to support the BeOS user community and continue to build on the core features of the BeOS system.
The icons in BeOS are built from a unique grid structure based on 45 degree lines along the front face of the icon and a 26.565 degree (often called "fake isometric") line across the side. With their bold black outlines and brightly colored designs, the BeOS icons work together to visually reinforce the BeOS visual identity. The one drawback with the BeOS icons is the confusing mix of elements and metaphors, but this may have been to avoid any complaints from Apple or Microsoft that the designs we're infringing copyright. Regardless of the few confusing designs, the BeOS icons remain popular within the design community and stand alongside the Apple Lisa and Xerox Alto as one of the best examples of unique icon design.
The style of BeOS stands out as an example of unique icon design.
2001 Mac OS X v10.0
Mac OS X v10.0 signified a complete overhaul in the look and feel of the Macintosh operating system. Although the interface itself was a welcome update to previous designs, the rendering power required for the various effects and UI animations caused the interface response time to lag, which drew early criticism from the Apple community. Designed around the new Aqua theme, icons show complex reflections, highlights and textures. In a Macworld Keynote Speech in 2000, Steve Jobs unveiled the Aqua UI. In a (somewhat intense) mission statement, Jobs described Aqua's design as a user experience that people wanted to "lick.” Apple put considerable thought and research into user experience and began to move towards a new era of consumer software and hardware. OS X was designed and marketed as the "Dream UI" for non-computer users and employed the use of animated feedback and streamlined file viewing to "enchant" people. This amazing leap forward for the User Interface also signified the beginning of modern icon design.
The icons in Mac OS X are semi-realistic with a thorough use of glossy effects and drop shadows. Helped by the new rendering size of 128 x 128 pixels and 8-bit transparency, the detail is significantly higher than in previous designs. Mac OS X also introduced new viewing guidelines, "sitting on a desk" for Application icons, "sitting on a shelf" for Utility Icons and "straight-on" for Toolbar Icons. Although the interface has undergone some changes since the first Mac OS, the icons themselves have