Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Macintosh HD Gets a New Look in Latest macOS Tahoe Beta

Normally I wouldn't care about this kind of thing, but it really loses a bit of character to ditch the HDD. I liked the old wire frame trash can better than the new plastic one, too. I get that it doesn't really make sense to keep the HDD logo around since Macs are all SSD now, but too much of the new stuff just seems so bland and sterile. I'm not saying bring back wood paneling on the sides of windows or crazy stuff like that, but why not keep a few quirky old-school vibes around for fun?
 
  • Like
Reactions: jjrtiger, jwdsail, NetMage and 10 others
nickbatz said:
You can open Get Info and paste in your own icons for anything. That may even have been in System 7, but it's been in OS X and now macOS all along.
Click to expand...
I customized the hard drive icon in my Performa 6400, so this was definitely possible in System 7.5.3, and I'm sure earlier versions had the ability as well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jwdsail
Apple Knowledge Navigator said:
So they make a soggy 'glass' envelope for the Mail.app, but the disk icon is aluminium? Makes sense.
Click to expand...
Hey man, Fiver is hard to get the same artist sometimes, give us a break. We spent like, $1,500 so far on icons. We aren’t made of money!!

—Apple, 2025

In all seriousness, all the new icons and general artwork has been abysmal in terms of both technical skill and overall artistic flair. This is the company that made the Pages icons circa 2008. Even flat design when the gears shifted, they refined all the way up to iOS 13. It felt warm and efficient. But they worked it to be their own.

In 2025, Apple has fallen so far behind that their art is intern level, barely. And their code feels like spaghetti. Bugs are everywhere and I’m not just talking apps but deep systemic bugs in the OS like inability to tap some elements on touch, to features being broken for years (it’s 2 years since the macOS SS bug and 3 years since the share sheet on iOS works thru Safari, to name a couple). OS 26 has just added a boatload more bugs on an already buckling framework. We are in B5 and I’m seeing even more coming in. Zero fixes. They even broke the lock screen wallpaper overlay in landscape on iPadOS, which worked briefly in B2.

That’s not even touching AI (which Apple has been systematically plugging in with horrendous results), Apple has all but lost the plot and have relegated their software divisions to an annex on campus. I wonder if they are even 1 tenth of what Apple Marketing is. Especially after loosing a ton of real talent over COVID.

I don’t know who is at the helm OKing these design changes but for their own good, and everyone else’s, they need to be stopped.
 
  • Like
  • Love
  • Haha
Reactions: Tim Apple’s Glasses, chickenpiccata, NetMage and 12 others
anthony131 said:
The top, front, and logo are all different perspectives. It’s glaringly obvious and they don’t even have enough QC to fix this simple flaw.
This might actually be Ai generated.
Click to expand...
If we give Apple some benefit of doubt, we could think that maybe this is just a placeholder icon that was hurriedly designed for the purpose of the beta and that they are planning to hire an actual graphic designer (or, maybe at least an intern) to design something a little more polished for the RC.
 
  • Like
Reactions: now i see it
That ancient 3.5" HDD icon is a weird anachronism at this point. It's been a few years since the last Mac with an HDD shipped, and they were being phased out 10 years ago. The new one looks quite janky, though, and I also wonder if it's a placeholder.

FWIW this is the icon I've been pasting in for quite a few years now. I no longer remember where I got it or who designed it but I like it a lot:

Mac Classic illustration.png
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Love
  • Haha
Reactions: brownbird, navaira, jwdsail and 12 others
GrassShark said:
I get that Macs don’t ship with spinning drives anymore, but at least that icon was somewhat explanatory of what it was. This new generic Apple block means nothing.

I’m genuinely concerned for Apple’s design abilities. They keep making unforced errors.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I was hoping it’d look like a M.2 SSD, but I am very nerdy so maybe normies would be confused.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tomchr9 and ignatius345
Return Zero said:
Normally I wouldn't care about this kind of thing, but it really loses a bit of character to ditch the HDD. I liked the old wire frame trash can better than the new plastic one, too. I get that it doesn't really make sense to keep the HDD logo around since Macs are all SSD now, but too much of the new stuff just seems so bland and sterile. I'm not saying bring back wood paneling on the sides of windows or crazy stuff like that, but why not keep a few quirky old-school vibes around for fun?
Click to expand...
The old HD icon probably left some young folks befuddled.
 
  • Like
  • Angry
Reactions: Shirasaki, blob.DK, matsan and 2 others
antonrg said:
I'm not even updating my Mac to this OS. The whole aesthetic is just a mess. It makes no sense, especially the Finder.
Click to expand...
Exactly. Plus the size of the UI elements is just wrong. It looks like you are running the display at a lower resolution, it’s like using a Fischer price computer.
I honestly don’t know what’s going on at Apple, they can’t even do design anymore.
But unfortunately until people keep buying iPhones and they get revenue growth year over year, they won’t get the wake up call they need.
 
  • Like
Reactions: maxoakland, turbineseaplane, antonrg and 1 other person
iZac said:
Long live System 7!

View attachment 2534770

So I much prefer the new icon, but I'm not sure about it having no perspective though.
Click to expand...
Yes, the perspective doesn’t make sense.

For comparison, why are we now looking at the Trash icon from a more side-on perspective (as you would, with it on the ground), yet the Drive icon is ‘stood up’ vertically rather than being a ‘sat down’ perspective, as per OS 9?

1754425544349.gif


Too many Chiefs and not enough Indians at the Loop
 
  • Like
Reactions: NetMage, iZac and aperfectcircle
mxrider88 said:
Exactly. Plus the size of the UI elements is just wrong. It looks like you are running the display at a lower resolution, it’s like using a Fischer price computer.
I honestly don’t know what’s going on at Apple, they can’t even do design anymore.
But unfortunately until people keep buying iPhones and they get revenue growth year over year, they won’t get the wake up call they need.
Click to expand...
It's a mess that doesn't make sense. It feels like they have hired some inexperienced designers and let them run free with their "quirky and cool" ideas.
 
  • Like
Reactions: maxoakland, NetMage, Mr.Ben and 1 other person
GrassShark said:
I get that Macs don’t ship with spinning drives anymore, but at least that icon was somewhat explanatory of what it was. This new generic Apple block means nothing.

I’m genuinely concerned for Apple’s design abilities. They keep making unforced errors.
Click to expand...
I’d be 99% of users had no idea what the old icon was.
 
  • Like
Reactions: KENESS and chrfr
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back