Create a custom look

2 min read

For when you’re bored of staring at the same old Mac desktop and icons

REQUIRES

macOS 10.14 or later, an art or icon–creation app (optional)

YOU WILL LEARN

How to make your Mac uniquely your own

IT WILL TAKE

30 minutes

MANY MAC USERS stick with the default macOS desktop and icons but you don’t have to! Instead, you can get stuck in and give your system a visual overhaul that will make the desktop stand apart from other Macs. There are loads of things you can do and they’re all relatively simple. It’s even possible to give your machine a regular fresh look —choose an aerial wallpaper, for instance, and you can shuffle through them as quickly as every 12 hours.

With custom color schemes, alterations to the Dock and an ability to swap out default file and folder icons for new ones, you can really dive deep. It’s also possible to alter how individual apps look when operating in Dark Mode so why not delve into Mail’s settings and play around with the fonts and colors or use a light background for Notes?

You can also go into the Notification Center and drag widgets to your desktop to further put your stamp on your Mac.

HOW TO Change the overall appearance of your Mac

1 Custom wallpapers

Changing the desktop image makes a big impact. Go to Apple menu > System Settings > Wallpaper and browse the built–in pictures or solid colors. You can also choose your own: select Add Photo, or Add Folder or Album.

2 Fine–tune

The latter lets you pick images from Photos or any Mac folder. Select how they’ll appear and how often (login, wake–up or from every five seconds to every day). Activate Show On All Spaces to use images across desktops.

3 Alter system colors

Select Appearance in System Settings and you can change the accent color, affecting how buttons, icons and menus appear. You can also choose a different highlight color — this changes the color of highlighted text.

HOW TO Customize files and folders

Individual folders can have different backgrounds. Launch Finder, open a folder and go to View > Icons then View > Show View Options. Select Color and make your choice. Or Select Picture and drag an image to the box.