Those longing for the days of a retro looking Apple device now have a way to satiate their wants. Artist Ben Vessey has created an Old School icon and wallpaper set to retrofy your computer to the classic and pixelated look of an ’84-style Macintosh.
Ben Vessey Creates Retro Mac Look
In a press release, Vessey looks to Susan Kare’s pioneering pixel art. When the original Macintosh first came to store shelves in January of 1984, it was Kare’s art that helped give the Macintosh both charm and personality. Now, Vessey has adopted that style through similar methods of creation, resulting in a look that blends the future with the past.
Vessey’s latest projects looks to bring back the charm and delight of this nostalgic aesthetic. The OS (Old School) project is a set of 166 retro icons as well as five dynamic wallpapers. Both light and dark themes are available. Each icon in the set has been hand-crafted to suit the retro look of a classic Macintosh. The OS retro set gives Apple fans a trip back in time to the more pixelated world of computing.
In addition to creating this retro looking icon set, Vessey also launched the iOS (Old School) theme for iPhone. With the project originating in 2012, Vessey stated:
I first launched the project a decade ago, with a 20 icon pack. The project proved popular, receiving lots of publicity, praise, and downloads. It’s been a long overdue update, and I’ve finally been able to maximize its potential by adding more than one hundred extra icons, creating dark and light themes, and including dynamic wallpapers. It’s been a real labour of love, but a fun one!
How to Get the Old School Icons
The OS (Old School) icon sets are available as a free sample pack with 10 icons in the light theme. For $7.39, users can receive the complete set of 166 icons, dark and light themes and five dynamic wallpapers. For those that want the full throwback GUI experience, a ‘Gold’ option is available that includes five custom icons of the user’s choice.
Furthermore, Windows fans can also give their machine a retro Mac look, as ICO files and static wallpapers are included in the download.
The perfect pairing for this project would of course be the latest Mac Studio. What better way to combine a retro Mac look with bleeding edge tech?
For those interested, you can purchase the theme here.
Ben Vessey is a designer working at the intersection of art, design and technology. Based in Bristol, UK. Obsessed with simplicity. Designs for delight,
How about a flying toasters screensaver? 😀
Man, if only! I’d be totally into it!