Sorry, macOS Tahoe Beta 2 Still Does the Finder Icon Dirty

The author celebrates Apple's update to the Finder icon in macOS Tahoe Developer Beta 2. The initial design, with dark blue on the right, was deemed unacceptable, breaking with 30 years of tradition. The updated icon now features the classic blue background and white glassy material on the right, a significant improvement in the author's eyes. While some, like John Siracusa, desire a more rounded design reminiscent of macOS Sequoia, with the lighter color extending fully to the edges, the author finds the current iteration satisfactory. He believes it integrates well with the Tahoe dock. The author proudly claims that his initial, highly-popular blog post about the problematic icon design reached many, including Apple employees, leading to the change. He considers this a victory for the Mac community, blogging, and personal advocacy.

A Hacker News thread discusses the macOS Tahoe Beta 2 Finder icon. The submitted title, "Sorry, macOS Tahoe Beta 2 Still Does the Finder Icon Dirty," doesn't match the actual article on 512pixels.net, which claims the beta *fixes* the icon. Users clarified the discrepancy arose because the original submission was likely referencing a post on Daring Fireball that linked to the 512 Pixels article with the contrasting title. Commenters generally expressed mixed feelings about the Finder icon changes. While some are glad Apple addressed the color issue, others dislike the trend of shrinking the images within the icons, feeling it's an unnecessary stylistic choice that potentially impacts usability. Overall sentiment leans towards grudging acceptance of the compromised design.

If you missed my previous post on the topic, the first version of Tahoe had the dark blue on the right side of the Finder icon, which was criminal.

Our 14-day national nightmare is over. As of Developer Beta 2, the Finder icon in macOS Tahoe has been updated to reflect 30 years of tradition:

Fixed Finder

Now, the background material is blue, with the face on the right side of the icon using a white glassy material. I think this looks pretty good:

Beta 2 Finder Detail

I know some folks (cough, cough, John Siracusa, cough) want Apple to go even further and make the lighter color on the right extend all the way to the edges of the the icon, which would look something like this very rough mockup I did in just a few minutes:

John's Finder

I can understand that, and the desire for the line between the two halves of the icon to be more rounded as it is in macOS Sequoia. However, Apple’s current Finder icon works well for me, and it fits in nicely with the rest of the Dock^{on my Tahoe test machine:}

Tahoe Dock

Apple heard my feedback as it echoed around the Apple world and acted upon it, and I’m thankful for that. I’m going to count this as a win for the Mac, for blogging, and for myself personally. That original blog post is the most-read thing on 512 Pixels in years. It clearly hit a nerve with a lot of folks, including people inside Apple.

Mission accomplished.