Theming Linux desktop environments like an artist

You know, one of the best things about Linux is the possibility of customization. You can effectively change everything of the operating system: the only limit is your fantasy.

Compared to closed systems like macOS or Windows, Linux is completely customizable without any effort, you don’t have to hack anything, it’s all open and available to be modified, improved, reinterpreted.

macOS Mojave like theme which supports GTK 3 and GTK 2 based desktop environments
macOS Mojave like theme which supports GTK 3 and GTK 2 based desktop environments

From this point of view, Linux is truly magical, fun and educational. Getting your hands dirty to adapt the system completely to your needs, you learn and study effortlessly, you acquire skills and professionalism.

Leaving aside the more technical and profound aspects of the operating system, the first thing to put your hands on when you switch to Linux is the aesthetic aspect. You can hardly find a user who has left their graphical environment on Linux completely in a vanilla (or stock, if you prefer) version.

Tela | A flat colorful Design icon theme
 for all popular desktops
Tela | A flat colorful Design icon theme
for all popular desktops

The list of graphical environments available on Linux is almost infinite, each of them allows complete customization without too much effort, it will be enough for you to read the official documentation to understand where to start to get your hands. Having said that, considering some of the most widespread DEs, KDE and Xfce allow ‘out of the box’ to modify everything, while on GNOME you will need specific applications and extensions.

Ok, the possibilities are endless but if you’re not an artist, where can you start?

You can rely on a true artist and the open-source world is a real continuous flourishing of new and talented artists. The best places to find themes and resources to customize your desktops arethe websites like GNOME-Look, Xfce-look and KDE Store.

The complete themes or the single resources available are really infinite, the possible choices are untold and there is also a famous Reddit community, called Unix Porn, dedicated to the *NIX desktops and themes. We understand if you feel almost overwhelmed. For these reasons, we want to recommend a particular artist: Vince Liuice, designer and Linuxer from Jinan, China. A truly opensource artist that creates GTK3 Themes, Global Themes, KDE Themes, icons, and wallpapers.

Layan is a flat Material Design theme for GTK 3, GTK 2 and Gnome-Shell
Layan is a flat Material Design theme for GTK 3, GTK 2 and Gnome-Shell

Vince’s works are of excellent quality, above average, and it is really nice to use those creations. Moreover, the productions are equipped with installers so as to facilitate the process of customization of your graphic environment on Linux.

Among Vince many works, we would like to point out these: McMojave Plasma and McMojave-circle to transform your KDE desktop in a cozy macOS system; Tela grub theme, a colorful flat theme for GRUB with 4K display support; ChromeOS GTK Theme, ChromeOS Shell Theme and Tela Icon Theme to give to your GNOME desktop the look and feel of Google ChromeOS; and Layan GTK Theme, a flat Material Design theme that push you in the future of the desktop.

Vince Liuice references:

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