retrofy your iPhone with ben vessey's pixel perfect mac OS '84 inspired icons

london-based digital product designer, ben vessey, shares his retro redesign of well-known app icons. inspired by iconography from early apple computers, vessey has lovingly reimagined 110 icons using old school techniques to create this pixely iOS 14 icon and wallpaper set for iPhone.

images courtesy of ben vessey

the designer, who describes himself as ‘obsessed with simplicity’, explains his idea behind the project, ‘back in 2012, I created ‘mac OS (old school)’ – a similar theme for retrofying your desktop or laptop. I was tired of the current trend of making icons ‘shiny’ and figured it would be a really interesting project to design modern icons in the style of mac OS ’84. the project proved popular, receiving lots of publicity, praise, and more than 100,000 downloads. when I heard about the shortcuts feature in iOS 14 and what it enabled, it was a logical progression to apply the same retro aesthetic to the iPhone!’

vessey gives the iPhone a retro-chic aesthetic

the set is available in dark and light themes and six monochromatic wallpapers, allowing you to create a unique, and beautifully simple, home screen. to buy the theme and see the list of included icons, you can check out vessey’s website here. 

more than 100 app icons have been reimagined and lovingly handcrafted using early techniques

iOS old school is inspired by iconography from early apple computers

dark and light themes and six monochromatic wallpapers allow you to create a truly unique home screen

project info:

name: iOS (old school)
design: ben vessey

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lynne myers | designboom