Windows 11 (and indeed many Microsoft products) now use the ‘Fluent’ design system — but you don’t have to switch to Windows or enter its ecosystem to enjoy it.
Prolific Linux design champ Vince Liuice — his portfolio is impressive — has made an icon set for Linux desktops that draws inspiration from Redmond’s new acrylic aesthetic.
The result is Fluent, a Linux icon set that looks unlike anything else. It won’t appeal to everyone but, yto my mind, offers an interesting alternative to the dominant 2D, flat, Android-y icon sets we’re all familiar with.
Fluent uses layering, opacity, colour, and shadow to generate glyphs that remain recognisable but also have a somewhat physical look thanks to the use of dimension and material.
Fluent’s icon coverage isn’t as expansive as the Papirus icon set (no surprise; Papirus has been around for years). Still, all Ubuntu core apps (ones not installed as snaps) get restyled Fluent icons, as do lots of 3rd-party apps (though again, not snap apps).
I particularly like this theme’s symbolic icons. These line-art pictographs perfectly compliment the fuller, richer, and more colourful icons used for apps. Fluent offers two symbolic styles: regular and rounded.
Fluent’s symbolic icons also look sharper to my eyes than those in Yaru and Adwaita, and against a lighter background (yes, light themes still exist 🤭) these look especially effective.
Here’s a screenshot from my desktop (which uses Dash to Dock and Arc Menu extensions and Vince Liuice’s WIP ‘Colloid’ GTK and Shell theme) to demonstrate how well the thin symbolic icons vibes with the full acrylic ones:
On to the “controversy” aspect.
Some Linux users will find an icon set inspired (however interpretively) from a proprietary OS a total no-no. GTK themes and icon packs that mimic the look of Windows, Android, iOS, etc do divide opinion.
However, I want to emphasis that I’m not here to tell you what you should or shouldn’t be using. Me writing a post about anything isn’t the same as me saying “you MUST use it”. I surface options. You choose whether to use them.
If a Windows icon set is not for you there are other great icon sets for Linux to pick from. Just keep in mind that not everyone is partisan about their eye candy, and some find that familiar icons, themes, and layouts help them to adapt to using open-source technologies.
Download Fluent Icon Set for Linux
You can download the Fluent icon theme from GitHub.
Getting it from GitHub means you always have the most recent version. Plus, the .zip download comes with an installer script you can run to install it (while handy don’t run random scripts blindly; always give them a quick read through to check what they do).
Finally, don’t forget to install the Tweaks tool. You’ll need to use this to change icon theme on Ubuntu.
If you give Fluent a go do share your thoughts in the comments. I’m interested to know how well the set works with non-GNOME desktops.