MacLife - USA (2019-09)

Use text

Launch Image2Icon, and click

the Aa button to open the text pop–up.

It will load an example you can then

edit. Type a word, adjust its typeface,

color, alignment, and size to suit. Click

OK when you’re done.

Make adjustments

Your text will appear centrally

within your icon. Click the sliders

button and use the drag handles to

adjust the offset, zoom, and rotation.

Then click the color well to select a

background shade.

Apply to a folder

To apply your creation to an

item in Finder, drag it into Image2Icon’s

main workspace. The folder or

document’s icon will be instantly

updated. (Note that this change can

be reversed — see “Remove an icon”.)

STORE A LOAD of folders in

the Dock and you hit a snag:

they almost all look identical.

Outside of Apple’s special

folders, like Applications and Downloads,

you’ll see a row of blue. Telling folders

apart requires you hold the cursor over

them to see name pop–ups.

Even when browsing in Finder, the

problem persists to some degree, because

it’s easier to spot something visually

unique than to scan possibly dozens of

names in tiny text. The way around this is

Create custom icons

Use Image2Icon to design icons that let you instantly tell folders apart

to customize your icons — something

that Image2Icon (img2icnsapp.com)

makes extremely simple.

This tutorial outlines how the app

works. Do be mindful of one pitfall,

though — click the top-left arrow button

at any point and Image2Icon will return

to its initial state, wiping out your work.

Similarly, if you’re creating a text–based

icon and click the Aa button, adjustments

made to your text will be removed.

There’s no undo with these, so take care

when editing! CRAIG GRANNELL

REQUIRES

Image2Icon, and any

image files you’d like to

use for your icons

YOU WILL LEARN

How to use Image2Icon to

create personalized icons

IT WILL TAKE

30 minutes

HOW TO Create a custom icon

Create

84 SEP 2019 maclife.com All image rights: Shiny Frog.