BlackBerry 7 theme icons and indicators

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The BlackBerry 7 theme icons use a simple line form that maintains a 2-D orthographic view. In BlackBerry 7, the icons retain the silhouette of the BlackBerry 6 theme icons. What's new is the beautiful, realistic lighting as well as more vibrant, eye-catching colors and a greater sense of depth to the icons.

Indicators are 2-D objects that appear straight on. You can include indicators in the banner, title bar, or in applications (for example, message indicators in a message list).

To find the meaning of a specific icon, see the Icon Guide that matches your version of BlackBerry Device Software.

Best practice: Designing icons and indicators for the BlackBerry 7 theme

Icons maintain the same corners, form, and weight as their counterparts in BlackBerry 6.

Consider the following guidelines:

Create 24-bit .png files.
Create icons that are consistent with the default icons in size, weight, and centering.
Add shadow, lighting, and texture to define your icon.
Apply an outer glow and a drop shadow to make sure that the icons appear clearly on any background.
For application icons, create an icon file that does not exceed the recommended size for each BlackBerry device model. This size includes the canvas. Keep the weight of the object inside an area that is 72% of the canvas size, although smaller elements can extend outside this area. The maximum size allowed for the object is 81% of the canvas size. If the object within the canvas exceeds this size, it could be scaled down and upset the line weights and gradients.

Materials

The icons in BlackBerry 7 draw inspiration from premium materials and create a high-quality look and feel to the icons. Use the look of one or a combination of the following materials to align with the design and aesthetics for BlackBerry 7.

Material	Example	Guidelines
Leather		Always add a texture to the icon. If you use stitching, it should be clear and have a high contrast with the background material. If you apply the color black, use the charcoal color range so that the icon is visible on a black or white screen.
Glass		Dark glass should have a frame. If you apply color, make sure that it is smoky (not candy) to maintain the premium finish.
Metal		Apply a texture (for example, brushed metal) to an icon where appropriate. If metal joins another material, add edges and highlights to provide depth and to make the icon look more 3-D. Avoid rendering icons completely in gray. These icons can appear to be unavailable.
Paper		Add details such as lines or holes to make the icon more realistic, to provide a better sense of scale, and to differentiate among types of paper. Make shadows sharp for folds and diffuse for curls. Use color sparingly. In some cases, however, you might want to use color to represent the actual object (for example, yellow for a memo).
Light		Use light to represent intangible elements such as sounds, data flow, or connection to a wireless network. Always combine light with another material. Make sure that light is shown as curved. Allow the edges of the arcs to fade out. The edges should not look solid. Make sure that objects paired with light reflect colors from the light source on their surface. Be aware of the effect that color has when using light to represent sound. For example, red arcs might appear loud.