GNOME Human Interface Guidelines Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME_Human_Interface_Guidelines
| Adwaita | |
|---|---|
 | |
 The GNOME Shell's Activities Overview with several core apps in-use | |
| Developer(s) | The GNOME Project |
| Initial release | April 6, 2011 |
| Stable release | 1.7.2
/ April 13, 2025 |
| Repository | gitlab |
| Written in | C, Sass |
| Operating system | BSD, Linux, Unix |
| Included with | GNOME |
| Predecessor | Clearlooks |
| Type | Design language |
| License | LGPLv2.1+[1] |
| Website | developer |
Adwaita is the design language of the GNOME desktop environment. As an implementation, it exists as the default theme and icon set of the GNOME Shell and Phosh, and as widgets for applications targeting usage in GNOME. Adwaita first appeared in 2011 with the release of GNOME 3.0 as a replacement for the design principles used in Clearlooks,[2] and with incremental modernization and refinements, continues with current version releases.
Until 2021, Adwaita's theme was included as a part of the GTK widget toolkit, but in an effort to further increase independence and divergent release schedules of GTK from that of GNOME, it has since been migrated to libadwaita, which as an overall project, serves to extend GTK's base widgets with those specifically conforming to the GNOME human interface guidelines.[3]
Development
[edit]Prior to version 3.0, the GNOME desktop environment utilized the Clearlooks theme. In October 2008, designers and developers met at the GNOME User Experience Hackfest in Boston.[4] During this event, the concept of a GNOME Shell was conceived. Some very early mockups were produced that entertained the possibility of differing design from the previous incarnation of GNOME.[5] Red Hat designers Jon McCann and Jeremy Perry authored a document, drawn from a broad consensus of collaborative effort, that aimed to set standards and direction for GNOME's design.[6] In February 2010, GNOME designers met again, and produced several more publicly-available mockups.[7]
Also produced from the 2010 meeting was the decision to use Cantarell as the default typeface.[8] Cantarell had been designed by Dave Crossland during his studies in the Department of Typography and Graphic Communication at the University of Reading the previous year. It was officially added to GNOME Shell in February 2011,[9] and the GNOME Project agreed to maintain and extend the font as needed.
On January 19, 2011, Carlos Garnacho announced his completion of a tangible GTK theme implementation of Adwaita that could then be utilized by GNOME.[10]
The first major Linux distribution to ship with GNOME 3.0 and Adwaita as a default was Fedora Linux when it released version 15 on May 24, 2011.[11][12]
Due to GTK's strong ties with GNOME, Adwaita's theme had replaced "Raleigh" as the default GTK theme in 2014;[13] however, in preparation for the release of libadwaita, the theme was removed from GTK in favor of a divergent, simpler one on January 14, 2021.[14][3] This clear demarcation allowed for both GNOME, with its own design needs, and GTK, with its need for a simple theme that could be extended by downstream projects, to simultaneously prosper. Libadwaita first shipped with the release of GNOME 42.[15][16]
With the release of the GNOME 48 Alpha release in January 24th, 2025, it was announced that Cantarell would be replaced as the default font by the brand new font Adwaita Sans, based on the popular font Inter; as well as the default monospaced font switching from Source Code Pro to Adwaita Mono, based on Iosevka.[17]
Design language
[edit]Adwaita is characterized by its clean, modern aesthetic and focus on usability. Adwaita's design principles are rooted in simplicity, consistency, and accessibility.[citation needed]
Libadwaita
[edit]The libadwaita library was created to further develop Adwaita as a more closely-adherent component of the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines. Libadwaita is a library augmenting the GTK widget toolkit in a manner conformant with the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines. It lets applications change their layout based on the available screen space, integrates the Adwaita stylesheet, allows runtime recoloring with named colors and adds APIs to support the cross-desktop dark style preference.[18]
Responsive design and Linux smartphones
[edit]Libadwaita offers tools for creating applications with responsive design, allowing applications to adapt their layouts based on the available screen space, which aids in the development of smartphone-compatible GNOME applications.[19]
Libhandy
[edit]Libhandy is a library sponsored by Purism, which was the predecessor of Libadwaita. The libhandy project was used as the basis for libadwaita.
GNOME Human Interface Guidelines
[edit]The GNOME Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) provide a comprehensive design framework for applications built on the GNOME platform. They define consistent visual and behavioral rules that promote usability, accessibility, and aesthetic coherence across GNOME applications.
Purpose and Scope
[edit]The HIG outlines design principles such as simplicity, consistency, and user control. It offers detailed guidance on layout, navigation, typography, iconography, and color usage. Developers use the guidelines to ensure that their applications integrate seamlessly into the GNOME desktop.[20]
Integration with Adwaita and Libadwaita
[edit]Adwaita serves as the visual implementation of the HIG. Starting with GNOME 40, many HIG-compliant widgets and styling components were moved from GTK into a new library called libadwaita. This change allows GNOME to evolve its design system independently of GTK’s core toolkit.[21]
Libadwaita includes:
- Ready-made widgets like AdwHeaderBar, AdwPreferencesPage, and AdwMessageDialog;
- Adaptive layout support for phones, tablets, and desktops;
- Built-in support for dark mode and high-contrast themes.[22]
Accessibility and Internationalization
[edit]The HIG promotes accessibility by recommending:
- Clear focus indicators and keyboard navigation;
- Compatibility with screen readers and assistive technologies;
- Color schemes that do not rely solely on hue to convey meaning.[23]
Additionally, the guidelines support internationalization by encouraging the use of flexible UI elements and support for right-to-left (RTL) languages.
Design Evolution
[edit]The HIG is actively maintained via GNOME’s GitLab and updated to reflect current design trends and new interaction patterns. Recent updates emphasize responsive design, gesture support, and mobile-friendly layouts.[24]
Impact on GNOME Applications
[edit]GNOME core applications—such as Files, Calendar, and Settings—strictly follow HIG principles via libadwaita. This ensures a consistent look and feel across the environment. Developers are encouraged to use libadwaita components and avoid styling overrides that conflict with the platform’s native appearance.[25]
Relationship with GTK
[edit]By extracting Adwaita-specific components into libadwaita, GNOME allows GTK to remain a general-purpose, cross-platform toolkit. This separation of concerns improves long-term maintainability and allows GNOME to advance its UI/UX independently.[26]
Elements
[edit]Color
[edit]Adwaita's color palette is used in design of application icons and in illustrations. It consists of several color shade families that are not named beyond their number designations. Those lacking saturation are known as "light" and "dark". This naming convention extends into the applied concept of user interface styles, where users can choose a base style for on-screen widget components that creates a light or dark overall look and feel.
| Name | Hex (RGB) |
Red (RGB) |
Green (RGB) |
Blue (RGB) |
Hue (HSL/HSV) |
Satur. (HSL) |
Light (HSL) |
Satur. (HSV) |
Value (HSV) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue 1 | #99C1F1 | 60% | 76% | 95% | 213° | 76% | 77% | 37% | 95% | |
| Blue 2 | #62A0EA | 38% | 63% | 92% | 213° | 76% | 65% | 58% | 92% | |
| Blue 3 | #3584E4 | 21% | 52% | 89% | 213° | 76% | 55% | 77% | 89% | |
| Blue 4 | #1C71D8 | 11% | 44% | 85% | 213° | 77% | 48% | 87% | 85% | |
| Blue 5 | #1A5FB4 | 10% | 37% | 71% | 213° | 75% | 40% | 86% | 71% | |
| Green 1 | #8FF0A4 | 56% | 94% | 64% | 133° | 76% | 75% | 40% | 94% | |
| Green 2 | #57E389 | 34% | 89% | 54% | 141° | 71% | 62% | 62% | 89% | |
| Green 3 | #33D17A | 20% | 82% | 48% | 147° | 63% | 51% | 76% | 82% | |
| Green 4 | #2EC27E | 18% | 76% | 49% | 152° | 62% | 47% | 76% | 76% | |
| Green 5 | #26A269 | 15% | 64% | 41% | 152° | 62% | 39% | 77% | 64% | |
| Yellow 1 | #F9F06B | 98% | 94% | 42% | 56° | 92% | 70% | 57% | 98% | |
| Yellow 2 | #F8E45C | 97% | 89% | 36% | 52° | 92% | 67% | 63% | 97% | |
| Yellow 3 | #F6D32D | 96% | 83% | 18% | 50° | 92% | 57% | 82% | 97% | |
| Yellow 4 | #F5C211 | 96% | 76% | 7% | 47° | 92% | 51% | 93% | 96% | |
| Yellow 5 | #E5A50A | 90% | 65% | 4% | 43° | 92% | 47% | 96% | 90% | |
| Orange 1 | #FFBE6F | 100% | 75% | 44% | 33° | 100% | 72% | 57% | 100% | |
| Orange 2 | #FFA348 | 100% | 64% | 28% | 30° | 100% | 64% | 72% | 100% | |
| Orange 3 | #FF7800 | 100% | 47% | 0% | 28° | 100% | 50% | 100% | 100% | |
| Orange 4 | #E66100 | 90% | 38% | 0% | 25° | 100% | 45% | 100% | 90% | |
| Orange 5 | #C64600 | 78% | 27% | 0% | 21° | 100% | 39% | 100% | 78% | |
| Red 1 | #F66151 | 96% | 38% | 32% | 6° | 90% | 64% | 67% | 97% | |
| Red 2 | #ED333B | 93% | 20% | 23% | 357° | 84% | 57% | 79% | 93% | |
| Red 3 | #E01B24 | 88% | 11% | 14% | 357° | 79% | 49% | 88% | 88% | |
| Red 4 | #C01C28 | 75% | 11% | 16% | 356° | 75% | 43% | 85% | 75% | |
| Red 5 | #A51D2D | 65% | 11% | 18% | 353° | 70% | 38% | 82% | 65% | |
| Purple 1 | #DC8ADD | 86% | 54% | 87% | 299° | 55% | 70% | 38% | 87% | |
| Purple 2 | #C061CB | 75% | 38% | 80% | 294° | 51% | 59% | 52% | 80% | |
| Purple 3 | #9141AC | 57% | 25% | 67% | 285° | 45% | 47% | 62% | 68% | |
| Purple 4 | #813D9C | 51% | 24% | 61% | 283° | 44% | 43% | 61% | 61% | |
| Purple 5 | #613583 | 38% | 21% | 51% | 274° | 42% | 36% | 60% | 51% | |
| Brown 1 | #CDAB8F | 80% | 67% | 56% | 27° | 38% | 68% | 30% | 80% | |
| Brown 2 | #B5835A | 71% | 51% | 35% | 27° | 38% | 53% | 50% | 71% | |
| Brown 3 | #986A44 | 60% | 42% | 27% | 27° | 38% | 43% | 55% | 60% | |
| Brown 4 | #865E3C | 53% | 37% | 24% | 28° | 38% | 38% | 55% | 53% | |
| Brown 5 | #63452C | 39% | 27% | 17% | 27° | 39% | 28% | 56% | 39% | |
| Light 1 | #FFFFFF | 100% | 100% | 100% | 0° | 0% | 100% | 0% | 100% | |
| Light 2 | #F6F5F4 | 96% | 96% | 96% | 30° | 10% | 96% | 1% | 97% | |
| Light 3 | #DEDDDA | 87% | 87% | 85% | 45° | 6% | 86% | 2% | 87% | |
| Light 4 | #C0BFBC | 75% | 75% | 74% | 45° | 3% | 75% | 2% | 75% | |
| Light 5 | #9A9996 | 60% | 60% | 59% | 45° | 2% | 60% | 3% | 60% | |
| Dark 1 | #77767B | 47% | 46% | 48% | 252° | 2% | 47% | 4% | 48% | |
| Dark 2 | #5E5C64 | 37% | 36% | 39% | 255° | 4% | 38% | 8% | 39% | |
| Dark 3 | #3D3846 | 24% | 22% | 27% | 261° | 11% | 25% | 20% | 28% | |
| Dark 4 | #241F31 | 14% | 12% | 19% | 257° | 23% | 16% | 37% | 19% | |
| Dark 5 | #000000 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0° | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Typography
[edit]
Beginning with GNOME 48, Adwaita adopted a new typeface family known as "Adwaita Fonts".[27] The Adwaita Fonts family is a slight modification of the Inter typeface family, however it also includes a monospaced font known as "Adwaita Mono", which is a modified version of Iosevka.[28] With this change, the default typeface for GNOME will be known as "Adwaita Sans".
Previously, Adwaita used the contemporary humanist sans-serif Cantarell typeface that was designed by Dave Crossland. Corresponding with the 3.28 version release of GNOME in 2018, Cantarell was expanded to include light and extra bold weights.
Iconography
[edit]Adwaita defines two separate style classes of icons that are meant to differentiate between concepts used for applications and user interfaces. Whereas applications use full-color in their primary icons, "symbolic" icons, monochromatic by design, are meant for user interfaces.[29][30]
App icons
[edit]Each app targeted for GNOME should have a primary icon. The GNOME Human Interface Guidelines prescribe that an app's icon should correspond to a simple, recognizable metaphor.[31] They are not meant to be flat, but rather simplistic, and can contain some depth. However, shadows are to be avoided. App developers can request an icon from the GNOME Design Team in a GitLab repository.
Symbolic icons
[edit]In user interfaces, even simpler, monochromatic icons that work well when viewed at small sizes are used. If color is needed, it is expected that they should be programmatically re-colored.
Implementations
[edit]The GNOME Shell was the primary vehicle for the original development of Adwaita's theme and icons. It remains a major implementation. Similarly, Phosh, Purism's mobile shell, serves in the same role.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "COPYING". GNOME GitLab. 2018-02-07. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
- ^ Paul, Ryan (April 6, 2011). "A shiny new ornament for your Linux lawn: Ars reviews GNOME 3.0". Ars Technica. Retrieved January 2, 2022.
- ^ a b Plazas, Adrien (March 31, 2021). "Introducing Libadwaita". Retrieved January 2, 2022.
- ^ McCann, Jon; Perry, Jeremy (April 6, 2011). "How We Got Here: Part I of a Design History of GNOME 3 the Shell". The GNOME Journal (Interview). Interviewed by Harries, Daf. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
- ^ "Window Management and More". GNOME. Archived from the original on 2 November 2008. Retrieved January 2, 2022.
- ^ McCann, William Jon; Perry, Jeremy (July 1, 2009). "GNOME Shell: A design for a personal integrated digital work environment" (PDF). The GNOME Project. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 24, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
- ^ Paul, Ryan (February 26, 2010). ""Task Pooper" could revolutionize GNOME desktop". Ars Technica. Retrieved January 2, 2022.
- ^ Spalinger, Nicolas (April 6, 2011). "Fonts in GNOME 3: Cantarell, Tweaking, and Trailblazing". The GNOME Journal. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
- ^ Day, Allan (February 15, 2011). "GNOME 3: Getting better by the day". Retrieved January 3, 2022.
- ^ Garnacho, Carlos (January 19, 2011). "Adwaita finished". The GNOME Project. Retrieved January 2, 2022.
- ^ Paul, Ryan (May 25, 2011). "First look: Fedora 15 arrives with GNOME 3.0 and systemd". Ars Technica. Retrieved January 2, 2022.
- ^ Vaughan-Nichols, Steven (May 24, 2011). "Fedora 15's five best features". ZDNet. Retrieved January 2, 2022.
- ^ Clasen, Matthias (June 13, 2014). "A New Default Theme for GTK+". Retrieved January 3, 2022.
- ^ Mikhaylenko, Alice (December 31, 2021). "Libadwaita 1.0". The GNOME Project. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
- ^ Proven, Liam (16 March 2022). "Heaps of tweaks and improvements incoming with GNOME 42". The Register. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
- ^ "Libadwaita 1.0 – Just another blog". 2021-12-31. Retrieved 2024-09-13.
- ^ "GNOME / Adwaita Fonts · GitLab". GitLab. Retrieved 2025-02-01.
- ^ "Libadwaita - GUI development with Rust and GTK 4". gtk-rs.org. Retrieved 2024-09-13.
- ^ "Libadwaita in the Wild". Purism. 2022-12-15. Retrieved 2024-09-13.
- ^ "GNOME Human Interface Guidelines". GNOME. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
- ^ "Introducing Libadwaita". GNOME Blogs. 22 December 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
- ^ "Libadwaita 1.2 Released". GNOME Blogs. 22 March 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
- ^ "Designing for Accessibility". GNOME. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
- ^ "GNOME HIG 2023 Overview". GNOME Blogs. 12 September 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
- ^ "Why Libadwaita Matters". LWN.net. 25 August 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
- ^ "Splitting GTK and Adwaita". Tesk Page. 3 June 2024. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
- ^ Larabel, Michael (January 31, 2025). "GNOME 48 Switches Over To "Adwaita Sans" As Default Font". Phoronix. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- ^ Sneddon, Joey (February 2, 2025). "GNOME Introduces New UI & Monospace Adwaita Fonts". OMG! Ubuntu. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- ^ "App Icons - GNOME Human Interface Guidelines documentation". developer.gnome.org. Retrieved 2022-08-11.
- ^ "UI Icons - GNOME Human Interface Guidelines documentation". developer.gnome.org. Retrieved 2022-08-11.
- ^ "Design Principles - GNOME Human Interface Guidelines documentation". developer.gnome.org. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
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