One UI 7 Native Icons Strategy

We began by studying how other platforms design their interfaces and icons: iOS, stock Android, Nothing, the major Chinese manufacturers such as Xiaomi, Huawei and Oppo, and Microsoft.

We looked at the bigger picture first. Interfaces were becoming more alive and responsive, more imaginative rather than purely functional, and more essential, keeping only what matters while staying familiar.

Then we compared icons app by app, through three lenses: container and grid, shape and metaphor, and colour and material.

One UI’s icons sit smaller within their containers than most competitors’. That leaves breathing room, but the overall proportions lose a sense of scale and perspective.

Competitor icons use more of the available space, which gives them a stronger presence and makes their details easier to see. Next to them, One UI icons can look flat: their relative size and proportions don’t convey depth or distance.

→ Play with scale to add perspective

Let the icon take centre stage and the container recede, treating icon and background as one.

One UI uses the same metaphors as its competitors, but expresses them more statically. Where competitors use metaphors to communicate purpose, a One UI icon often feels like a symbol placed inside a container rather than an expressive object.

The phone, for example, could sit at the angle people actually hold one. Messages suggests waiting for a reply rather than a conversation, and Photos lacks a story.

Utility icons elsewhere treat the container as part of the canvas, using stacking, layering and physical relationships, while One UI’s Calendar and Notes simply echo the container. Small, essential details, like the markings on a ruler or the files in a folder, give competitor icons personality; One UI icons inform, but rarely invite engagement.

Service icons show it most. A wallet could hold several cards, shopping could suggest several items, music could feel like flow, and home could feel more personal.

→ Add essential, relatable details

Details that give each icon a purpose and personality, for a more mature and sophisticated impression.

Icons across the industry are moving from simple layered graphics to natural shadows, gradients, reflections and volume. Glassmorphism and natural lighting add a sense of space, and a wider range of colour creates a richer hierarchy.

One UI icons still rely on flat layering: white primary shapes and subtle gradients that reduce depth. Next to competitors, the overall impression feels basic, and the background colour is noticed before the icon’s shape.

→ Associative, not indicative

Let relevance, not rules, lead the visual treatment, with more depth, personality and emotional connection.

Not less simple, but more expressive.

The answer wasn’t to abandon One UI’s simplicity. It was to keep icons essential while giving them depth, relatable details and a story, without losing the clarity and harmony One UI is known for.