From GNOME and now Unity, Ubuntu is one of the pioneers for the nice-look Linux distros. Since the beginning, Ubuntu always comes with an orange-based default theme, which is also include its icons set. Seriously, there is no bad at all with that. But sometimes we need something different and fresh.

In Ubuntu — and other Linux distros — you are free to customize your desktop. Whether changing the whole theme, icons set, cursor or even fonts.

If you just want to change the icons set and prefer to use icons with a flat concept, you seems like have to try Ultra-Flat Icons set. This is one of the best flat icons set for Ubuntu so far and today I am going to show you how to install and use it.

Ultra-Flat Icons set offers three variant colors; blue, green and orange. All are — yeah, flat. To make it looks prettier, I also combine the Utra-Flat Icons set with Arc theme. In order to apply the Ultra-Flat Icons (and Arc theme if you interested), yo need to install Unity Tweak Tool. Here is a glance look of my Ubuntu desktop.

Install Unity Tweak Tool

Please note, I use Ubuntu 16.04 running with Unity desktop in this case. But you should also use the same method for your Ubuntu version. If you use other desktop environment, just install the tweak tool for each desktop environment. To install Unity Tweak Tool just hit the following command.

sudo apt install unity-tweak-tool

Install Ultra-Flat Icons set

And execute the following commands to install Ultra-Flat Icons set to your machine.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:noobslab/icons
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ultra-flat-icons ultra-flat-icons-green ultra-flat-icons-orange

Install Arc Theme (Optional)

Arc theme is actually developed by a community from OpenSUSE. Luckily, instead of for OpenSUSES only, this theme can also be used in other distros such as Debian, Fedora and Ubuntu. If you don’t mind to try this theme, just type the following commands on your terminal.

To add the Arc GTK repo:

sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/Horst3180/xUbuntu_16.04/ /' >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/arc-theme.list"

To refresh your sources:

sudo apt-get update

To install Arc theme:

sudo apt-get install arc-theme

You will also need to import the repo’s key to quieten any command-line errors:

wget http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:Horst3180/xUbuntu_16.04/Release.key

sudo apt-key add - < Release.key

Reupdate your source:

sudo apt-get update

Applying to Ubuntu

Now you are ready to apply the new icons and theme to your Ubuntu desktop. Firstly, open the Unity Tweak Tool and select Icons.

And then choose which Ultra-Flat Icons color you are prefer to.

To apply the Arc theme, from the Unity Tweak Tool front page choose Theme at the Appearances section. Select Arc.