| Adwaita | |
|---|---|
 | |
 TheGNOME Shell's Activities Overview with severalcore apps in-use | |
| Developer | The GNOME Project |
| Initial release | April 6, 2011; 14 years ago (2011-04-06) |
| Stable release | 1.8.1 / October 9, 2025; 4 months ago (2025-10-09) |
| Written in | C,Sass |
| Operating system | BSD,Linux,Unix |
| Included with | GNOME |
| Predecessor | Clearlooks |
| Type | Design language |
| License | LGPLv2.1+[1] |
| Website | developer |
| Repository | gitlab |
Adwaita is thedesign language of theGNOMEdesktop environment GUI interface. As an implementation, it exists as the defaulttheme andicon set of theGNOME Shell andPhosh, and aswidgets for applications targeting usage inGNOME. Adwaita first appeared in 2011 with the release ofGNOME 3.0 as a replacement for the design principles used inClearlooks,[2] and with incremental modernization and refinements, continues with current version releases.
Until 2021, Adwaita's theme was included as a part of theGTKwidget toolkit, but in an effort to further increase independence and divergent release schedules ofGTK from that ofGNOME, it has since been migrated to libadwaita, which as an overall project, serves to extendGTK's base widgets with those specifically conforming to the GNOMEhuman interface guidelines.[3]
Prior to version 3.0, theGNOME desktop environment utilized theClearlooks theme. In October 2008, designers and developers met at the GNOME User Experience Hackfest in Boston.[4] During this event, the concept of aGNOME 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 useCantarell as the default typeface.[8] Cantarell had been designed by Dave Crossland during his studies in the Department of Typography and Graphic Communication at theUniversity 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 majorLinux distribution to ship with GNOME 3.0 and Adwaita as a default wasFedora Linux when it released version 15 on May 24, 2011.[11][12]
Due toGTK's strong ties withGNOME, 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 simpletheme that could be extended bydownstream 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 fontInter; as well as the default monospaced font switching fromSource Code Pro to Adwaita Mono, based onIosevka.[17]
Adwaita is characterized by its clean, modern aesthetic and focus on usability. Through the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines, Adwaita'sdesign principles are rooted in simplicity, consistency, and accessibility.[18][19]
The libadwaita library was created to further develop Adwaita as a more closely-adherent component of the GNOMEHuman Interface Guidelines. Libadwaita is a library augmenting theGTK widget toolkit in a manner conformant with the GNOMEHuman 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.[20]
Libadwaita offers tools for creating applications with responsivedesign, allowing applications to adapt their layouts based on the available screen space, which aids in the development ofsmartphone-compatibleGNOME applications.[21]
Libhandy is a library sponsored byPurism, which was the predecessor of Libadwaita. The libhandy project was used as the basis for libadwaita.
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(October 2024) |
The GNOMEHuman Interface Guidelines (HIG) serve as a comprehensive guide todesigning applications for theGNOME desktop environment. It helps with creation ofuser interfaces that align withGNOME'sdesign philosophy,[22] and is the basis for Adwaita's own style and design standards.[18]
Adwaita's color palette is used in design of applicationicons 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-screenwidget 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% |
Beginning with GNOME 48, Adwaita adopted a new typeface family known as "Adwaita Fonts".[23] The Adwaita Fonts family is a slight modification of theInter typeface family, however it also includes amonospaced font known as "Adwaita Mono", which is a modified version of Iosevka.[24] With this change, the default typeface for GNOME will be known as "Adwaita Sans".
Previously, Adwaita used the contemporaryhumanist sans-serifCantarell 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 boldweights.
Adwaita defines two separate style classes of icons that are meant to differentiate between concepts used forapplications anduser interfaces. Whereas applications use full-color in their primary icons, "symbolic" icons, monochromatic by design, are meant for user interfaces.[25][26]
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.[27] 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 ina GitLab repository.
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.
TheGNOME 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.
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