I really do not like the colors of the icons in macOS golden gate. The battery percentage is now inside the battery, which makes it so hard to read! Especially the mail app icon is too blue for me. Everything is just so ugh. I don't like it.
MacBook Air 13″
Although some elements of the UI can be modified (light/dark theme, icon and widget style, etc.), you cannot change the elements of the UI that you mention.
For the battery percentage, you can choose to display the percentage or not, but if you do it will display inside the battery icon. This harmonizes the appearance with the iPhone and iPad. As an alternative, you can use 3rd party utilities instead.
Personally, I leave the Apple display off, and use iStat Menus to show the battery status and other system metrics in my Menu bar. You can see the menu bar icon as I've configured it, with a custom color for the charge state (green for full, orange for changing, yellow for discharging, red for low); where it shows Full now it would show a time to full charge or a time to empty estimate if charging or on battery. Clicking on the menu bar icon gives additional data about the battery.
As for the Mail icon, you cannot change the color of the default icon. The Golden Gate icon isn't 'bluer' but it lacks the gradient of the Tahoe icon, which is a lighter blue at the top but actually a darker blue at the bottom. Tahoe is on top here:
You can alter the overall icon appearance in System Settings > Appearance. The Dark setting makes the blue part of the Mail icon black.
More info: Change Appearance settings on Mac – Apple Support
Regardless, posts here will not be read by Apple. “We” are users like you and have no power to implement any suggestions. Apple employees are generally precluded from even reading these forums, with the exception of moderators who only monitor for compliance with the T&C.
To have Apple consider your feedback, submit it here:
Although some elements of the UI can be modified (light/dark theme, icon and widget style, etc.), you cannot change the elements of the UI that you mention.
For the battery percentage, you can choose to display the percentage or not, but if you do it will display inside the battery icon. This harmonizes the appearance with the iPhone and iPad. As an alternative, you can use 3rd party utilities instead.
Personally, I leave the Apple display off, and use iStat Menus to show the battery status and other system metrics in my Menu bar. You can see the menu bar icon as I've configured it, with a custom color for the charge state (green for full, orange for changing, yellow for discharging, red for low); where it shows Full now it would show a time to full charge or a time to empty estimate if charging or on battery. Clicking on the menu bar icon gives additional data about the battery.
As for the Mail icon, you cannot change the color of the default icon. The Golden Gate icon isn't 'bluer' but it lacks the gradient of the Tahoe icon, which is a lighter blue at the top but actually a darker blue at the bottom. Tahoe is on top here:
You can alter the overall icon appearance in System Settings > Appearance. The Dark setting makes the blue part of the Mail icon black.
More info: Change Appearance settings on Mac – Apple Support
Regardless, posts here will not be read by Apple. “We” are users like you and have no power to implement any suggestions. Apple employees are generally precluded from even reading these forums, with the exception of moderators who only monitor for compliance with the T&C.
To have Apple consider your feedback, submit it here:
You can provide Apple with feedback:
I agree the new battery icon design is absolutely terrible. I first saw it on my new iPhone 17 with iOS26. I cannot read it most of the time. Apple has definitely lost their way with visual design aspects of both macOS & iOS.
I don't know whether there are any configuration options for your issue with the Mail app as I don't use it. Do you mean the Mail app's application icon or an icon used within the Mail app itself?
How to get macOS tahoe icon color back
