How to change Mail.app’s new mail badges
Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007
Aved asks 
on the MacOSX support forum:
I was wondering if anyone knows how to edit the color for the unread mail dock icon? Default is red, but I have been messing around with new icons and mine is grey now and doesn’t really stand out.
His problem is complicated by the fact that he is using something called ShapeShifter , a GUI hack from Unsanity that applies “themes” to the whole Mac OS X interface.
If you are not using ShapeShifter, the answer is simple enough. You will find blow-by-blow instructions in an earlier Hawk Wings post.
You can roll your own badges by editing the existing ones in Photoshop.
Or you can take the easy way out. Hawk Wings now hosts a blue set and a green set of mail badges, as well as a mixed set that was once hosted on ResExcellence (R.I.P.?).
Once you get started hacking away at the look of Mail, it can be hard to stop. See “Hacking Mail’s interface” for more interface hatchet goodness.
UPDATE: As Chris points out in the comments, you can also go completely berserk with Dockstar:
(Or, for that matter, with Docktopus.)
Tags: Apple Mail, hacks, icons, interface, mail badges, mail.app, new mail