Canonical hired creator Faenza to work on new Ubuntu icons.

On the question of whether we will see any changes in appearance in Ubuntu 13.04, Mark Shuttleworth replied:

Yes. We hired a great Matthew James and are ready to start a project to redesign icons.

In addition to the designer Faenza, Mark also shared his plans for cooperation with a university team of experts in typography, design and iconography, and also spoke about a complete revision of the Ambiance and Radiance topics.
via omgubuntu .