This is mostly a checklist for myself, might end up as a script, who knows?

Applications & Indicators

Unity Tweak Tool

sudo apt-get install unity-tweak-tool

Compiz Settings Manager

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

System Load indicator

sudo apt-get install indicator-multiload

Search for “System Load Indicator” in dash to enable it.

Workspace indicator

sudo apt-get install python-wnck python-appindicator
cd ~/Downloads
wget "http://ppa.launchpad.net/geod/ppa-geod/ubuntu/pool/main/i/indicator-workspaces/indicator-workspaces_0.6.4_all.deb"
sudo dpkg -i indicator-workspaces_0.6.4_all.deb
indicator-workspaces & disown

Right click on the indicator, chose “Preferences” and check “Start indicator at login”.

Redshift

sudo apt-get install redshift-gtk

Unity Launcher

Flatten launcher icons

Remove icon “backdrop” in the Unity launcher, to get a cleaner look.

git clone https://github.com/mjsolidarios/unity-flatify-icons.git
cd unity-flatify-icons
sh unity-flatify-icons.sh

Remove animations and decorations

Start the settings manager by pressing Alt+F2 and entering about:config. Go to the “Launcher” tab and scroll down to the bottom. Set “Launcher Backlight Mode” to “Backlight Always Off” and “Launcher Icon Launch Animation” to “None”.

Theming

Arc Unity/GTK3 theme

wget http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:Horst3180/xUbuntu_15.04/Release.key
sudo apt-key add - < Release.key && rm -rf Release.key sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/Horst3180/xUbuntu_15.10/ /' >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/arc-theme.list"
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install arc-theme

Emerald-dark icon theme

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:noobslab/icons 
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install emerald-icons-theme

Source Code Pro font

cd ~/Downlods
wget "https://github.com/adobe-fonts/source-code-pro/archive/2.010R-ro/1.030R-it.zip"
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/fonts
cd ~/.local/share/fonts
unzip ~/Downloads/1.030R-it.zip
fc-cache -f

X11 cursor

Using Obsidian theme which is downloadable from gnome-look.org.

cd ~/Downloads
wget http://gnome-look.org/CONTENT/content-files/73135-Obsidian.tar.bz2
cd /usr/share/icons
sudo tar jxvf ~/Downlods/Obsidian.tar.bz2
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/share/icons/default/index.theme x-cursor-theme /usr/share/icons/Obsidian/index.theme 20
sudo update-alternatvies --set x-cursor-theme /usr/share/icons/Obsidian/index.theme
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface cursor-theme "Obsidian" 
sudo cat <<EOF >> /etc/X11/Xresources/x11-common
Xcursor.size: 24
Xcursor.theme: Obsidian
EOF

Miscellaneous

Disable the grid in lightdm

This disables the grid both at login and after locking the screen.

gsettings set com.canonical.unity-greeter draw-grid false
sudo xhost +SI:localuser:lightdm
sudo su lightdm -s /bin/bash
gsettings set com.canonical.unity-greeter draw-grid false

Customize Ubuntu and Unity