Here is an easy way to dress up a VI with a background image.

It isn't intuitive or easy to find, but it is simple:

1. Right click on the vertical scrollbar of your VI
2. Select "Properties"
3. Choose your image
4. Consider using a tile-ready image

A good rule to remember when designing a user interface is to do things in standard ways whenever possible.
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For example, if you want to close a program in Windows, you click the X button in the upper right-hand corner of the window. 

​The standard LabVIEW listbox control has very archaic icons. So I made some improvements. You can use this control as a direct replacement for the standard control, but it looks a lot better.

This takes advantage of the properties for the listbox to load your own custom graphics.

Previously, I posted a listbox control with improved icons. Some have asked if it can be used for multicolumn listboxes, too. Well, yes it can. And here it is.
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(Actually, you can just use the listbox control. Right click and select Replace. Replace it with a multicolumn listbox. The new multicolumn box will maintain the improved icons.)