HD widgets is a must-have in my book. If you have it you can also put one of its widgets on the lock screen; on the locks creen slide the clock to the left or right to add another widget (and possibly delete the original clock widget).
Home screen and lock screen. As you can see, I'm a minimalist. I just realized that at some point I lost HD Widgets on my home screen and never put it back. I'm not missing it so whatever. The background is Light Grid Pro, which is changing very slowly, almost too slowly to realize it's changing. (In case you're wondering what those last 2 meetings are, in my dotage I've taken up knitting.)
There are apps and launchers (both free and paid) that will let you replace existing icons with whatever type of icon you like. You'll need an icon pack (again, free or paid pack) to select from...
example - Metro Icon Pack
DISCLAIMER: i am not associated with Metro pack, it's just one of the ones I have used.
Sorry I don't have my Xoom with me but here is an example from my phone --- using Nova Launcher, Metro icons, Digital Clock, Beautiful Widgets weather.