Icon Design for Beginners: 7 Laws You Must Not Break
Icons are ubiquitous little symbols that play a critical role in user interface (UI) success. Mastering how to design icons is a crucial skill in the aspiring UI designer’s toolkit. If you’ve got a bit of time to dedicate to the process, I’m about to walk you through creating icons that are recognizable and user-friendly.
The 7 Rules Every Icon Designer Must Know
Let’s go over seven things to bear in mind when designing icons.
Pay attention to the grid
The grid is essential in digital design, whereas the pixel grid and how your icon fits into it are critical in icon design. To make your icons perfectly fit the pixel grid, use whole numbers and no decimal points. That’s how you avoid blurry edges.
Be aware of standards
It’s advisable to stick to what works. Use concepts that users are familiar with as it reduces cognitive load and improves user experience. This is only to suggest that creativity should follow a framework.
Avoid too much detail
Icons typically appear in small places, so there’s little need to include too many details. Icons should be legible, even at the smallest of sizes.
Maintain consistency
Every icon set should share common style, size, and level of detail even if they all look different. It’s best to use consistent style choices such as rounded corners and ends. This ensures a coherent visual language.
Get some space
UI elements should not sit too close together. Surely not when they’re as small as icons. Icons competing for breath in a small space can be hard to read and lose meaning.
Test your icons
You can only be sure that your icons communicate clearly and quickly with users by testing them. Friends and team members can provide feedback on icon quality, telling you what comes to mind on seeing the icons. This will determine what you need to tweak.
Build with simple shapes
You can build any icon from basic trigonometric shapes. Once you know the icon you want to build, you can break it down into simple shapes. This is the best approach to construct and keep your icons simple.
Conclusion
Icon design for UIs is certainly not rocket science. However, many things can go wrong and even though your icons have visual appeal, they may hinder the user experience. If you want apps on display on UILand, then don’t break these seven rules.
