The image on the right shows the redesigned icon, which implements the principles in this article.

The image on the left above shows the original icon.

In the sections that follow, we will explain how to methodically go from before to after. The image below shows the before and after versions of Kem’s icon. The icon had potential but was not quite polished enough to be considered “premium quality.” We provided Kem with some easy tips to follow, and, with a little reworking, his icons were ready for approval as a premium icon set. In the example images that follow in this article, the six steps discussed will be applied to a reworking of an icon of a dog (a Corgi, to be exact) that was recently submitted by an Iconfinder user named Kem Bardly. Instead, we will share very specific, actionable suggestions for how the designer can improve the icons. Unlike many other marketplaces, we rarely reject sets that don’t quite meet our quality requirements outright. To achieve this, we are constantly aware of the difference between “not quite good enough” and “premium quality.” The difference is often very small and usually requires minimal changes, but it has a great impact on the design and value of the icon set. Icons As Part Of A Great User Experience.When reviewing icon sets submitted to the website, we have a responsibility to our designers and to our customers to make sure all premium icons on the website are of the highest possible quality. Thousands of high-quality premium icon sets and hundreds of great free sets are available.Įvery icon set submitted to Iconfinder is reviewed and evaluated for potential appeal to our website users and for potential commercial value as premium icons.

Icon and vector marketplaces like Iconfinder (where I work) are making well-designed vector icons an inexpensive and readily available resource for web and print designers. Part of becoming a great designer is learning when to break the rules and when to follow them, as we will demonstrate here. The six steps discussed in this article should be seen as a guide, not a dogmatic list of rules. The principles of effective icon design have been discussed at length by icon designer John Hicks of Hicks Design in his book The Icon Handbook, as well as by Google in its material design guidelines for system icons. The steps follow the basics of sound icon design, including consistency, legibility and clarity. This article discusses a set of design guidelines in six steps. Every icon set submitted to Iconfinder is reviewed and evaluated for potential appeal to our website users and for potential commercial value as premium icons.

Cool little icons