This week, we looked deeper into icon design.
“Trying to capture the essence of an object or idea with only a few lines and at the same time maintaining its elegance is pretty much design in a nutshell. That’s what’s so great about icons, they’re tiny poems” – Kyle Tezak
Why use icons?
Designing icons effectively is very important. They are used to convey a message without words, this makes them understandable globally. For example, companies like Ikea use icons instead of printing instructions in different languages, saving time and money. Icons can also provide a “mental shortcut”, improving user experience. This is because users quickly recognise their meaning.
Effective icons
We learnt about how to design effective icons. For example:
- Use grids- This adds structure and makes them appear neat and organised.
- Use of basic shapes- Point, line, plane.
- Consistency- In terms of, line width, colour etc.
- Understandable globally
- Simple and recognisable
I found this very useful and I will refer to this list when designing my own icons for my travel app.
Its also important to be aware of the types of icons that already exist. Although it is important to be original, its ok to use simple icons that already exist. For example, the hamburger icon for a menu. This is seen across many interfaces and it works because people are familiar with it and know how it works.
We also must think about what type of icon we want based on the style of the app, website etc. and the target audience. There are different styles to choose from including, outline, filled, glyph, flat, hand-drawn, and skeuomorphic.
We were told about the website material.io which shows different categories of icons. I think this website will be very useful for me as it shows icons for different messages I may want to portray. I will be able to use these as a reference and create icons in the style I want but still make them understandable. I found these examples which may be commonly used in travel apps.
I found learning more about icon design very beneficial and it will help me create more effective icons.