An icon is a graphic image, small picture, or object that represents a file, program, web page, or command.
60
votes
23answers
7k views
New generation of Save icon that is not a “disk”?
Currently, the save icon in almost all applications represents a 3.5-inch disk from the 20th century. An example from Microsoft Office 2010 is shown below:
As we move towards more advanced ...
16
votes
5answers
496 views
What are some good resource for programmers to design icons?
I'm a computer programmer, and find myself needing to draw icons frequency. Does anyone out there have any good resources for both the tools and how to design icons?
13
votes
10answers
40k views
How to save as ico in Photoshop CS6
This plugin to save as .ico in photoshop has been around for a while, but I can't seem to make it work for CS6. According to this question in the Adobe Forums, the plug-in works if installed in ...
8
votes
3answers
1k views
Best workflow for icon design: Start big, or start small?
When designing icons that need to be delivered at several sizes, do you start at the smaller size, then scale up to the bigger sizes? Or do you start big and scale down?
There's several advantages to ...
7
votes
1answer
401 views
How would you represent “religion” in an icon, neutrally?
I am involved in a web application where items in a list have a category. Each category of an item is shown through the use of an expressive icon. One of the categories is religion.
My coworker, a ...
6
votes
3answers
329 views
What are “up-to-date” or “modern” icons?
My icons have been (lightly) criticized as "too 1998-ish":
From left to right: refresh; auto/manual refresh toggle; filters; favorites; alerts.
To what was the critique aimed at? What the critic ...
6
votes
2answers
242 views
Range of icon sizes and formats on various operating systems
I would like to know the range of icon sizes allowed in different OSes (such as Ubuntu, OSX) and the default format they use.
For example, windows allows icon sizes from 16x16 to 256x256 and uses a ...
6
votes
3answers
2k views
Photoshop vs. Illustrator for Icon Development
My client is requesting SVG files (saving as an SVG would require me to build the icon in Illustrator), but I have always designed icons in Photoshop (importing vector art from Illustrator, and ...
6
votes
2answers
327 views
The simplest icon to represent a concept
What sort of icon/graphic should I draw to represent a concept. This can be very helpful when I am doing sketching note. Thanking in advance for any input.
Rgds
6
votes
4answers
462 views
New generation of 'Edit' icon that is not a pencil?
I was jotting down some notes for a future project, sketching some simple icons for functionality etc, but all I could come up with for an icon to represent 'edit' was a pencil.
The pencil seems to ...
6
votes
1answer
2k views
How can I map the colors in a greyscale image to a specific color “gradient”?
Caveat: I'm not a graphic designer and may be misusing some terminology. Please bear with me. :-)
I'm attempting to add color to some greyscale icons (i.e. all three channels are identical). I ...
6
votes
4answers
148 views
Is there an icon set containing icons for different platforms/stores (e.g. App Store, Play, Windows 8 Store, etc.)
Is there an icon set containing icons for different platforms/stores (e.g. App Store, Play, Windows 8 Store, etc.)?
I am interested in grayscale icons similar to Glyphish and Glyphicons.
5
votes
2answers
346 views
Designing icons to represent abstract concepts- match test / suggestions
I'm making a site which requires users to review and tag information.
The interface would benefit from icons, but many of the tags represent abstract concepts that I'm struggling to represent. I'm ...
5
votes
2answers
237 views
Can I legally use the Office icons in a website?
Can I legally use Microsoft Office icons in designing my site?
For example:
5
votes
2answers
177 views
How to find existing names or associations a symbol has?
I saw a symbol like this, and didn't know what it was called or what existing associations it might have:
It seems like a pretty easy question to answer by looking in a symbol dictionary or an ...
5
votes
3answers
83 views
Header for free, Open Source plugin (translates UI into user language)
We're about to publish a free, open source plugin that translates the WordPress admin UI into the users language. This plugin will be freely available in the official wp.org plugin repository. Now we ...
4
votes
4answers
2k views
How can I create perfect “radio waves” (concentric arcs of a circle)?
I suck at illustrator, so this is a huge leap in my ability. I'm trying to draw a radio tower, but I want everything in the vector to be as perfect as possible. I want some waves to come off of the ...
4
votes
6answers
392 views
4
votes
3answers
242 views
Is it possible to render readable screen type at a size of 3px?
I just created an icon in fireworks with a size 17*15 (which is small) and when i try to label the icon the minimum size of the text is 8 pixels which is very big . I want to have a label with text ...
4
votes
2answers
70 views
Is there an ISO or similar recognized standard for Icons?
I had this question popping out while viewing some ISO standards such as ISO 9142.
I searched a little but couldn't find an explicit ISO standard that is specifically for Computer Icons.
So, has ...
4
votes
2answers
111 views
Need a neat way to show availabity (e.g. working hours)
I need to show service availability for a service catalogue I am putting together. I want to do this as economically (in terms of real estate) as possible.
For example, a service may be available:
...
4
votes
1answer
415 views
Remove identical pixels in two layers/images with free software
I've inherited a large set of button icons at work, which I'd like to use in another project, but with a different button background. The trouble is that the original files have been lost in history, ...
3
votes
3answers
2k views
How to resize icon sets in Photoshop?
When looking online for icons to use on my websites, I often find very well designed free icon sets.
However, often these icon sets are only available on a single size - for instance the icon set ...
3
votes
5answers
151 views
What icon fits “navigation”?
I just thought about the this: We have dozens of well known icons for nearly each and everything. All those icons normally are inside some sort of "navigation" (bar/menu/etc.). But what's the icon for ...
3
votes
5answers
269 views
Free pixel icon sets on the web?
where I can find very small and clear icons that I can use in a personal (non-commercial) project?
3
votes
3answers
325 views
What do you call these infographic icons?
What do you call these simple, basic types of graphic elements that are used in infographic commercials, and the like? They are vector based, look like pixel art, but have smooth edges, and are ...
3
votes
1answer
153 views
Who made these icons?
I've seem these icons on lots of sites, so I assume they are publicly available and free to use.
Does any one know who designed them, and the official site? And where can I find the Photoshop ...
3
votes
1answer
167 views
Icon to indicate “not a member”, “guest” or “visitor” but not in a “no-access” kind of way
In my app I need an icon to compliment a link for an app for a sport/club venue.
[ICON] Member Booking
[ICON] Visitor Booking
Is there any icon that springs to mind for a "visitor" - the context is ...
3
votes
3answers
448 views
Services and resources for creating Android icon(s)
What services/resources, paid or otherwise, are available to android developers who want an icon designed for their mobile app?
3
votes
3answers
112 views
Suggest an icon for top tracks in a music application
I'm designing an online music player application, and in top bar of the application, we need a "Top Tracks" button. The application is skinned with a Mac OSX theme as of now, so ideally it should be ...
3
votes
3answers
322 views
How can I reduce/smooth the colors of an image?
I have an drawing that was created with colored markers. I've scanned it and would like to use it as clip-art/icon style image.
I'm wondering how I can smooth out the colors of the image such that ...
3
votes
2answers
189 views
Where can I find assets and the terms of use for creating buttons/icons with various social network logos?
Sharing icons/buttons are a big thing these days:
(From here)
Are all/most of the icons you see around the web created without explicit permission?
If there is permission granted for the logo, ...
3
votes
3answers
79 views
How to make red icon on gray background less jarring?
My app has a button to record or play videos. When there are problems with this feature, we notify the user by overlaying an exclamation point. This "red !" UI works OK elsewhere in the app but on ...
3
votes
2answers
262 views
How to fill with similar colours?
I have this image that have been damaged by JPG, and would very much like to restore it, as if it had never been compressed with JPG.
Can someone help me with this? I assume I need to fill with ...
3
votes
2answers
67 views
How do you create Icon Fonts?
Ive seen many examples of people using icon fonts but I am wondering what is the best way to execute this process. An example of icon fonts: Raphaël Icon-Set via @font-face. A tutorial I have read. ...
3
votes
1answer
423 views
Photoshop or Illustrator for Icon Design
Photoshop and Illustrator compared, both expose nearly the same possibilities to create icons except that Illustrator uses a vector based system. In which situations is which product more reasonable ...
2
votes
3answers
347 views
How can I make my graphics look less “cartoony”?
To begin with, I'm a programmer -- not a graphic designer, so I'm not very good at making pleasing looking images. But I want some that at least look decent enough for version 1 of my video app, and ...
2
votes
1answer
275 views
Issues with creating a hi-res Large Icon for Android notifications in Jelly Bean
I am attempting to create beautiful hi-res graphics for Android notifications, but am running into some issues. In Jelly Bean, there is a new place for large icons (see the notification design ...
2
votes
2answers
205 views
Where to find high-quality icon sets?
I'd like to change the style of our Windows Mobile application to follow the Modern UI style (as in Windows 8 or Windows Phone 7). While there are excellent guidelines for layout, fonts and sizes, I'm ...
2
votes
3answers
128 views
What is a good icon to indicate that a given item is NOT part of a list?
I need to place an icon next to an email address to indicate that the email address is NOT a member of a given mailing list.
This could be abstracted as: What icon best indicates that the entity it ...
2
votes
2answers
165 views
What Windows-based tools do you use to create icons?
I'm working on a project that often needs small (16x16, rarely 32x32), simple, bespoke icons (either made from scratch or as slight modifications of other icons).
Working on a Windows box, I end up ...
2
votes
2answers
2k views
Android Icon Tutorials
I've been trying to find tutorial on to make android icons as for the 2.0+/3.0+ specifications. I've found some based on the old 1.x specs but these are quite outdated. Does anyone have anything out ...
2
votes
2answers
95 views
Pathfinder not accomplishing my task in Illustrator
I am trying to make a speech bubble. My attempt consists of a rectangle and then using the pen tool to establish three points. They are not filled and only have a border.
Here is what I have:
This ...
2
votes
2answers
70 views
How do I create a professional quality desktop icon?
I would like to create a professional quality icon. Currently, I have created an icon with IcoFX. The icon looks great -- when it is scaled at the right size. When it gets scaled to the wrong size, ...
2
votes
2answers
403 views
Tool for working with cross platform/desktop icon format?
I want to create/edit a desktop icon that must work on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux (KDE/Gnome) and mobile devices. Is there a tool that handles all these different formats?
2
votes
2answers
59 views
How to create a light border for an app icon
This is a fine piece of iPhone app icon:
I'm wondering how they created the fine texture along with the slight 'glow' on the edges:
I suppose the texture is made by a semi-transparent layer on ...
2
votes
1answer
41 views
I downloaded an icon pack, how do I get each icon separately?
I just downloaded the icons from http://www.entypo.com
Say I want to just get the lightning bolt icon, how do I get that specifically from the PSD file, and since it's vectored, at the resolution I ...
2
votes
1answer
30 views
Is there an icon set of cartoonish faces?
Commercial or free. Something similar like these:
http://dribbble.com/shots/482481-3d-Face
http://dribbble.com/shots/121074-Face-Process
http://dribbble.com/shots/685520-Face-Replace-iOS-Icon
I ...
2
votes
1answer
85 views
What's an appropriate icon to represent the concept of 'all'
In my app, I have a collection of objects that I'm allowing the user to filter. To represent each filter, currently starred objects, watched objects and the user's object, I use the icons pictured ...
2
votes
1answer
91 views
How can I improve this icon?
Programmer here, working on an app by myself. I think I'm slowly improving with my images each month, but I've never taken a course in graphics design, so there are elements of professionalism that ...
