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I would like to create a package of icons and offers them for download. But I have some questions relating to the creation of these icons software and the size that offers them. These icons can be used for any purpose, but mostly focuses on user interface in applications for desktop and smartphone or in website.

Software

What is the appropriate software for creating icons? Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop? Or is there any better for this job?

Sizes

From the point that these items will be generic, ie they can be used in an application or a site, even in some other project that you choose, what is the best size to be created?

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  • There is no 'best size' nor 'best software' other than, vector when possible, as big as possible. – DA01 Oct 5 '15 at 18:27
  • Definitely want to make it in Adobe Illustrator, as you then have mathematical bezier vectors. This way you can increase the icon as big as you want, opposed to pixels (which will get blurry/pixelated). – Daan Oct 7 '15 at 8:19
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This is quite simple actually.

Let's take the software part: My personal rule, whenever the design allows it, use a vector based software! Therefore, using Adobe Illustrator (for me) is the only choice.

When it comes to sizes, the first question that pops in my mind is if you really need to worry about it. You said they will be available for download and can be used for any purpose, therefore the answer is EPS (thank's to Andrew for pointing out my mistake regarding the file format).

To let them be used for any purpose you should really give the vector file for the user to resize according to their needs.

As a sidenote, i've seen people save at 16px , 32px and 64px format...

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    I have never seen a vector download as SVG (for stock websites), vector files are almost always an .eps file and sometimes includes the working file .ai. – AndrewH Oct 5 '15 at 18:30
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    @AndrewH :)) the joke's on me :)) I have mistaken my friend, thank you for bringing me back to earth...I wanted to write EPS and also leave a note to save .eps not .ai for non-ai users (like corel) and i wrote SVG while using and svg for a website :)) will correct right away – Alin Oct 5 '15 at 18:56
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I agree with @Alin. Basically, everything you intend to scale, create using vectors. Regarding the format, I would go with .png or .svg, because of interlacing and transparency, and because it's easy to convert to the usually needed .ico format. Regarding the size, I would recommend going up to 256px or even 512px for large Windows, OSX and Linux icons.

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