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The most typical mistakes in icon design?
#1 Poor differentiation between icons It often happens that within one pack of icons, we see icons that look alike and it is really difficult to tell what is what. If you donÒt see the signatures, you can very easily get the icons mixed up. #2 Unnecessary elements in the icon The cleaner and more laconic the icon is, the better. It is preferable to set the number of objects in a single icon to a minimum. However, MicrosoftÒs designers, excited by the new format of icons featured in Windows Vista, decided to go big and created bloated icons to proof worthy their over packed budget. #3 Unnecessary elements An icon should be easy to read. The fewer objects it has, the better. It is great if the whole picture makes sense and not only part of it. That means, you have to understand the context of using icons. Take the database icons, for instance. The pack may appear fine for a novice, but if the software (or a separate toolbar) deals only with databases, we can (and we must) remove the unnecessary part. #4 Non-unified style within a set of icons It is a similar style that turns several icons into a set. The unifying property can be any of the these: similar colors, layout, resolution, drawing technique or a combination of several such properties. If the set only contains a few icons, the creator can keep some rules in his head. If the icon set contains over a hundred images and there are several designers working on this task (for example, icons for an operating system), then specific guidelines should be developed. Such guidelines carefully describe how to design an icon so that it fits straight into the set. #5 Unnecessary perspective and shadows in small icons Progress does not stand still: GUIs have gotten the potential to display semi-transparent items, the number of possible colors to use became unlimited and there is currently a trend towards 3D icons. But is it actually all that helpful? Not necessarily! Especially if we are looking at icons in size 16?16 or smaller. #6 Overly original symbols Selecting what is to be included in an icon is always a compromise between reconcilability and uniqueness. Before a symbol (image) is developed for an icon it is advisable to see how it is designed in other projects. Maybe the most suitable solution lies not in inventing something original but rather in adopting the existing solution. #7 National or cultural differences not being considered It is always helpful to take into account the conditions in which your icon will appear. An important aspect here is ethnical characteristics. Cultural customs, surroundings and gestures can differ radically from nation to nation. For instance, a mail box appears to be a great symbol for a ÓMailÔ icon. However, you will find all the different types of mailboxes in different countries. In that case, you should either make your icon represent the mailbox that is typical for the userÒs country or state, or chouse a more general symbol like a post stamp. #8 Pictures of real GUI parts in icons The manual on designing icons for Mac OS X tells us: ÓAvoid using Aqua interface elements in your icons; they could be confused with the actual interface.Ô But no use! We still have lost of icons that can be read as a couple of separate ones. #9 Text inside icons This mistake is typically seen in software icons. Clearly the first thing that comes to mind when developing an application icon is to adapt the applicationÒs logo. What is wrong about the text embedded into the icon? Firstly, it is strictly language-related and so forces localization. Secondly, if the icon is done in a small size, it is impossible to read the text. Thirdly, in the case of software icons, this text is duplicated in the caption of the application. #10 Outside the pixel framework This problem usually occurs if you use a vector editor for creating your icons. In large size everything looks stylish and clean; but in real life the icons are small, and under rasterization anti-aliasing blurs the objectsÒ edges.
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Standard Toolbar Icons
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ArtIcons Pro can find, extract, edit and create Windows icons in color depths up to 16 million colors. Import and export icon images, create and handle icon libraries. It supports the new icon format introduced in Windows XP (8-bit transparency). Download it |
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IconXP can edit and create Windows icons in color depths up to 32-bit True Color. It supports the new icon format introduced in Windows XP (8-bit transparency). You can customize desktop and folder icons. Download it |
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Any to Icon allows you to convert multiple BMP, JPEG, GIF, PNG, WBMP and WMF images to Windows icons in one action. It also breaks down entire icon libraries into individual icons. You can change color resolution and size to create customized icons. Download it |
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IconUtils is a complete icon and cursor solution. IconUtils package can edit icons and cursors, manage icon and cursor libraries, convert icons into images (in various graphic formats) and vice versa, customize Windows desktop and folder icons. Download it |
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Icon to Any allows you to convert Windows icons and cursors into BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF, ICO, CUR, WBMP and RC formats. It has a wizard interface. It's simple to process multiple files at once. You can find icons and make images for use on Web pages. Download it |
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ArtCursors allows you to edit Windows cursors in color depths up to 16 million colors. You also can search files and folders for cursors, import and export cursor images and create cursor libraries for better and more efficient storage. Download it |
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AhaView supports all popular graphic formats, including JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, ICO, CUR, ANI, WBMP. You can browse images in thumbnail mode, view pictures full screen with zooming features, convert images to JPEG, PNG, BMP formats and manage files. Download it |
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CustomIcons is an ultimate tool for customizing the icons on you desktop, in Windows Start menu and many other locations. Using CustomIcons you can easily replace default Windows icons with the ones to your choice. Download it |
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