Icons! There are so many, recommendations for a junior UXer?

Hey guys, I have just started as a junior ux designer after finishing college so i am straight into the deep end creating projects. One thing that has intrigued me is the sheer amount of icons sets and types out there and wanted to seek some advice, are there industry standards? What about particular places or plugins? Is it really down to aesthetics and what you like? Thanks!!

Gary

A great place to start is the Glyphicons set, it’s not too expensive, and the basic pack is free, which is the set you get included with bootstrap. It’s available as a font too which makes using it nice and easy to implement and use.

Another good set is Streamline icons, there are thousands in the set so you should be able to find something for whatever you need! a bit more expensive than Glyphicons but you do get a lot more icons in the set.

Hope this helps

I started our recently in UX as well.
The biggest challenge is not finding the right icon sets, but the good ones are expensive.
I frequently use Fontawesome where appropriate.
Other times I just pick something thats free to use by filtering it on Google.

I also had to create my own icons when I found no suitable alternative that was inexpensive or free.

For type I use Google fonts or Adobe typekit.

Coming to industry standards, I don’t think there is any one standard out there. I’ve seen that UX designers use whatever fits the need best.

Thank you so much Jacqui, yes it helps a lot actually they seem great, :slight_smile:

Gary

Thank you man, another newbie! Yes its daunting as there are so many, would like to perfect my own too but thanks for the Fontawesome link it seems like a great resource.

Gary

Hey Gary,

I use the noun project or I make them myself in illustrator. I wouldn’t stress over standards etc- just do what you need to do for the work you’re doing! Every project is different and it all really comes down to user research anyway!

Ashlea

1 Like

Thanks Ashley, great share! :slight_smile:

Gary

A little something I discovered through both practice and education: If you’re overall design is colorful, don’t make the icons colorful. Rely on their form instead. Otherwise they will be hard to distinguish and the colors won’t really stand out. Plus your pages will look like a Lisa Frank nightmare. If, instead, your overall design is monotone or subdued, color can have a more important roll in the icons you use. It’s all a matter of contrast.

Though even then it depends on how many icons you use. There are only so many colors that the average human eye can easily distinguish. It’s not a great idea to have users have to tell the difference between, say, two different shades of green for two different icons if it is at all avoidable.

1 Like