Icons

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Best Icon Pack. Do you even notice that you are surrounded by icons all the time? Just think about it and look around. They are placed over almost any object within your sight (those gooks are everywhere!): on your clothes, furniture, phone, and even on the cup of coffee you bought on your way to work. The history of humankind looks like a spiral – we painted first icons (pictures of animals) on the walls of caves, then we used them as written language (yeah, we are talking about Egyptians), in the Middle Ages we placed icons to the coats of arms and by now we use them… well, everywhere. Web-artists paint thousands of them for every purpose possible and create icon packs. When you decide to create a website or draw a banner it is more profitable to buy an icon pack than collect each icon separately. But let’s take a look at some history.

A history of an icon pack: pictograms and ideograms

Every picture presents some kind of meaning or idea the author wants to show to the viewer. Pictograms and ideograms are just like that – a picture that contains some concept in it. Those terms are very close in meaning but still have a sufficient difference. The pictogram is a picture that repeats the shape and colour of a real object to display some meaning. The perfect example will be marked on the map, showing you the location of airport, railway station, bus stops, restaurants, theatres, etc. Some part of the road signs uses pictograms of vehicles, people or animals too to make the warning perfectly clear. However, the most popular example of pictograms icon pack are emoji – I can hardly imagine a person who hasn’t seen and used it nowadays.
Throughout the history pictographs, which could be treated as first icon packs, were used to write down stories and myth in Southern America, Mesopotamia and Egypt. To make some sets of pictograms like laundry symbols or chemical hazard signs (you can call each of them an icon pack too) were defined in the international standard ISO 7001. Ideogram is a picture that presents some kind of concept or idea that doesn’t depend on language. The difference from pictogram is that ideogram contains a concept that is not presented as a real object. For example, there is no object to present prohibition, but when you see the image of a dog crossed by an oblique cross (“X”-like) you immediately understand that dogs are not allowed in that place. Most of the mathematical symbols are ideograms too (like “+”, “=” or “√”). The set of mathematic ideograms could be called a mathematics icon pack.

What an icon is and why is it so cool

In computing, the icon is a little picture, a pictogram or ideogram that is displayed on the screen of the device to help the user navigate the system. In design icons are used for brand logos, to highlight some part of the content and to decorate the picture in general. One way or another, the icon pack used for the device interface or designed picture helps you to wrap an idea that otherwise would demand a few rows of text description into a little accurate image. Here are the main advantages of using icons:
  • They demand little space. As we mentioned previously – icons contain a big concept inside and save space that would otherwise be filled with text. Users prefer to see pictures rather than read something, so it is a win-win.
  • Icons make recognition faster. The icon with a curved arrow and the label “return to the previous page” have the same purpose, but the user will understand what an icon means much faster than if he reads the text. Yeah, the difference in time if tiny, but what if there will be not a single icon, but thousand? Icons help the user to spend fewer efforts on navigation and improve readability.
  • They don’t need language skill. Icon packs that were included to the international standards are universal. No matter where are you from – you will understand them. And that is true not only for standardized icons – there is a huge icon pack that was made universal by ads or devices (like a “turn on/off” icon or “Coca-Cola” label).
  • Icons are a real eye-candy. They decorate the general picture and make it more stylish and attractive. If the icon pack design suits the other parts – it strengthens the impression the viewer gets from it.
  • They draw attention. If you need to highlight some parts of the content – you can do it with the icons, that catch the eye of the visitor and make him pay attention to it.

What type does your best icon pack belong?

There’s a book titled “Universal Principles of Design” that explains the basics of design knowledge. It splits icons into the four understandable categories. Understanding what type does your icon pack belongs will help you to use it more efficiently.
Similar icons Similar icons. When an action or a concept is simple enough to describe it with just a few words – it could be shown in a similar icon. Such kind of icons use symbols that are intuitively understandable to viewers. For example, “Return to the previous page” concept could be displayed as an arrow that turned back and “Falling rocks” sign has the shapes, that look like stones, falling from above on it.
Example icons Example icons. These use a picture of an object that is associated with the concept you want to show on the icon. It is very effective – this way you can display a complex action in a 100% clearly way. For example, a football (like a black & white ball) is often used as an icon for football as a game and scissors can help to display the “cut” action.
Symbolic icons Symbolic icons. Now we get to the next level of abstraction. When an action is associated with some easily recognizable symbol – you can use it as an icon, thus they are not connected directly. For example, electricity is tightly connected in the user’s mind to lightning and lightning is commonly drawn as a zigzag line. Or when we think of fragile stuff the glass will automatically come to mind, so cracked glass is used as an icon for fragile cargo.
Arbitrary icons. Arbitrary icons. Such kind of icons has no direct connection to the concept they describe. Somebody once decided that that concept will be matched with a specific icon. A user who sees it for the first time won’t be able to understand what does it mean; it will need some explanation from a person who already remembered it. For example, a symbol that is used to warn the viewer he is dealing with a bio-hazardous object. Or an icon that is associated with Capricorn horoscope sign.

What to use the best icon packs for?

If you are going to create a website the use of an icon pack is obvious – you can just replace the icons used in the website template. However, where to place the icons if you create a website design from scratch? Or what to use them for in a commercial design? Here are some ideas.

Make a featured list more interesting

A plain text is boring. And it doesn’t matter what are you writing about if a user sees a solid wall of text – he becomes bored without reading a single word. So, to make the content more attractive and engaging you will have to add featured lists, tables and pictures to the page. The featured list is a perfect target to spice it up with some icons. You can choose one icon to match different parts of the list or use the whole icon pack and make that list bright and catchy. Icons will attract reader’s attention to the list and improve readability – the reader will know what are you writing about from the first sight to the icons you choose.

Logo of the company

Logo of the company Company’s logo is a great-grandson of coats of arms which used icons from the times of Ancient Greece. A logo has to give the user a hint to what the company is specialized in and besides that be catchy and memorable to stay in his mind. Pixel icon pack, lines icon pack, 3D icon pack or material icon pack – all of them are commonly used for logo creation. A logo shouldn’t be too big or detailed, because the user won’t remember a complicated picture, so an icon is an ideal solution for the company symbol.

Understandable buttons

The button with “Download” label is quite understandable even to the most part of people who don’t know English. However, a directed downwards arrow icon will be understandable to every user who entered the internet at least once. A button with “Save” label will demand more space than a button with the floppy disk image. As you can see – even a minimalist icon pack could help you make usability better and general structure of the page or banner clearer.

Decorative purposes

Icon pack is a box of little images that you can put to any part of your design. A handful of sparkles here and there can express some mood, highlight some part of the content and spice it up. A frame, made of tiny icons, a scatter of images, glittering over the big photo – creative mind could think of dozens of ways of using an icon pack.

Why using oreo icon pack, moonshine icon pack and crazy icon pack at the same time is a bad idea?

Overdoing won’t make your design more popular and efficient. A lonely tree on the mountainside attracts attention and impresses, but a tree in the forest won’t step out of the line. A barrel of icons poured down to the page will only mess the general look up and won’t help it to achieve the goal of its creator. If you want the icon pack not only to decorate the design but also help the viewer to navigate through it – you need to limit the number of icons you use. Experiment with different icon packs, but don’t mix up different styles, shapes and colours – that will look awful. It would be the best solution if, in the end, you choose one icon pack that you consider to suit the best and use it for all the design – that will make the design look solid and express some concept.

Icon pack is better than separate icon load and here’s why

You can ask: “Why should I download an icon pack? There are no guarantees I will like all of them/ Isn’t it better to create an icon pack I would like for 100% by downloading some separate icons?”. The answer is – no, it won’t be better. It will take you the hell lot of time and in the end, a nice result is not guaranteed. Downloading an icon pack will be cheaper (especially if you get it by MasterBundle super-profitable offer), faster and simpler solution. Here’s a comparison table that will help you to decide what’s better for you.
Icon pack Separate download
Design Single style for all items in the pack, so you don’t have to pick up fitting images All the icons have to be picked up and carefully combined to match each other
Time A few minutes to download an icon pack A few hours or even days to find and download every icon
Money The whole pack costs from $4 to $12 on MasterBundle The cost of every icon counts separately and depends on resource
Satisfaction You can download a ready-made icon pack and immediately start working with it You spend lots of time to collect an ideal icon pack and you are proud of it

Best icon pack design trends of 2020

In 2018 the most popular trend was flat design. Simple shapes, monotonous colours, flat icon pack – have you noticed that lots of websites, ads and content were styled like that this year? And it will be still strong in the new year, but as we live in a very dynamic and quickly changing world – some new trends are emerging and you should be ready for them if you want to create the most up-to-date products possible.
Complimentary colour gradient. It is coming back and will probably become a new most popular trend, replacing flat design. Gradient design was used in the IOS 7 for the first time, but at that time it didn’t gain popularity. And now fashion finally came to it by itself, so gradient icon packs will become really popular soon. Keep that in mind when you will have to choose the design for your new work.
Hand-drawn items. If created accurately, hand-drawn elements could make the general look of the website sincerer and more natural. Artists websites, clinics, health care centres start using such kind of design and got overwhelming success. It is possible that hand-drawn icon packs will replace minimalist icon packs in popularity.
Staggered gradients. Another fresh trend that is slowly growing in popularity. Combination of bright, juicy colour gradients and smooth, calm details create a really vivid effect. And it looks especially cool with the mosaic structure. Staggered gradient icon packs could become more popular than circle icon packs!
A handful of sparkles. Cute tiny details make you feel amusement and “aww-effect”. All those small stars, dots and circles, that surround the main image make it look a little childish, but you won’t believe what a success it gains from the audience.
Deep image. The icons that have depth will become popular again in 2020. Shadows, overlapping elements, perspective – and the picture start to look like a little window into another place. 3D icon packs will grow in number to fulfil the necessity of voluminous elements.

Get your icon pack on MasterBundle!

MasterBundle has all the variety of different icons that one just could imagine. Monitoring the updates, you can get an astonishing icon pack for an unbelievably low price or even for free! The offers are limited in time, so don’t waste it and go grab the best icon pack that will spice up your design and make it look cooler. All possible colour schemes: black icon pack, white icon pack, red icon pack or pink icon pack – we have them all! Icon pack for Nova launcher, Google icon pack or Teamspeak icon pack – don’t miss your chance to have almost for free!

Icons Usability

Among all the types of icons similar ones, as a rule, have the highest degree of usability. However, this type can be rather ambiguous for international users who can interpret the same things differently. In other words, images of unusual objects can cause difficulties in recognizing them, for example, according to an investigation that was held in Hungary, only 9% of Hungarians correctly interpreted the squash player icon because most Hungarians had never seen this game. So creating an icon that will be clear for all the nations and cultures is almost impossible. A famous usability science guru and founder of the Nielsen Norman Group, Jacob Nielsen, says that this situation is similar to mailboxes that look different in different countries all over the world and vary in shape and color. He also adds that when he first sent a postcard in Belgium, he was not sure if he used the official mail, because the Belgian mailboxes looked completely different from all the others that he had ever seen. After all, it was a physical object and a small two-dimensional picture is likely to be even more incomprehensible. At the same time, analogy icons, as well as arbitrary icons, are often perceived by users even worse than similar ones. This can be explained by the fact that analogies are often more determined by local cultural peculiarities rather than the appearance of physical objects, which makes them even more ambiguous. Thus, differences in national conventions may significantly reduce the usability of interfaces aimed at using icons based on the principle of analogy. For example, a dining table image can be used as a so-called “reminder” icon to represent a table of numbers. The analogy between tables as furniture and tables as typographical objects has sense only if the users speak English. At the same time, completely different words are used to convey these two concepts in other languages (for example, bord and tabel in Danish). So for the users who speak those languages, the icon representing the table is reduced to the status of an arbitrarily selected icon. In other words, it makes no sense. Thus, the most comprehensive icons that will help you improve your site’s usability and consequently its conversion are simple icons that can signify only one particular object or idea and are understood the same way by the representatives of different nationalities.

How to Create an Icon

Due to the huge popularity of mobile apps, icons have become extremely demanded design elements since they have this magic power to save so much space on a small smartphone’s screen. So knowing how to create a decent icon is definitely useful. Well, without further ado let’s figure it out together. You can create an icon in several ways using such tools as Paint, ICO Convert, or Shortcut. Each of these methods is rather simple and you will no doubt be able to easily create the very thing you need. So today, we are going to figure out how to work with ICO Convert. Well, here are the steps you’ll have to follow in order to create an icon using this very method:
  1. Open ICO Convert in your browser.
  2. Find the “Choose file” button and click on it.
  3. Select the picture you would like to use in the File Explorer window.
  4. Click on the “Upload” button.
  5. Crop your photo as needed.
  6. Press the “Select None” button in order to prevent your picture from changing its shape.
  7. Scroll down and select ICO format.
  8. Click on the “Convert ICO” button.
  9. Download your icon and enjoy using it.
As you can see, creating an icon is super easy and pretty much anyone can cope with it. So do not hesitate and try to create some of your own.

How to Sell Your Icons

Certainly, every graphic designer who creates unique design elements, including icons, has a very reasonable question, which is “Where can I sell my icons?” Well, pretty much anywhere. In fact, there is a huge amount of marketplaces that purchase freelancers’ products and resale those later, which means that selling your masterpieces shouldn’t be a problem at all. The most important thing is to find a reputable marketplace that will actually pay you for your products because you surely want to avoid a scam. So if you want to sell your unique icons or other design elements, you probably should check MasterBundles’ Sell Your Deal section. Well, do not hesitate, follow the link above and sell your first icon today.

Icons FAQ

Where can I get high-quality icons for my projects if I don’t want to create them by myself?

There is a tremendous amount of places where you can find both free and premium icons for pretty much any project. Among the most trustworthy companies that offer vector icons are FlatIcon, IconFinder, Icons8, MasterBundles, as well as many more. So go ahead and look for some lovely icons that will back you up in literally any situation.

Premium or Free?

This is a rather difficult question. Of course, premium icons are better because they are premium for a reason. At the same time, there is a lot of cool free options as well. So while making a choice between a premium or free product, rely on the type of a project you work on as well as the budget you have. In other words, if you are working on something serious like developing an app, it’s better to use premium icons or the ones you created yourself since they would be unique. However, if you are involved in something less serious and your budget is rather limited, use a free one.

Where do I sell my own icons?

You can sell your icons as well as other graphic elements at MasterBundles Sell Your Deal.

Why icons are so important in web design?

Icons save a whole bunch of space on a website’s layout, which is extremely important for mobile versions of a site as well as mobile apps. Besides, they improve website usability, so these little elements are very important.

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