Icon Design - how to, resources and the rest

The icon design process

The processes involved in designing an icon vary depending on the designer and the project but the following steps are usually involved. Everyone has to find their own particular methods, as with any design process, but I think this list gives a good starting point.

1. Research
   Any design project should begin with a healthy dose of research, and icons are no different. It's important to make sure that your icon set meets the needs of the users, will be versatile to work with all the icon types required, etc.
2. Concept sketching
   Sketch out as many ideas for each icon as you can. Doing this with pencil and pencil is really important. Ideas just flow so much better this way. The idea here is just to get as much out, on paper, as possible, without worrying too much about 'good'.
3. Concept optimisation
   Once you've chosen concept or idea for an icon, the next step is optimising it to produce the best possible design: maybe tweaking the layout, colour, etcetera.
4. Final rendering
   This is where you put the icon into its final form. This could be a vector image, 3D or whatever suits the brief.

The benefits of custom icon design

• The client (or you) has real input in to the design process
  Allowing the client to be involved during an icon's design stages has obvious benefits. They can give feedback during each stage of the process allowing the final product to suit their needs as closely as possible.
   
• The icons can be tailored for a specific audience
  Often an application or website will be created with a certain target audience in mind. Custom icon design allows this audience to be taken into account so that the icons produced are suitable and optimal.
   
• The icons will be unique to the application or web site for which they designed
  Using stock icons means that there will most likely be other applications or web sites around using the exact same icon sets. Obviously it is greatly preferable to have individualistic icons that cannot be found elsewhere and this is what custom icon design allows.
   
• The icons can be tailored to match the clients branding/visual identity
  Often a client will require icons to fit within a certain visual identity or brand style and this can be accommodated with custom designed icons. It is obviously impossible to achieve this with stock icons.
   

Common mistakes when designing icons

• Using text within an icon.
  Avoid using text within an icon, unless it is absolutely necessary. Text in an icon will often become unreadable at smaller sizes, and it is also unlikely that a text based icon will be comprehensible at a glance, as an image would be. Another problem is that the text will be written in a specific language, restricting its viable audience significantly.
   
• Too much unnecessary detail in small icons.
  When an icon has to be designed for usage at very small sizes there is very little room for detail. Attempting to add details for aesthetic appeal will more likely than not make the icon too difficult to comprehend to be usable.
   
• Different styles used within an icon set.
  It can be tempting to use multiple styles within an icon set to add variety and visual appeal but this will inevitably be detrimental to the quality of the set as a whole.
   
• Too many objects used within a single icon.
  Using too many objects can cause problems with both comprehensibility and scalability. At smaller sizes each individual object can become too small to identify and the overall meaning of the icon can be lost.
   
• Lack of distinction between icons.
  It is good to have a consistent look and feel within an icon set but there must still be some distinction between each individual icon. If icons are too similar, it can become confusing for the user as they struggle to differentiate between them, causing frustration and irritation.
   
• Trying to be too clever with metaphors.
  If a metaphor isn't obvious it may not translate the correct use or function of an icon to the user. What may seem like a clever usage of metaphor to the designer may, in fact, be too obscure to be understood by some potential users.
   
• Designing the icon at too large a scale.
  Designing an icon at a larger scale than it is going to be displayed at will cause issues when the icon is scaled down to the actual display size. Objects that were clear and understandable at one size will often be unintelligible at a reduced size.