7 Tips on Designing a Coherent and Consistent Icon Set

Alex is a passionate graphic designer from Texas. She grew up captivated by the world of color, typography, and print design.

Creating a consistent and coherent icon set is no easy task. Learn how to master icon design with these 7 expert designer tips.

Icon design is the process of designing graphic symbols that represent objects, actions, applications, and more. Icons exist virtually everywhere; you’ve probably seen them on street signs, in your phone, or on websites’ landing pages. These designs typically take on a flat style approach, with crisp edges and smooth curves to ensure legibility at all sizes.

The main purpose of an icon is to quickly and clearly convey a visual message. An effective icon breaks through language barriers by offering universal meaning to all viewers. They are absolutely essential when you need to encourage a specific action, such as navigating an airport or using different commands in a software interface.

Over time, digital icons have become even more important as the demand for web design has grown. You can design icons on user interface programs such as Sketch or on vector programs like Adobe Illustrator. If you don’t have access to exclusive design software, you can also quickly design icons using Shutterstock Editor.

Need some help on your next icon design project? Read on for seven valuable tips for mastering icon design.

1. Stick to a Single Style

Before diving into designing your icons, think about the direction of the style. This is more than just keeping all icons a specific weight, color, or aesthetic. The style direction also takes into account where the icons will live and how people will encounter them. Icons designed for an app interface will differ from icons designed for a large poster.

Once you’ve determined the direction of your icon style, keep it consistent. An icon set with multiple variations and weights may clash with itself. If you’re not sure if your icons pair well, place them side by side and determine which icon appears to be the outlier. Don’t rush this process; it may take a few revisions to perfect your icon set.

2. Adhere to a Specific Theme

The main thing you’ll notice when glancing at icon sets is a specific and cohesive theme. Icon sets typically fit an assigned topic, whether it’s for a music app or a banking website.

If you find your icon set too vague, stick to a single topic or theme. Rather than mixing medical and office supply icons together, for example, think of imagery that goes hand-in-hand with the medical industry. Mixing icons from more than one discipline can create confusion within the icon set and obstruct the design’s message.

3. Take Advantage of Grids

Have you ever tried designing an icon on a blank piece of paper? Over time, your lines and shapes start to look wonky and uneven — often a recipe for disaster if you don’t tighten them up later on. The secret to pixel-perfect icons lies with square-shaped grids.

Grids act as a boundary within which an icon exists — they encourage you to design within a limited space. Designers who rely on grids often take on a specific design style, and they retain the same dimension throughout the icon set.

Before you begin designing your next icon set, start with a grid or some graph paper to ease into designing within boundaries. Grid paper will speed up your design process, and you’ll avoid unnecessary revisions down the road.

4. Use the Same Color Palette Throughout

Most designers learn early on that a consistent color palette is essential to design; icon design is no different. Maintaining a consistent color palette throughout the set ties multiple icons together for consistency.

When choosing your color palettes, make sure they match the themes of your icon sets. For example, retro hues may not complement an icon set dealing with computer parts.

As a rule of thumb, try to avoid using too many colors in your icons; stick to three or fewer throughout your icon set, and choose hues that pair well with each other, such as complementary or analogous colors.

Looking for color inspiration for your next icon design project? Check out these 101 color combinations, 25 retro palettes, and 20 holiday-themed hues — all free.

5. Keep the Same Weight and Dimension

In addition to maintaining the same color palette in your icon set, it’s also important to use a consistent visual weight and dimension throughout. Too much variation in your icon set can affect the overall design message and make it look like the icons are mismatched.

If you’re sticking to outlines or shapes, make sure that the size and weight of each is uniform. In the icon set above, for example, the circles and line weights of each design are consistent. When in doubt, use grids and rulers.

6. Set Up Strict Icon Guidelines

To maintain consistency in your icon set, set up some guidelines. These can be as simple as incorporating rounded rectangles in each design — or more complex, such as using a four-pixel outline in each icon, a 15-pixel grid boundary, and a consistent integration of circles and crosses. Whatever your rules, stick to them. Over time, you’ll notice your icons starting to harmonize.

7. Ensure Clarity at All Sizes

Most icons live online or in app interfaces at relatively small sizes. When designing your icons, try resizing them to ensure that each icon retains clarity at even the smallest sizes. Icons with exquisite details tend to get lost in translation when sized down, often making them hard to read and understand.

Experiment with different variations of your icon; this helps you to see which aspects of your design are essential and which are merely decorative. If your icon set consists of outlined shapes and curves, consider incorporating solid colors to balance the composition. Above all, it’s crucial that each icon communicates effectively. If your icons are difficult to decipher, consider revising your design.

Cover image via Bloomicon.

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