What’s the Most Overlooked Element in Icon Design?

Question

Hey Product Hunt Community!

Quick question for all the designers out there:

What’s the most overlooked element in icon design that makes a huge difference?

Looking forward to your insights!

Apurva Desai · Accepted Answer

One of the most overlooked elements in icon design is contextual clarity. While visual aesthetics and technical precision often receive significant attention, ensuring that an icon conveys its intended meaning within its specific context is frequently neglected.

Martin Maričák · Answer

1. Apparent meaning. It should be clear what action, or concept an icon represents. If it's difficult to symbolise, a label, or at least a tooltip should come with an icon.

2. Consistent visual properties. E.g. same stroke width, same roundness, etc.

Ditarth Desai · Answer

Consistency, simplicity, and adaptability across diverse designs.

Nicola Lanzilotto · Answer

Icon's context: While it's important to make icons visually appealing and easily recognizable, their meaning and usability depend heavily on where they are placed.

Prem Saini · Answer

In my opinion, the most overlooked has to be the emotional and psychological impact of the design choices. Btw Nice tool, Congrats buddy!

Alexandre Contador · Answer

I believe the regular color palette and playing with it

Fady Bark · Answer

Consistency, nothing screams "cheap UI" more than having icons that do not conform to the same style/filling

Ghulam Abbas · Answer

@ditarth_wbs Absolutely! Consistency, simplicity, and adaptability are key for creating effective icons that work across diverse designs. Thanks for the input!

Julia Grant · Answer

Do you think cultural context plays a role in icon design? Sometimes symbols aren't universally understood.

Answer

I find that the choice of iconography style can be crucial but sometimes neglected.

Answer

I believe the alignment and spacing within the icon are often overlooked.

Answer

@digital_by_appu amazing

Answer

In my experience, the color contrast between the icon and its background is frequently underestimated.

Answer

@prem_saini1 I agree with you Prem on this, even though I am not a designer but I believe this is the one key thing most people miss before creating their icons.

Ghulam Abbas · Answer

@martinmaricak Great points! Ensuring an icon's meaning is clear and providing labels or tooltips for complex symbols is essential. Maintaining consistent visual properties, like stroke width and roundness, also makes a big difference. Thanks for sharing!

What’s the Most Overlooked Element in Icon Design?

Replies