Simple rules for creating an icon design.

Online icon editors are not taken seriously by many, but in fact, such tools greatly facilitate the workflow. Just a couple of clicks can save you hours of searching, browsing, or self-development. In addition, it makes no sense to use full-fledged ones when available. special services with sharpened functions for these specific tasks.

Icon editor sites like this one are very efficient. They allow you to:

• easily and quickly create new materials;
• give existing developments a complete look;
• save the result in different formats(SVG, ICO & PNG);
• create icons for .

In this article, we have selected five of the best online free icon editors and tried to create a set in each of them for comparison.

IconsFlow

IconsFlow.com - vector icons + editor that allows you to create personalized sets and export them to good quality(SVG, ICO & PNG). The main advantage of the service is the presence of two editors:

• the main one, in which the palette, style, effects are selected;
• form editor, where you can change the current form or draw a new one.

If you have already created icons in Illustrator, just upload the SVG files and play around with different backgrounds. IconsFlow has certain limitations when free use, so make sure you read them before starting. For novice users, there are lessons and a help section, in addition, it is possible to work in the icon editor in Russian.

View of IconsFlow vector editor:

Work examples:

flat icons

With FlatIcons.net you can create your own flat style icon based on ready-made templates. Set the dimensions, choose a picture and the main background (circles, rings, rectangles), change the color. This icon editor is free, but it has two drawbacks:

• First, you can only download files in PNG format.
• Secondly, you will have to create each object separately, because it is impossible to develop the whole set at once.

Despite the fact that the peak of popularity has already passed, many people use them in their designs. As an example, developers allow you to download free set social flat icons. The result of working in the FlatIcons editor:

Launcher Icon Generator

The Launcher Icon Generator project is free and we think it's more suitable for advanced users. This online icon editor allows you to upload images / clipart and add text. You can download one icon at a time in 5 sizes (48 x 48; 72 x 72; 96 x 96; 144 x 144; 192 x 192).

As a base clipart, a set of graphics in the style of Material Design from GitHub is used. The service contains such settings as: padding, shape, background color or transparency, scaling + additional effects. Result:

Android Material Icon Generator is another tool for creating flat icons. The feature of the service is definitely the effect in the form of a long shadow. If you need such solutions, this icon editor will be the perfect option.

Start by choosing a picture from the gallery, then determine the color, shape background(circle or square), shadow length, saturation, fading - and your icon is ready. Everything is extremely simple. For personal use the site is completely free.

After downloading, you will find 6 PNG in the archive file different sizes and vector SVG file. In Illustrator, the SVG icon will be blurry, but luckily it looks good in the browser. The result is something like:

The Simunity site is an HTML5 based generator where you can create an icon and then copy the code to display it in your web projects. Icons from Font Awesome are used as source materials, for which different options: color, frame, size and shadow style.

This service is useful if you need to quickly create simple original icons for the site. The result of applying Simunity:

Total. Discussed above online editors Icons are great tools for optimizing the work of designers. It makes no sense to download some programs when everything can be done quickly and easily online. From this collection, perhaps, IconsFlow can be distinguished. It contains the maximum big number features: icon gallery, SVG upload, embed code, preview, creation own templates, PNG, ICO and SVG export, size adaptation, fashion styles and inline vector editor. Moreover, it is the only free editor icons in Russian, if that's important to you.

If you know any other similar services, send options in the comments.

Hello. With you NataLime and today we will make Tumbler-style badges with our own hands, with which you can decorate a backpack, jacket, bag and anything. They are quite simple to make and we need a plastic container. They usually sell all sorts of cookies, cooking and so on. Well, in order to choose a suitable container, we need to pay attention to the packaging. There should be a PS-06 sign here.

We do not need the ribbed part of the container, so first we cut out a flat part from the container lid. You can use quite a bit of plastic from each container.


Pre-print on the printer the pictures that you want to see on your icons. Pictures should be 3 times larger than the icon size. We apply plastic to the picture and with a permanent marker we outline everything along the contour.


Try to circle carefully, but even if there are small gaps, it's not scary. They will fix themselves in the next step. The contour is ready and now we cut out the smiley face with scissors.


All figures are ready. And now we need a baking sheet, which we previously covered with parchment. We spread the figures on it and send it to the oven preheated to 180 degrees. What happens to them? At first they all curl up and it seems that instead of badges you will get plastic tubes, but, fortunately, then they are aligned. We take out our blanks from the oven as soon as they become even. The plastic badges have shrunk in size by about a third, as expected, and the badge has become very dense, as if it was not made by me myself, but by professionals at the factory. All figurines are great!
And now it's time to breathe life into them with paint! I took acrylic paints and painted each element of the workpiece with inside. There is very little left until complete readiness - glue special pins for badges on hot glue.




Our icons are ready and now they can decorate and diversify any Look. They can be attached to a backpack, sweater, jeans, and anywhere else your heart desires. These icons are just amazing. They are bright, youthful, stylish, super-duper cool. I really liked them, and I hope you like them too. it’s difficult to make them, but you have to sit for a long time and painstakingly draw everything. And it’s quite easy to make them and the result is simply amazing!


Of all the badges, I liked Wow, the panda and the palm tree the most. Which icon do you like the most? Please write in the comments.

Pennants. It wasn't easy to get them. And today, thanks to the development of technology, you can make them yourself. Knowing how to make an icon with your own hands, you can also make Original gifts friends, and make comic medals for the holidays, and set up your own production of products handmade.

Manufacturing methods

How to make a badge with your own hands at home? It depends on what skills and materials the master has. Most simple options- badges made of cardboard. Wooden models are also easy to manufacture, but you will have to tinker with metal ones - these are one of the most difficult options.

Cardboard, paper, fantasy

Before you make an icon with your own hands, you should decide on a theme. For weddings, anniversaries, school competitions and children's matinees, comic medals and badges are often made. To create them, you need cardboard, pins and imagination.

Wedding decorations for witnesses

Often, when preparing a wedding, young people want it to be remembered for a long time not only by them, but also by the guests who came to share the joy. Original badges are being prepared for witnesses. Now it has become fashionable to order them from hand-made masters. But knowing how to make badges for witnesses with your own hands, you can safely get down to business.

For work, you will need the following materials: satin ribbons of suitable colors, cardboard, scissors, a needle, threads, glue (preferably a heat gun), pins.

Cut out 2 circles from cardboard. right size(diameter - 5-6 cm). Prepare inscriptions that you can do yourself or print on a printer found on the Internet. The inscription must correspond to the dimensions of the cardboard blank. Stick inscriptions or pictures on one of the cardboard circles.

The next step is decoration. Here you can give space to the imagination. The badge can be decorated with satin ribbons by making kanzashi petals out of them. Or make a frame of lace, which will look no less beautiful, but is much easier.

Most often, badges in the form of a flower or a medal are made for witnesses. Decoration elements are attached to the second cardboard circle with glue. At the end, the middle is closed with a circle with an inscription. A pin is attached to the back. And the witness badges are ready. You can decorate them with beads, sequins, rhinestones.

Badges from blanks

On sale in stores for creativity, you can find blanks for badges. With their help, you can do the most various options. Some simply glue the image on, while others require the use of a special press to create a finished product. When buying, you should check with the seller all the nuances.

With a simple blank, you can make a simple badge out of cardboard or paper. On the printer, print the image you like, corresponding to the size of the workpiece. You can draw your own or take your favorite picture from a magazine. Lots of options.

Glue the picture onto cardboard that matches the size of the badge. The surface of the workpiece made of metal should be slightly cleaned with sandpaper for better adhesion and glue the image with superglue. All is ready. For reliability, the picture can be laminated or covered with a transparent varnish. Here's how to make a DIY badge out of cardboard.

You can generally do without blanks. Just stick the image you like on a cardboard or plastic base and attach a pin to fix it.

Sea of ​​options

Knowing how to make an icon with your own hands, you can safely take on the manufacture of such souvenir products. After all, maybe these products will also become collectible.

More complex options are wooden icons. In shops for creativity, you can find special blanks that can serve as the basis for a future product. You can also independently cut a thin fragment from a plate with a thickness of 0.5-1 cm and grind it. A drawing is applied to them with paints or an inscription is written. You can use a burner to apply an image. Lots of options.

Those who master the art of wood carving can cut and carve products of amazing shape and beauty. It can be symbols, logos, amulets, and runes. Made in the popular eco-style, these products will become an exclusive and stylish decoration. Those who know how to make wooden badges with their own hands do not need to rack their brains over gifts for the holidays.

Aluminum and lead - the basis for work

In Soviet times, metal badges were popular. Now you can make them yourself, but this will require some tools and skills to work with them. For manufacturing, aluminum plates with a thickness of 2 mm are suitable. An image is applied to them, and then a shape is cut out and turned. The finished icon is covered with paint. This is painstaking work.

But you can cast a lead badge even at home. Lead is a fusible metal. It is necessary to put small pieces of metal into a special container; the solder used for soldering radio components is also suitable. Melt the metal on the fire and pour it into the mold. It must be heat resistant. There are ready-made options for sale, they can be found in specialized stores. simple shapes can be done in ordinary sand. Sift the sand, compact it well and make a recess of the desired size and shape. Molten lead should be poured into it. When the metal has cooled, you need to grind the product and attach a pin to it. Further decoration is up to the taste and discretion of the master.

Decoration - a flight of fancy

There are many options for how to make a badge with your own hands - everyone can choose the most suitable one for themselves. It can be a simple badge made of paper. But if you wish, embroidery, felting wool, beads and rhinestones, and other most unusual materials that came to hand during work can be used to make an exclusive version.

Such handmade products will definitely not go unnoticed. It's simple and affordable way self-expression in creativity.

The Android operating system allows you to change the appearance your device. You can color in different colours desktops and change their number, add widgets and additional panels, change default icons and icons installed applications. To do this, there are special icon packs that can replace all the icons on your system in one fell swoop. We offer 10 such sets that will give your gadget a completely new look.

To use one of the icon packs below, you need to install and activate one of the third-party skins. You can choose any of the great launchers like Nova, Apex, ADW, Go Launcher, Holo Launcher or Action LauncherPro. After you install the icon pack you like, open the launcher settings and select the icons you want there.

MIUI 5 Icons

This icon pack offers over 1900 free icons, which repeat the design used in MIUI ROM, which we wrote about. Great amount Icons allows you to provide most of your installed applications with new icons.

DCikonZ Theme

DCikonZ is a free theme that includes a whopping 4000+ icons in the same style. This package differs not only in quantity, but also in the excellent quality of each icon.

Holo Icons

These are icons from operating system Android, which may come in handy if you dream of returning to the canonical holo-style of the system.

Square Icon Pack

Square Icon Pack turns all your icons, including round ones, into perfect squares. The icons here look like small tiles made of Windows phone and Windows 8.1. Free version does not offer as many icons as the paid one, but it is enough for a successful use.

rounded

If you don't like square icons, then maybe round icons will be to your liking. Theme developers say they were inspired by the design new Firefox OS from Mozilla.

Crumbed Icon Pack

After applying this package, all your icons will take on a somewhat rumpled and dilapidated look. Note that here, instead of replacing your icons with custom ones, a special effect is simply applied so that any of your icons will have a consistent look and feel.

Dainty Icon Pack

If you are tired of the riot of colors, then check out this exquisite theme that offers stylish gray and white icons for over 1200 applications. They look perfect on any uniform background.

Simplex Icons

Simplex icons look more contrast than the previous theme, but are also made in the spirit of minimalism. This icon pack can spruce up your gadget, especially if you match other design elements in the same style.

Min Icon Set

This icon pack is the quintessence of primitivism in its purest form. All icons for over 570 apps are plain white characters. However, applications not included in the bundle will be represented by their own icons in a white circle.

elegance

Elegance against the background of previous kits looks a bit crowded a large number details and gradients. These icons, and there are more than 1200 of them, look like real works of art, almost like full-fledged paintings.

And what masterpieces of icon painting do you like? Post links in the comments.

I recently read an article by Scott Lewis who is professional designer Iconfinder.com icons. Scott received a degree in graphic design at East Carolina University and has been designing icons for over 25 years.
I was interested in his advice on creating an icon, as well as his approach.

The three main components of good icon design

The form

aesthetic unity

recognition

These were the three main components effective design icons. In the following, we will detail six steps to accomplish these tasks.

Net

Parties

The grid is only there to help you make icons even and consistent, but if you're faced with a choice between making an icon pretty or breaking the rules, then break it - but do it very carefully.

geometric shapes

Numbers: Edges, lines, corners, curves

CORNERS

CURVES

ROUNDING CORNERS

PIXEL SMOOTHING

However, I note that smoothing becomes less relevant when large sizes and on screens high resolution such as retina display.

LINE THICKNESS

Use repetitive design elements and accents in icon sets

Use details and embellishments very carefully. An icon should quickly communicate an object, idea, or action. Too many small details will make the image complex and therefore less recognizable, especially at smaller sizes.

The level of detail in a single icon or icon set is the same important aspect aesthetic unity and recognition. The main rule is the minimum of details necessary to convey the meaning of the icon.

Make your icon unique

All these simple steps should be considered as a starting point and not as a definitive guide. After mastering the theoretical and technical foundations, you can focus your energy on creating unique icons that stand out from the crowd thanks to your creative vision.

Set of icons that were used on