Rockstar Icon Designer - Kate McInnes [15]
Icons downloaded from sorrowfloats.deviantart.com/art/dialog-icons-116913809.
Design Tips
Alert icons shouldn't be altered from their traditional designs as you may run the risk of confusing the end user. You should always conform to communication standards, such as red for important warning, yellow for alert, blue for information and green for accept. Because alert icons accompany important feedback for the user, an unconventional design may hinder the user experience and cause confusion. To assist in user accessibility, alert icons should always be a combination of a bright color and a high contrast symbol.
Toolbar Icons
Toolbar icons form the basis of a user interface and highlight the main functions of a software package. Some sets can contain hundreds of individual icons, and while you may not immediately notice each design, you will find that they appear in numerous menus, pop-out palettes and dialogues. Toolbar icons are usually 16 pixels and 32 pixels square, but with the addition of high resolution monitors, they may be required at larger scales.
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Ryan Putnam: Vector Mill WeeCons & Root Icon Set
rypearts.com | vectormill.com | dribbble.com/RypeArts
Hi, I'm Ryan Putnam, the owner, designer, and illustrator of Rype Arts, a design studio specializing in brand design and illustration. In addition, I run VectorMill.com, an online shop selling quality vector resources and Vectips.com, a popular blog dedicated to Adobe Illustrator tips, techniques and tutorials.
I created the Vector Mill Root Icon Set and WeeCons to look pixel perfect but retain the benefits of vector art. I wanted to keep the set visually bright and inviting for use on websites and interfaces.
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Design Tips
When designing Toolbar icons it's best to make a list of the icons needed before you begin to design. Once you start to sketch, be sure that designs intended to be viewed next to each other complement the overall design of the Toolbar, have a similar use of color, and don't sit too high or low in the menu or dialogue. Toolbar icons need to be in a clear style that can be viewed easily and shouldn't have too many textures and effects added. Because Toolbar icons are used in conjunction with a tool or process they need to have a clear meaning with universally recognized metaphors. An excellent example of effective Toolbar icon design is the Tango icon set.
Smartphones & Tablet Devices
Smartphone and tablet device icons take many forms and are seen on a variety of screen sizes. While they may all have different styles, they all need to be designed with legibility and scale in mind. The biggest market for smartphone and tablet icons is the Mac iOS and Android -type icons. Because both iOS and Android are open to third party development, the number of designers required to make these style of icons completely overshadows other mobile icon formats.
iOS and Android icons are different to regular computer icons for a number of reasons, one being the competition in the marketplace. There are literally thousands of applications available for smartphone devices, all of which are in competition with one another. You will notice that the competition has largely driven design styles for these platforms as an application that looks good will gain a higher number of purchases than one that doesn't. Launcher icons for mobile devices are bright and clearly represent the application they're intended for, they should stand out on both bright and dark backgrounds and have a design that is memorable. Because these icons serve a dual purpose as both a launcher icon and as a thumbnail on the Android Market or App Store, the launcher icon needs to show the kind of program it represents. The use of logos is discouraged in this style of icon because they often don't convey the purpose of the application and it can be difficult to make a