Creating a set of consistent icons
The aim of this project has been to design a consistent line style icon set. The system can grow infinitely thanks to the creation of a strong style and detailed guidelines.
My name is Laura, I am a UX UI designer with frontend skills and because of my engineering background I have special interest in design systems and improving the communication between designers and developers.
Inspiration
First of all, it is important to search for many references, not only visual references but consistent ones. For example, Zach Roszczewski, known for his work with companies like Airbnb, provides in-depth insights into his icon sets design process in his website.
Guidelines
It is extremely important to define rules for basic shapes: square, circle and rectagle.
On the one hand, creating these basic guidelines, you will know the dimensions for new icons to be proportional to the others.
On the other hand, every rule and detail that you can define and add, will be really helpful to create new icons quickly.
Remember that guidelines are different for every icon set and this is what can give a personal appearance to it. You may come across icon sets using a 2px stroke, while others may use 1.5px or 1.75px. However, the crucial aspect is to maintain consistency in your choice.
Naming
This is one of the most important steps! If you want something to be scalable, you have to be really organised. This set is divided into 10 different groups, naming the icons following this nomenclature:
Collection / Name / Size / Mode
Mode refers to vector or contour style.
It is a good idea to establish a naming convention through dialogue with your development team, as often it is more convenient to use one nomenclature over another depending on the tools used.
What I learned
Every icon set is different. However, if it is built based on strong rules, designs can be done faster and icons will have an amazing style consistency. The set will be easily scalable.
