Why is icon design important in UI design?

Icons are everywhere! Take a look at the screen you are staring at right now. You will find icons on your desktop, even on the website you're reading this. Icon design forms a crucial part of any website or app design. Icons are universally understood. We all know an 'X' indicates closing the window, a camera icon indicates clicking a picture.

What are the icons used for?

Icons are used to present blocks of information visually. Instead of writing, 'Clicking this button will close the application you are working on right now in small text over a small button, they design it as an 'X' icon. That 'X' icon indicates the entire message visually, doesn't take up all the space needed, and, most importantly, provides a cleaner user experience.
So, we can define the primary objective of an icon to communicate the message very rapidly and effectively.

What can be some other ways icons be used?
1) To express Brand Identity

• If we notice the different icons used by a single brand, we will see patterns or similarities.
  At this point, those icons are not just providing visual information at a glance but are now used to express the brand and its brand identity.
• The brand identity patterns help the icons to indicate the same meaning and stand apart from each other.
  It helps bring visual consistency and identification in the brand language.

2) Enhancing the visual branding

• Icons are more accessible to look at and more relatable than just plain text.
• It is why icons are used to improvise the visuals of any branding activities.
• For example, Striking aptly placed icons on a brochure, pamphlet, etc., will brighten up the visual branding.
• It will grab the user's attention and rapidly communicate the message to him, thus retaining the user's attention.

What is the website icon?

An icon accompanies all necessary actions on a website, and it ensures a quick and better understanding of its actions and effects. Icons take up less space on a website than if displayed textually, and it makes the website interface look cleaner and more comfortable on the eyes.

Icon design for applications

Your phone's app drawer. It shows so many icons to you simultaneously, yet you never fail to recognize the app icon of the app you were looking for. The app icon is the visual anchor for your app. App icons are often confused with logos, which isn't correct.

If the applications represented the same information by a scrollable text without any visual identification, it would have been a nightmare to search for anything.

Read more on — What are the characteristics of an icon?

ProCreator is an award-winning UI/UX Design agency in Mumbai, focusing on establishing an end-to-end product solution, from product design to development.

Originally Published at ProCreator Blog, Written by — Rajat Bagree.