Picking the perfect pack
With so many packs out there, it can be hard to make a choice of which one to pick for your design project.
The truth, however, is quite comfortable - there's no perfect choice, and usually multiple packs will work equally well.
That being said, here are a few tips for picking a good pack for your next design project.
The size isn't the only thing that matters
You might be tempted to grab the pack with the highest amount of icons possible. However, that's not necessary. Consider the type of project you're designing, think through what icons you need, and it might turn out that a simple pack of 50 or 100 icons will be enough, and you don't need 20,000 of them.
It's also good to note that most of these huge icon packs contain multiple styles. While that's a good thing, you usually won't use more than 1 or 2 of them in a single website or app due to consistency reasons.
Modifiable line width
It's absolutely crucial that the icon pack you go for features a customisable line/stroke width. If it doesn't, it'll be impossible for you to make the icons thinner or thicker. All icon packs featured on iconism have customisable line width.
Consider the vibe
Icons speak. Sharp, rectangular icons give a completely different vibe than cute, rounded icons. There's also always the spot in the middle, of icons that are "neutral", so to speak. So considering the examples from this website, Iconly have a very "cute", rounded vibe, and heroicons or Phosphor Icons have a more toned, neutral vibe.
There's no perfect answer to the question of which vibe you should go with. It all depends on the product that you're designing, what vibes you aim for. For example, imagine using cute, rounded icons on a Louis Vuitton website, or using sharp, non-rounded icons in the Airbnb app. Both of these completely miss the spot when it comes to visual identity.
Mix and match?
You pick one icon pack and stick with it for the entire project, but more often than not you'll find that you need some icons that the pack doesn't include. In a case like that, there are two good solutions.
The first one is to design the icon you need yourself. This is the harder route - icon design is a "job" on its own, but if you possess the skills, it's always going to give you the exact result you need, because you make the icon yourself.
The second solution is to find another icon pack which features a similar vibe and that has the icon you need and use it. Just be very precise with it. It's easy to spot the "impostor" among icons in an app. It should have the exact same vibe, line width, and other properties.
Don't overcomplicate this process
It's not as hard as you think. I have my default icon pack which I'm leaning towards whenever I begin a new project, which is myicons.co. However, I like to explore other choices every now and again. For example, some time ago I was designing a dashboard, and I decided that filled icons will fit better, and it turned out that heroicons were the perfect fit.
Picking the perfect pack
With so many packs out there, it can be hard to make a choice of which one to pick for your design project.
The truth, however, is quite comfortable - there's no perfect choice, and usually multiple packs will work equally well.
That being said, here are a few tips for picking a good pack for your next design project.
The size isn't the only thing that matters
You might be tempted to grab the pack with the highest amount of icons possible. However, that's not necessary. Consider the type of project you're designing, think through what icons you need, and it might turn out that a simple pack of 50 or 100 icons will be enough, and you don't need 20,000 of them.
It's also good to note that most of these huge icon packs contain multiple styles. While that's a good thing, you usually won't use more than 1 or 2 of them in a single website or app due to consistency reasons.
Modifiable line width
It's absolutely crucial that the icon pack you go for features a customisable line/stroke width. If it doesn't, it'll be impossible for you to make the icons thinner or thicker. All icon packs featured on iconism have customisable line width.
Consider the vibe
Icons speak. Sharp, rectangular icons give a completely different vibe than cute, rounded icons. There's also always the spot in the middle, of icons that are "neutral", so to speak. So considering the examples from this website, Iconly have a very "cute", rounded vibe, and heroicons or Phosphor Icons have a more toned, neutral vibe.
There's no perfect answer to the question of which vibe you should go with. It all depends on the product that you're designing, what vibes you aim for. For example, imagine using cute, rounded icons on a Louis Vuitton website, or using sharp, non-rounded icons in the Airbnb app. Both of these completely miss the spot when it comes to visual identity.
Mix and match?
You pick one icon pack and stick with it for the entire project, but more often than not you'll find that you need some icons that the pack doesn't include. In a case like that, there are two good solutions.
The first one is to design the icon you need yourself. This is the harder route - icon design is a "job" on its own, but if you possess the skills, it's always going to give you the exact result you need, because you make the icon yourself.
The second solution is to find another icon pack which features a similar vibe and that has the icon you need and use it. Just be very precise with it. It's easy to spot the "impostor" among icons in an app. It should have the exact same vibe, line width, and other properties.
Don't overcomplicate this process
It's not as hard as you think. I have my default icon pack which I'm leaning towards whenever I begin a new project, which is myicons.co. However, I like to explore other choices every now and again. For example, some time ago I was designing a dashboard, and I decided that filled icons will fit better, and it turned out that heroicons were the perfect fit.
Picking the perfect pack
With so many packs out there, it can be hard to make a choice of which one to pick for your design project.
The truth, however, is quite comfortable - there's no perfect choice, and usually multiple packs will work equally well.
That being said, here are a few tips for picking a good pack for your next design project.
The size isn't the only thing that matters
You might be tempted to grab the pack with the highest amount of icons possible. However, that's not necessary. Consider the type of project you're designing, think through what icons you need, and it might turn out that a simple pack of 50 or 100 icons will be enough, and you don't need 20,000 of them.
It's also good to note that most of these huge icon packs contain multiple styles. While that's a good thing, you usually won't use more than 1 or 2 of them in a single website or app due to consistency reasons.
Modifiable line width
It's absolutely crucial that the icon pack you go for features a customisable line/stroke width. If it doesn't, it'll be impossible for you to make the icons thinner or thicker. All icon packs featured on iconism have customisable line width.
Consider the vibe
Icons speak. Sharp, rectangular icons give a completely different vibe than cute, rounded icons. There's also always the spot in the middle, of icons that are "neutral", so to speak. So considering the examples from this website, Iconly have a very "cute", rounded vibe, and heroicons or Phosphor Icons have a more toned, neutral vibe.
There's no perfect answer to the question of which vibe you should go with. It all depends on the product that you're designing, what vibes you aim for. For example, imagine using cute, rounded icons on a Louis Vuitton website, or using sharp, non-rounded icons in the Airbnb app. Both of these completely miss the spot when it comes to visual identity.
Mix and match?
You pick one icon pack and stick with it for the entire project, but more often than not you'll find that you need some icons that the pack doesn't include. In a case like that, there are two good solutions.
The first one is to design the icon you need yourself. This is the harder route - icon design is a "job" on its own, but if you possess the skills, it's always going to give you the exact result you need, because you make the icon yourself.
The second solution is to find another icon pack which features a similar vibe and that has the icon you need and use it. Just be very precise with it. It's easy to spot the "impostor" among icons in an app. It should have the exact same vibe, line width, and other properties.
Don't overcomplicate this process
It's not as hard as you think. I have my default icon pack which I'm leaning towards whenever I begin a new project, which is myicons.co. However, I like to explore other choices every now and again. For example, some time ago I was designing a dashboard, and I decided that filled icons will fit better, and it turned out that heroicons were the perfect fit.