Project Overview

Paramarine® CAD Software is an integrated Naval Architecture design and analysis toolset developed by QinetiQ, one of the world’s premiere defence and security technology companies.

Creative Freedom’s icon designers were asked to update the user interface icons for a new generation of the software. Not only did QinetiQ wish to create a fresh new look for their aging UI but they also wanted to take advantage of new technology and integrate scalable Vector icons (SVG) to give them flexibility in the future.

This custom icon design project was particularly challenging due to the scale, over 1400 icons were needed in 16×16, 32×32 and 64×64 pixel sizes. Our icon design team developed a crisp new style and by taking advantage of the SVG format made sure that the 32×32 pixel option was perfect for scaling to 64×64 pixels, reducing the project’s cost and time overheads for the developers. 16×16 pixels always need it’s own file as upscaling such a small size rarely gives the desired results.

This icon project was both enjoyable and challenging. Firstly the vibrancy of the style was a real pleasure to work with but it was also necessary due to the scope of the project, and colour was used throughout to help group icon families of similar functionality, with the addition of glyphs to help symbolise common functions across the entire software platform.

Icon Manager

Among other things, Paramarine® is used to design vessels, including Warships and Submarines. All software contains a subset of standard recognisable icons, like open, save, copy, paste, print etc. but complex CAD software like this can have hundreds or even thousands of completely unique engineering concepts to be designed. This is one of the reasons we created Icon Manager, our unique Icon Design project management tool.

Icon Manager is the hub for the entire icon design process. Everyone involved in the project has an account and is notified every time there is new activity on the project. This ensures complete transparency throughout the project. Every new icon, every comment, edit, or iteration is recorded and easily accessible through a simple and intuitive interface. No need for long email threads or clumsy Excel documents to track the project. Icon Manager is a massive time saver and removes the headache of managing large or small icon projects.

We’d love to hear from you about your icon design project, click below to speak with Adam about anything icon related.