| Maryna
Small Icon sizes such as 16×16 pixels are often neglected in Icon Design, in my opinion though, this is where the real skill lies. In most cases simply scaling down a larger icon is not going to work and is often why for 16×16 pixel icons it is acceptable to drawn them in a slightly… Read more »
| Maryna
In a lot of projects we are asked to produce different color versions of the same icon, sometimes this is to represent a different icon state or to provide the end user with interface skinning options. By creating Icon sets you can make working with color easier, faster and prepare your Illustrator document for simpler editing. Global… Read more »
| Maryna
When designing Icons I prefer to create a page with multiple icons displayed so I can see how the icons look together as a set. I find this very important and convenient when trying to ensure a consistent style across all the icons I am designing. For example, I have a file in Adobe Illustrator… Read more »
Fortunately, the days when only one bit was given for transparency (that is, a pixel was either transparent or not) are long gone. Thanks to the 8-bit alpha-channel, the creation of extremely beautiful icons with perfectly smooth lines has become much easier. The edges of icons don’t look like stubs any more, but this is… Read more »
One of the most complicated things in 3D icon creation is selection and construction of right perspective. You are lucky, if specification for the development of an icon follows some style guide, which has a detailed description of required perspective and points of view. Mac OS X Human Interface Guidelines: Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines (three-dimensional… Read more »
We are back to basics this week: our contributing editor looks at some of the elements of effective icon design. A set of well designed icons can make a big difference to the look and usability of any website or application. Whether you are on the designing or commissioning side of the icon equation, it’s… Read more »
What is the best icon design software to use in your work? Do you really need so much? When the first graphic interfaces appeared, and nobody knew about “icon design” as a specialty, icons were small and monochrome as displays. With higher screen resolutions, the number of icons and the colors in them have grown… Read more »
| Joe
Designing a Button Style Custom Icon This tutorial will explain the process of designing and creating an icon from one of my favourite sets of custom icons. This dark, metallic and slightly glossy set was produced for a ‘button-type’ custom icon design to be used in a PDA driven software application. The icons all feature… Read more »
A recently completed Icon Design project for baxterStorey has been added to our portfolio. Please check it out here: BaxterStorey Icon Design Project
As an Icon Designer I am a big fan of Adobe Fireworks, which doesn’t get the kudos of its more popular siblings such as Photoshop and Illustrator but there are some things it does far better and most revolve around its excellent handling of the PNG file format. What is so great about PNG? The… Read more »
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