In modern web and mobile design, flat icons are a popular choice for designing clean, minimalist, and high-functioning user interfaces. Its simple shape, bold color, and clear design can enhance the UX by making navigation and interaction more intuitive.
Despite appearing so obvious, designing flat icons is far from simple. In this essential guide, we explore the core principles for designing flat icons, the principle of consistency, and how you can actually achieve visually stunning yet functional flat icons. From reading this article, you should gain a crystal-clear understanding by the end as to how effectively creating flat icons improves usability and overall aesthetic appeal within digital products.
What are Flat Icons?
Flat design refers to the style of iconography that stresses minimalism. Flat icons are distinguished by their deficiency in an effect where the elements have a three-dimensional look, like gradients, drop shadows, and other features representing the skeuomorphic design approach, where the icons are designed in very prominent colors, simple shapes, and with a 2D look, putting emphasis on clarity and functionality.
The elegance of flat icons is in the ability to describe a concept or function with fewer visual elements, making them ideal for modern web and mobile interfaces. They are used pervasively, from navigation buttons and app icons to logos and other UI elements.
Why Use Flat Icons?
Flat design has become one of the most popular used design trends in recent years because it boasts several benefits:
1. Simplicity and Clarity
Flat icons are simple and easy to read and understand. Because they are flat, there is no need for a user to interpret by his or her self complicated textures, shadows, and gradients, so the interface remains clean and straightforward. This is what makes flat icons suitable for smaller screens such as mobile devices; clarity is fundamental usability in them.
2. Rapid Loading
Flat icons are usually lighter in file size compared to more detailed icon styles. Since they do not require detailed textures or gradients, they can be optimized for faster loading times, which is important for improving the overall performance of your website or app.
3. Responsive and Scalable
Flat icons can work well with a variety of screen sizes and resolutions. Since they are usually vector-based, they scale very well without losing the quality of the image. This makes them perfect for responsive design where icons remain sharp and crisp from mobile phones to desktop screens.
4. Modern Aesthetic
Flat design has become synonymous with modern, clean, and minimalist design. Using flat icons brings your product in line with the current trends of design, giving it a fresh, modern look that appeals to today’s users.
For instance, Iconfair provides an extensive range of flat icons to suit various design requirements. You can browse through their vast library to find icons that will complement the visual language of your website or app.
Principles of Designing Flat Icons
Design flat icons is more than removing 3D effects from design. The functionality and appeal of your flat icons will depend on which principles you follow as a designer. Below are the core principles to keep in mind for creating flat icons:
1. Focus on Simplicity
Flat design is all about simplicity. A flat icon designer should focus on designing icons that say something in the least detail possible. They should avoid extraneous embellishments, making use of only basic shapes, lines, and colors to portray an action or concept.
For example, a trash can icon can be depicted as a simple square or rectangle with a lid and a handle, without using complex textures or depth. The idea is to make the icon instantly recognizable and comprehensible at a glance.
2. Use Bold, Contrasting Colors
Flat icons are typically created using bold and bright colors. Ensure that your chosen color scheme goes well with your design as well as clearly defining the icons on the screen. Use contrasting colors to ensure the icons can easily be distinguished on the background.
Ensure that the color themes align with your brand identity. If your website or app has a defined color scheme, make sure to bring those into your icons to have a consistent and reinforced brand.
3. Consistency
Consistency is one of the most important aspects of designing flat icons. If your design includes multiple icons, all should look similar in style. This means using the same line thickness, color scheme, and shape style from one to another. Consistent icons give a cohesive, professional look that improves user experience in general.
If you are using a pre-made icon set, such as those from Iconfair, ensure all icons are created with the same visual language. Whether you’re creating custom icons or choosing a set, consistency is the key to maintaining a polished and unified look.
4. Scalability
Icons are frequently shown at multiple sizes, from small favicons to larger buttons on a website or application. As such, icons should be designed so that they remain clear and readable at a variety of scales. Avoid excessive details that will be illegible or unclear at smaller sizes.
When creating flat icons, ensure they are vector-based. This way, they will be scalable and of good quality on any screen size. Vector formats, such as SVG, are ideal because they allow for infinite scalability without losing quality.
5. Meaningful Icons
The primary role of icons is to convey information as quickly and clearly as possible. Make sure every flat icon you design conveys a clear, intuitive meaning. A user should intuitively know the function of an icon without needing to guess or rely on text.
For example, a magnifying glass is universally recognized as a symbol for “search,” and a house is typically used to represent “home.” Choose symbols that are widely understood and avoid overly abstract representations unless they are central to your brand.
Steps to Design Flat Icons
Now that we’ve discussed the key principles, let’s go through a step-by-step process for designing flat icons that align with best practices:
1. Research and Plan
Before you begin designing, take some time to research and understand your audience. Consider the context in which the icons will be used and what actions or concepts they need to represent. Look for inspiration by exploring existing icon sets and reviewing design trends to ensure your icons align with current expectations.
2. Sketch Your Ideas
Start by making some rough sketches of your icons on paper or using a digital tool. In this stage, focus on simplicity and clarity. Experiment with different shapes, lines, and sizes to determine what works best for the concept you are trying to convey.
3. Select a Design Tool
Once you have your basic concepts, it’s time to digitize your designs. Use vector-based design software like Adobe Illustrator, Sketch, or Figma to create clean, scalable icons. These tools allow you to work with precise shapes and lines, ensuring that your icons are both high-quality and scalable.
4. Test for Readability
As you design your icons, test them at different sizes to ensure they remain clear and legible. Consider how your icons will look in both small and large formats. Icons that are too detailed may lose clarity at smaller sizes, so simplify them as needed.
5. Refine Your Icons
Once your icons are created, refine the design by adjusting the colors, shapes, and lines to achieve the desired visual balance. Ensure that your icons maintain a consistent style throughout the set. Pay attention to alignment, spacing, and proportions to create a polished final product.
Where to Find High-Quality Flat Icons
In regard to creating your own flat icons, this is a long process. However, you can easily find great resources with pre-made icons that you can customize for your needs. For example, the platform Iconfair offers you a great variety of wonderful flat icons. These have professional designs, consistency, and customization. They are extremely useful for designers who really want to save time without having to compromise on quality.
Conclusion
When thinking of designing flat icons, one can definitely ensure better aesthetic and functionality in one’s digital product. Focusing on simplicity, consistency, and scalability would be important enough to have created icons which communicate meaning effectively and enhance the user experience. Be it designing your own flat icons or using the sets of pre-made ones, make sure your icons correspond with your brand and make navigating much easier for users.
For designers who look for a good, reliable source of flat icons of excellent quality and uniformity, Iconfair has an array of customizable icon sets that can help them to work on various design needs. After studying this guide, you will be able to design great-looking flat icons that will add to the overall usability of your digital product.
