In user interface design, icons play an important role to make an interface easier to read. You can communicate more words in a lesser space by using icons.
Nowadays, Icons are not just small links to anything. Icons are fully interactive cues that help lead users through a design and provide an extra visual spark. Icons sizes can be varied in terms of their uses they can be small and large, as well as flat or intricate. So it can be very challenging for every good designer to be aware of icon design mistakes.
Let’s explore the top mistakes that many designers do in icon design.
1. Icon Design Uniformity-
When you are designing multiple icons for any pack than you have to maintain the consistency among icons. Sometimes, designers fail to maintain the consistency of icons that are included in the same set. For example, these icons can have a different perspective, different style, shadows, gradient, and so on. So, If you design each icon in a different way, then it wouldn’t look like a set anymore.
2. Icons are not different and separable-
Sometimes, it is very difficult to differentiate icon designs within one set of icons, Insufficient differentiation between icons create confusion to understand what icon has what meaning. Especially when they are in the small sizes.
3. Unnecessary elements-
An icon should be easy to read, recognizable and identifiable. You should avoid using too many unnecessary elements in the icon to enhancing the visuals of an icon and to make your icon design simple.
4. Too many details in the icon-
Minimalism is a global trend nowadays. If there are too many details included in an icon, Make it hard to understand, Especially when they are in the small sizes. Use the minimum number of objects to maintain the effectiveness of icon.
5. Unnecessary shadows in small icons-
3D and usage of multiple colors is a recent trend that is used in icon design, But sometimes it is not worth to use shadow and more color if we are going to use them in small sizes like 16*16.