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The most typical faults in icon creation?
#1 Too little differentiation between icons Sometimes within one set of icons, we have icons that look similar and it is very hard to tell what is what. If you donÒt see the legends, you can very easily get the icons mixed up. #2 Unnecessary elements in one icon The simpler and more laconic the image is, the better. It is preferable to set the number of elements in one icon to a minimum. Nevertheless, MicrosoftÒs graphic designers, excited by the new icon format introduced in Windows Vista, tried to go big and created over packed icons to proof worthy their over packed budget. #3 Unnecessary elements An icon is an image that should be easy to understand. The fewer elements it has, the better. It is better if the whole picture is relevant and not just a part of it. That means, you have to pay attention to the context of using icons. Take the database icons, for example. The pack may look fine at a first glance, but if this application (or a specific toolbar) deals only with databases, we can (and we must) delete the unnecessary part. #4 Non-unified style in a set of icons It is a similar style that unites several icons into a pack. The uniting property can be any of the these: color scheme, perspective, size, artistic style or several of those properties combined. If there are only a few icons in the set, the designer can remember the rules easily. If there are many icons in the set and there is more the one designer working on them (for example, icons for a new OS), then special guidelines should be created. Such guidelines carefully describe how to draw an icon so that it fits straight into the rest of the pack. #5 Spare details in small sized images Progress does not stand still: GUIs have gotten the potential to use semi-transparent items, lost the limitation on the number of colors and there is now a trend towards 3D icons. But is it really all that useful? Not necessarily! Especially if we are looking at icons sized 16?16 or smaller. #6 Overly original metaphors Choosing what is to be shown in an icon is always a compromise between reconcilability and originality. Prior to a symbol (image) is developed for an icon it is smart to consider how it is done in other projects. Maybe the most suitable solution lies not in inventing something unique but rather in adopting the common solution. #7 Ethnical or cultural differences not being taken into account It is always necessary to consider the background in which your icon will be used. An important aspect here is ethnical characteristics. Social customs, surroundings and gestures can differ radically from country to country. For instance, a mail box appears to be a great image for a ÓMailÔ icon. However, you will find all the different kinds of mailboxes in different countries. In that case, you should either make your icon represent the mailbox that is typical for the userÒs country or state, or pick a more universal symbol like a post stamp. #8 Images of real interface elements in icons The tutorial on designing icons for Mac OS X tells us: ÓAvoid using Aqua interface elements in your icons; they could be confused with the actual interface.Ô But all in vain! There still are lost of icons that can be read as a couple of separate ones. #9 Text embedded into icons This fault is typically seen in application icons. Clearly the first thing that comes to mind when working on an application icon is to use the applicationÒs logo. What is so bad about the text inside the icon? First of all, it is strictly language-related and so impedes localization. Secondly, if the icon is small, it is impossible to read the text. Also, in the case of application icons, this text is duplicated in the caption of the application. #10 Outside the pixel framework This problem usually occurs if you use a vector editor for drawing icons. In large size the images looks stylish and crisp; but in real life the icons are small, and under rasterization anti-aliasing blurs the objectsÒ edges.
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