Icon Design is Easy With Flaticon’s Tips

Sometimes Flaticon’s contributors face a few complications on their way in terms of icon designing. In today’s tips, we will be talking about five easy tips you need to follow in order to master icon design and boost your portfolio.

Apart from design expertise, owning the creation process in Flaticon is important to build a strong portfolio and increase your visibility. So, let’s get to that!

1. Be consistent with your style

Experiment, find your style and build your portfolio. Once you reach that step, remember that it’s very important that you always work in the same line.

Whether you work with a simple style, or you prefer original ones, stick to that. Users find it useful to download packs of different themes in the same style.  Plus, being consistent with your style (or styles) may help you build a reputation and, thus, users will look for your style intentionally. 

Also, stay up-to-date on design trends. If you work with original styles, then make sure they don’t become outdated!

2. Offer variety

Being consistent with your style doesn’t mean you’re limited to just one style. In fact, creating packs in different styles will help you boost your portfolio. Users like variety and quality, so you’ll be offering them many resources to choose from. 

 

different styles icons

 

For instance, you can start from a linear style and build from it the same pack in other two different styles, like outline color or solid (but always work in the same line!). 

Offering users packs in more than one style will engage them for sure. Plus, it will make your profile stand out.  Want more info about it? Here’s how to Upload Packs in Different Styles and Enhance Your Flaticon Profile.

3. Frequency is key to succeed

Uploading content frequently is essential to gain visibility. Users can filter searches by recent uploads so only the newest content will be shown. 

In addition, the more resources you upload, the more complete your portfolio will be. And let’s be honest, consistent portfolios with quality content are always the winning choice. Don’t let users forget your portfolio!

Aren’t convinced about the frequency thing? In this article, we explain to you the advantages of uploading content frequently.

icon pack climate change

 

4. The theme of the pack does matter

The themes chosen for your packs are important, as they will affect the downloads. Stay trendy and explore the industry: which themes are smashing it right now? Marketing, tech, online… Pay attention to what users are looking for at the moment and offer them trendy designs. 

Still don’t know what to design? On your contributor panel, you’ll find the section “Recommended themes”, where we tell you which upcoming events and themes are trendy so you know what to design every moment. 

icon packs social media

And speaking of events, when designing packs related to a particular event or festivity, it’s crucial you send them in advance, 2 months ideally, so our team can review them and users can download your resource in time!

5. Build your icons correctly

When building icons it’s important that you’re clear about the style you’re developing and create your designs following Flaticon’s guidelines. Here are some aspects you need to bear in mind when designing your icons:

  • Outline the stroke (Object > Outline). Although this may seem unnecessary, outlining the stroke is important, first, to avoid rejection, and second, to ease the user experience. 
  • Terminations: be consistent with the terminations of your icons. Whether round, straight or mixed, make sure you use the same style in the whole pack.

icon pack winter

  • Nodes: during the construction of your icons, make sure you don’t leave unwanted nodes in the artboard and try to send a clean design.
  • Colors: choose the right color palette keeping in mind the theme of your icons. 

Are you ready to enhance your portfolio? Take these tips into consideration next time you create icons and let’s see the results!

Become a contributor now!