When designing an icon set for Noun Project, one of the most important things to keep in mind is that a set is more than just a collection of individual icons—it’s a cohesive visual story. Great icon sets can flesh out a detailed picture of a particular subject or topic with consistency, clarity, and intentionality. Whether you’re illustrating a broad theme or a specific object, maintaining a unified style across your icons is essential for helping your icon set look polished, professional, and well informed.
Plus, with our new Creator Pro subscription, users can download entire icon sets with just one click – so creating stronger icon sets means even more opportunities to earn royalties.
So, what exactly makes a great icon set? Let’s explore the key elements:
Start with Subject Matter
A great icon set starts with a strong concept. Before diving into the design process, spend some time thinking about the subject matter. Ask yourself: What message is this set trying to convey? What will the icons be used for? This initial clarity will guide the entire design process. If you’re designing a set around a specific theme, like “tools” or “outdoor activities,” ensure that every icon clearly relates to the theme. Avoid including icons that feel out of place, even if they’re visually appealing.
And don’t forget two key considerations before you start designing:
Subject matter specificity: more users will be able to find your set if it covers a unique topic that hasn’t been as widely represented on Noun Project.
Diversity and inclusion: Noun Project is committed to diverse, equitable, and inclusive representation. A few tips for better representation:
- Gendered representations should include a diverse spectrum of genders, meaning equal representation of female, male, and non-binary people.
- Depictions of love or sexuality should include gay, straight, lesbian, asexual, etc. people.
- Authentic and respectful depictions of people with disabilities are highly encouraged, especially ones that normalize and honor their complex identity and lifestyle.
- Depictions of people should include a variety of different ages, hair types and styles, body types, abilities, and facial features.
Please read supplementary resources about disability representation, race, and gender roles in iconography, and be sure to check out our moderation guidelines for a better sense of what our moderation team looks for.
Then Decide on a Style
One of the decisions you’ll need to make when creating an icon set is defining its visual style. Are you going for a minimalist approach with simple lines, or do you want to experiment with more detailed illustrations? The style you choose should not only reflect your personal design aesthetic but also cater to the end user and the types of visual collateral that might be created using your icons. For example, a minimalist, flat design may be ideal for app icons or user interfaces, while a more playful, hand-drawn illustrative style could suit an educational project or a children’s book.
Whatever direction you take, it’s crucial to remain consistent with your design elements throughout the set. This means using the same line thickness, level of detail, and overall proportions across all icons. A cohesive style ensures your icons will work seamlessly together, rather than feeling disjointed.
Consistency is Key
When we talk about consistency, we mean more than just maintaining the same style. For an icon set to feel unified, the icons must share the same visual language. This includes consistency in fill or stroke weight, corner radii, and any additional design flourishes like shadows or patterns. A common mistake designers make is allowing small variations between icons. Even minor inconsistencies in stroke weight can disrupt the harmony of the set, causing the icons to look out of place when used together. And when elements look incongruous, it can affect the professional credibility and trustworthiness of your designs.
If you’re using a stroke-based design, ensure that all your icons have the same stroke width throughout. Similarly, if your icons use filled shapes, the balance of positive and negative space should be even across the set.
Visual Hierarchy and Simplicity
Icons are meant to convey information quickly and clearly. To achieve this, you’ll want to design with simplicity in mind. This doesn’t necessarily mean your icons have to be basic or void of detail, but they should prioritize clarity over complexity. Each icon should have a clear focal point, with any secondary elements playing a supporting role. This visual hierarchy ensures that users can instantly identify what the icon represents. Keep the design as straightforward as possible while still being visually engaging.
Testing for Scalability
Scalability is another important factor in a great icon set. Icons are often used in a wide variety of sizes, from tiny favicon applications to large prints on posters or billboards. It’s essential to ensure your icons maintain clarity and balance at all scales. A good way to test this is by previewing your icons at different sizes as you design. Icons that look great at 256×256 pixels might lose their impact when scaled down to 16×16. Ensuring that your designs remain legible at small sizes will make them more versatile and user-friendly.
The Power of Unity
Ultimately, a great icon set is one where all the icons feel like they belong together. This sense of unity is what makes an icon set powerful. When users can mix and match icons from your set without breaking visual cohesion, it makes their experience seamless and enjoyable. To achieve this, always keep the broader set in mind as you design individual icons. Ask yourself if each new design fits into the overall narrative of the set. If something feels off, revisit it until it aligns.
Your Consistency Checklist
Ready to dive in? Keep all these principles in mind to make sure every icon in your set satisfies the same criteria:
- Subject matter: You should design your icon set for one singular, unifying topic – like “principles of physics” or “marsupials of Australia.” Don’t mix and max disparate concepts within a single set. Bonus tip: design for specific topics that are unique and under-represented! More specificity and specialization means more people will be able to find your set faster.
- Style: outline or filled, curvy or straight, detailed or minimal, hand-drawn illustration or geometric vectors.
- Stroke: line weights should have the same level of thickness throughout.
- Fill: if your icons are partially filled, each should have the same balance of white space.
- Corner radius: the choice to have sharp or rounded corners within shapes should remain consistent, and in most cases it’s a good idea to use the same corner radius or mitre value throughout.
- White space, padding, and grid system: it’s a good idea to start every icon set with an icon grid that you use to guide your design, with symmetrical guides and buffering white space around every shape. This also ensures that the scale and proportion of all your icons remains consistent – i.e., they should have a uniform height and width. For the end user, it’s easier to work with icons that are scaled up to the edges of their bounding box – not scaled down and left with excessive padding.
In the end, a strong icon set isn’t just about creating beautiful individual icons—it’s about building a complete, harmonious package that provides users with a visually coherent toolkit for their own design process. By focusing on style, consistency, subject relevance, and scalability, you can create icon sets that not only stand out but also deliver functional and aesthetic delight.
Ready to Upload?
Once you have your first icon set ready to contribute to Noun Project, be sure to check out our Creators page and familiarize yourself with the Creator Handbook. This also includes some best practices and last-minute “cleanup” to make sure your vector icons are tidy, monochrome, and made of simple compound paths rather than multiple layers or stray points.
Once you’ve exported your icon set as individual SVG files:
- Go to our Upload page to get started
- Note that you can upload up to 250 icons in a single set.
- Icons must be appropriately titled and include relevant, inclusive, and appropriate tags to make them more searchable.
- Please allow ample time for our moderation team to review and approve your icons. Moderation time changes day by day and can be anywhere from a week to a month as it is performed by a small team and not automated.
We’re excited to see how you contribute to the world’s visual language!
