Icons are an effective aid in helping users quickly find and gather information. They not only communicate information but help break it up and add visual interest to grab the users’ attention.
With thousands of icons available, with endless gradients, colors and reflections, it can be overwhelming as to what will best suit your minimalist design. There are alternatives to all those over-glossed icons, should you require a more simple, elegant design style.
Here are ten noteworthy icon sets which match the minimalist design ethos.
1. Iconic
Iconic is a beautiful set consisting of 120 icons in raster and vector formats. The icon set packages are in both PNG, SVG, and SWC image formats with Omnigraffle stencil formats also included. The raster-format icons come in 8×8, 12×12, 16×16, 24×24 and 32×32 pixels; however, if you require a different size you can create your own with the original SVG icons. Iconic also comes in 14 separate colors to meet most designers requirements.
The beauty of Iconic is it’s flexibility, with each icon rendering from eight to 800 pixels, while maintaining a high legibility. Many of the icons in the set come in at least two variations to further increase flexibility. The strict adherence to a grid system also helps keep the look of the set consistent. While the icons are minimal in style they are highly stylized yet subtle enough to be easily incorporated into most design projects. The icons were originally designed for a WordPress theme, and it is within a blog format where they would perhaps be showcased best.
2. Mono Icons
Available as a free download, this pack consists of 108 icons in a 32×32 pixel PNG format. While the icons are gray you can easily customize the color in Photoshop, by using layer styles and applying Color Overlay. In Fireworks, simply apply Filters → Adjust Color → Color Fill and choose your color.
The icons are simple, bold and extremely well designed and would fit well within most applications, perhaps best though within either a software application UI or blog format. The ease with which they can be customized and colorized make them an attractive option for your next project.
3. Pictoico
With over 100 fully scalable icons, available free for download, Pictoico is an attractive package which bundles both vector and SVG formats. It is the start of a visual initiative to create over 1,000 symbols which will be released to the public over the course of 2010. Pictoico aims to create a contemporary, simple icon which can be used in a variety of ways.
The icons could be incorporated into your online, print, mobile and software applications. The author even suggests utilizing them for signs in the real world around your street, campus, resort or even city.
4. Gentleface Toolbar Icons
Available free or with a Royalty Free license, the entire set totals 244 original icons (including eight cursors) optimized for 16×16 pixel size and available in 16×16, 32×32 and 48×48 pixel sizes. The set includes vector icons in EPS and flash SWF formats, which allow complete control to resize without loss of fidelity, color, and effects.
The icons include pagination arrows, ratings and voting controls, social interaction symbols, file system icons and text editor actions. These icons are extremely versatile and would be ideally suited to wireframes and software mock-up creation; however, they would also work well within software applications, toolbars, and even within iPhone and iPod apps.
5. PICOL
PICOL stands for PIctorial Communication Language and is a project to find a standard and reduced sign system for electronic communication. PICOL currently offer 3 sets of icons each totaling 517 beautifully designed icons. 16×16 and 32×32 pixel formats are available along with a SVG vector package, all free to download.
The icons offer a unique take on many of the standard symbols, such as application, firewall, internet, cut, copy and paste. Each icon has been designed to be simple, yet effective in conveying the message.
The PICOL icons were heavily featured in the History of the Internet video (by the same designer), which has amassed over two million views and explains the Internet in a fun and incredibly simplistic and elegant way using the icons.
6. Brightmix
Featuring 104 wonderfully elegant icons within one EPS vector format, Brightmix offers a flexibile package which can be resized, edited and colorized simply and efficiently to suit most projects.
The icons were originally designed for the relaunch of a newspaper site, and as the authors created and added to the set and utilized them for other projects, they later decided to release them as a free download. Of particular interest is the WTFPL license under which they are released!
The icons are an update to a previous version and include a wider range of icons, which would be useful for various mediums, such as presentations, iPhone applications, wireframes and software applications.
7. Token
A beautiful, minimal set of icons which is available as a free download or with a commercial license ($50), Token includes 128 unique icon designs, available as an ICO bundling of 16×16, 32×32 and 256×256 pixels icons, or as a PNG at 128×128 pixels. Each icon has both dark and light variants, and comes along with a PSD which includes the layer styles for each resolution.
Token was created as a sequel to the designer’s earlier icon set, Mnml, and has been regularly updated and expanded. You can now download the additional Token File Type set which includes 32 icons, has a dark and light variant, and is saved as a windows ICO that displays crisply at most resolutions.
8. BackToPixel
Designed in a retro pixel style, BackToPixel is available as a free download of 75 icons in 9×9, 18×18 and 28×28 size pixels, in both PNG and GIF formats. The package also includes the icons in over 10 separate colors.
This unique set also includes three button styles which are optimized for lighter backgrounds. The icons could be utilized especially well within a blog design (perhaps an 80s, old-school or retro styled blog) and equally well within both presentations and website design.
9. Eclipse2
Available as a free download, the package includes 116 system and 165 application dock icons in 16×16, 32×32, 48×48 and 128×128 pixel sizes in PNG format.
Whilst originally created as a replacement for system and applications icons, the simplicity and clarity of each icon means they would fit perfectly within presentations, as well as web and software applications.
You can also extend the set by downloading the supplementary pack for additional system and application icons (e.g. Acrobat Reader & Microsoft Office) and the complementary Syzygy icon pack which builds upon Eclipse2.
10. Helveticons
No minimalist icon showcase would be complete without including the beautiful Helveticons – a selection of vector icons, glyphs and symbols based on the Helvetica Bold typeface.
The purchasing options range from the basic set ($279) to the complete set of 477 icons with extras ($439), which includes a very helpful PSD file to inspire you on how to make the best use of the icons, with examples ranging from basic web buttons to strong logotypes. The set includes seven file formats of which six are scalable vectors as well as the GS format for Omnigraffle icons and CHS for Photoshop shapes.
The icons are stunning in their clarity and overall design and would be perfect for almost any medium, including; wire-framing, presentations, web applications, buttons and promotional material.
What other minimal styled icon sets have you discovered? Be sure to share your picks in the comments below.
