Whether developing brand new software or wanting to revitalise existing; beautiful and intuitive icons in a familiar style make a huge positive difference to the user experience.
Emulating an existing icon style is great but to really stand out from your competitors, a unique custom icon style can really set you apart and reinforce your brand identity.
Your App Icon is the important first impression that can make or break your project, couple that with stunning UI design and make your App something really special.
They say a picture is worth 1000 words and web Icons can make your site more far more intuitive, driving visitors to the important calls to action and increasing conversions.
"I am delighted to say that with Creative Freedom's support our project was completed to deadline and within budget. The design, style, navigation and facilities on our new website met our high expectations and all was well received by our customers and employees at Tarmac."
"Thanks to all at Creative Freedom"
Icon Design
How can you benefit from good icon design?
- Looks aren't everything but... It can be surprising how enthusiastically people react to a 'new look'. One client spent months adding new functionality to their software only for these features to be eclipsed by the overwhelming positive feedback about the new icons we developed in just a couple of weeks.
- Improved ease of use, through intuitive illustrations and familiar concepts. If a button says what it does, the user can get on with the job, increasing productivity and reducing the frustration associated with inappropriate imagery.
- Stand out from your rivals. A revamped interface or a custom icon style is a much easier sell than a dull and aging product.
What do we offer?
Our Icon Design team only produce custom icons tailored to your individual needs, you won't see anyone else using your icons and you will own them completely upon completion of the project. We don't retain any copyright but we do like to display our work in our portfolio.
How are we different?
Creative Freedom is a small agency and we offer an intimate service, you will only ever deal with one person directly and all of our designers work freelance which allows us to pick the best team for any given project and minimise the costs associated with much larger companies with full time staff. We have been specialising in Icon Design since 1999 and are happy to provide advice and assistance on projects of any size.
We are also unique in our icon production process, utilising our own project management software; 'Icon Manager' to streamline the design and approval process, which greatly reduces lead times. You can view icons as they are designed on any background colour you choose, make comments or mark them as approved and download them for testing. Everyone involved in the project will receive notifications as new icons or comments are added, making Icon Manager a useful tool for small projects and essential on large ones.
What is the icon design process?
We split most projects into two phases, 'Icon Style Development' and 'Icon Production'. The Icon Style Development phase starts with our discussing the design brief with you, guiding you through the finer details of your technical requirements if necessary, establishing the styles you like and whether you wish to emulate something existing or follow a unique icon style.
Between us we will choose a small number of icons, usually four for a typical project and produce 1-2 different style concepts based on our previous discussions. The preferred design will then be worked on through a number of revisions until we have established an Icon Style you are happy with.
At this point we move onto the Icon Production phase where all of your remaining icons will be designed and developed following the style established in the Style Development Phase. There will always be some icons that require more work than others to get the concepts right but usually one or two iterations is sufficient to arrive at a stunning new icon design.
What will it cost?
Because all our projects are custom we don't have a set price list, as icon styles and the detail required can vary greatly. If you would like a Free Quote we would be more than happy to provide one. Please follow the link below to a short guide on what we will need in order to provide you with a quote.
If you would like to discuss your project with Adam, our Creative Director, please call on +44 (0)1487 843 493
Finding the right icon designer is critical to producing the style you need for your project. Over the years we have gathered and trained a large team of icon designers and encouraged them to develop their own icon design styles. Design is always subjective so whilst you may love the work of one icon designer, the next may not do it for you. By offering such a diverse team we can provide the perfect icon designer for your project, one that understands the style you want and has the experience to deliver icons that not only look amazing but improve the usibility of your product.
Typically an icon designer has a particular preference either in their methodology or the software they like to use. For instance the icon style produced by a designer who prefers vector icon styles and uses Adobe Illustrator, will be quite different to that of an icon designer using 3D Studio who produces PNG bitmap renders. By having many designers on the team, each with their own specialities gives us a great pool of talent to draw from and ensures we get the right results for your project.
Icon Designer Blog
If you want to get to know some of our icon designers a little better, and get an insight on how we approach our projects, please check out our Icon Designer's blog, where our design team provide useful tutorials and advice for budding Icon designer's: Icon Designer Blog
Using imagery to communicate ideas and aid navigation is nothing new in Web Design but having Icons specially designed for your branding and your website can make a massive difference to the user experience, both in terms of the visual impact and aid to navigation. In an ideal world your visitors shouldn't need to even think about what to do when they arrive on the site, the imagery should tell the story and direct the visitor to your important calls to action, instantly. This is never more inportant than with Ecommerce where clear and intuitive icons can quickly direct visitors to the right product categories without them even having to read a word.
If you would like to see what we can do to improve your website, we would love to hear from you!
Mobile platforms present their own unique challenges but they also present our designers with more real-estate than can be often found on your average desktop software toolbar and that is something that really gets their creative juices flowing. iPhone and Android icons are aimed a broader demographic than a lot of sober software applications so we can be a little more inventive, elaborate and even inject a little humour where appropriate.
It seems hard to believe but we have been developing Icons for mobile platforms for almost 10 years, starting with some of the earliest Windows Mobile based in Car Sat Nav products, right up to the present iPad and Android Tablets. Whilst the platforms have evolved, so too have the styles but our skill producing meaningful and exciting icons has grown too and our team is now larger than ever giving us a huge range of talent to call upon.
Useful App Icon Information:
Our designers love working on Icon Design for mobile platforms, so if you have a project we would really love to hear from you!
You have two choices when deciding upon Icon Design Styles, you can go with an established style like Windows 7 Icons, or do something different and create a unique custom Icon Style that will make your software as instantly recognisable as your brand.
Custom Icon Design definitley presents a greater challenge to the designer as we have to balance this uniquiness with usibility, as a great design is no good for an icon if the function or metaphor isn't still instantly recognisable. Custom icon design really is our bread and butter, we have been doing it for over 10 years now and all our designers love the challenge of producing something new and exciting.
If you have a custom icon design project you would like us to take a look at, we would love to hear from you!
If you are interested in Icon Design or would like to be a custom icon designer, then check out our Icon Designer's Blog for hints, tips and tutorials on Icon Design.
Whilst there are as many Icon Styles out there as colours in the rainbow, the most popular by far are Windows7 Icons. It is very comforting to the user when confornted by a familiar look and feel and many developers feel this instant recognition and familiarity can make their software more appealing. Whilst we are always up for trying something new, you can't argue that an interface that feels like something as popular as a Microsoft project is certainly a good thing and we have plenty of experience in emulating Windows styles over the years, form XP Icons to Windows 7.
Having said that there is also no reason why you can't push things just a little and strike that balance between the familiar and something uniquely individual that customers will recognise as your product. This can be achieved with subtle visual cues and distinctive palettes, with the overall result still fitting in very well with Windows 7 Icons.
For examples of recent Icon projects that tip a nod to the Windows 7 Icon style and others that are more unique, please click on the thumbnails on the right.
If you have a Windows 7 Icon Design project you would like us to take a look at, we would love to hear from you!
Icon Design Portfolio
Please choose from the thumbnails on the right to view a selection of our most recent Icon Design projects.
Projects include Custom Icon Design, where we have developed a unique Icon style often based on the client's own branding, as well as Windows 7 Icon Design which more closely follows the distinctive style already established by Microsoft. More often than not clients request a style that contains the best of both, a distinctive brand palette and subtle uniqueness that also looks at home with Windows 7 Icons.
We also offer Icon design for mobile platforms such as Android Icon Design and iPhone and iPad Icon design. Each mobile device or software platform has distinctive requirements in size and style and we have the experience to provide the icon design you need.
Please don't hesitate to get in touch for a chat about your project, our contact details are at the bottom of this page!