You will find a set of elements making up a website like images, colors, text, illustrations, and more. One of them also includes the what-so-called web icons. They hold a significant position in web design. Many web designers and developers have used them in various styles and for different purposes.
So, what is a web icon? And why is this element important for every website design? Let’s figure out the answers below.
What are Web Icons?
Originated from the Greek word “eikōn,” which means image, icons have functioned as the key points of various information in human history. Studies have shown the significance of iconography in the world’s different civilizations.
In today’s digital era, icons are increasingly one of the most applied graphic elements – web icons. Other elements like texts, images, colors, navigation, copy, and the like make up a good website.
Generally speaking, they are the visual hints, helping the designers communicate their concepts of any specified website page. They serve as a visual language so that the users will not misinterpret a particular web concept.
In other words, website icons ensure effective communication occurred. They allow the users to experience your website, or more particularly, your brand.
Why are Web Icons Essential to Design?
Based on the above outline, you probably have grasped the importance of web icons to any website design endeavors. The following are more reasons why they are essential for website design purposes.
Icons help describe functions
Sometimes users or readers get lost by a description of too many words. Likewise, icons can helpfully complement words and other images to explain your web functions and features effectively. Also, they may add more variations to any section of your website.
Icons can support the user interface, creating a more visually attractive web
Web icons can deliver and even emphasize your message through a visual description. As a result, the users can easily relate the concept to each icon and ultimately understand the functions or features being explained.
Icons are good at explaining a story
People often use web icons to explain a certain process since they can visually represent each step of the process. Those icons will facilitate the visual separation to allow the user or reader to understand each element visually.
Icons put significant information in one frame
You can use icons to frame any important information for easy readability and visually understanding.
Icons help fill out web forms
You use web forms to obtain potential users or customers and indirectly build an amicable relationship with them. Related web icons are beneficial here to complement the textual description of your web data or information. It will lead to effective user experience and also understanding.
Icons help break up the content blocks, allow the copy to be more readable
This important role is perhaps the combination of the web icons are good at framing your important information and explaining a story.
For example, you may have multiple columns with several icons to replace the common plain ordered list with text only. That way, the users can easily identify the content or process steps.
Icons help optimize the web navigation
As mentioned earlier, web icons are highly useful in explaining concepts visually. Therefore, you can further use them as a unique element to navigate your website. By clicking a specific icon, the users can easily locate or follow certain information or data throughout your website.
Website icons indeed have their significance and mission. To effectively carry out the function, they need to have several following characteristics.
- The simpler, the better since too complicated icons will lead to confusion and incorrect messages.
- They should be widely-accepted ones thus will not result in another misconception.
- They need to have the correct and well in design as they will serve to represent a piece of specific information.
We can conclude here that the fundamental function of web icons is to provide specific information visually appealing without being distractive. You can browse unlimited digital web icons as inspirations for your icon or web design projects. Moreover, various reliable online marketplaces offer unlimited collections of website icons and other graphic elements.