You may not notice it, but icons have become part of our daily lives. They have become an important part of when we are operating different things such as smartphones, computers, tablets, and so on. It also has become an important part of web design to help users navigate through the websites easily.

Icons are a great visual tool and can improve customers’ experience when used correctly. This becomes even more important if you are working in the field of technology. Not all people are tech-savvy and navigating through a technology-related website can confuse them. This is where the technology icons play an important role in helping these beginner users.

As a powerful visual tool, technology icons can communicate messages clearly and simply without using too many words which may confuse beginner users. However, there are a few principles that you have to remember when creating icons for a web design. Here are some of them: 

• Simple and concise

Remember that icons are used to communicate actions or functions clearly. Therefore icons must be simple enough to understand and do not have too many details. Icons with too many details and information can confuse and sometimes even be hard to recognize. 

Another important thing is that icons should be concise. As you know, design can have different meanings, depending on the background and knowledge of the person reading them. That is why you need to think through what are the many possible meanings of an icon. It may have multiple meanings that can lead to confusion.

• Recognizable

When you are designing a website, you have to make sure that all elements you use, including the technology icons, are recognizable by users. Therefore, make sure that your icons are clear, relatable, and directly linked to the features and functions that they are representing. 

Icons should not be difficult to understand at the first glance. When they do, it can confuse users and they would have to relearn the meaning of the icons every time they see them. This hassle will affect user experience and discourage them from visiting your website again.

• Easy to understand

Another important point that cannot be stressed enough is how the icons should be easy to understand. Designers have to think about the concept of the icon and what they are understood by the general public. 

Don’t go too far off from the existing icons that are widely known today because it may cause confusion. You may design a variation of the existing feature, but you may not want to create a completely new icon for a widely-known function.

For example, an envelope is a good icon for email, and the diskette icon is for the “save” feature. Although today people are not using diskette anymore, icons with this image still last to this day. This is a good example of how well-designed icons will work.

• Improve usability

The development of technology makes everything become very fast. At the same time, people also grow impatient. When things are difficult to use or understand, many people will not bother to even try. That is why user experience is an important factor that can determine users’ behavior on your website.  

Icons are used to help users navigate through the website. Therefore, it is important to make sure that your icons can create a positive user experience. You need to think about the meaning of the technology icons you used, where you put them on your website, and whether it helps users or not. These will help you improve usability that leads to a positive user experience. 

• Aesthetically pleasing

In addition to their functionality, icons should also be aesthetically pleasing. They should complement the overall style of the website so that the web design does not look awkward or mismatched. 

You can always modify existing icons to suit your style and theme. However, make sure that they are still recognizable and clearly identified on the website. You don’t want to be too creative but end up resulting in icons that are hard to recognize.

Despite their small size and seemingly insignificant, icons play an important role in a website design. Not only do they add aesthetics to your design, but they are also important to help users navigate through the website.