When it comes to digital marketing, a good number of visuals are required. They include infographics, website branding, and a variety of other visual content. They show the importance of business icons to represent companies.

How Important Are Business Icons As Company Representations?

They are not just the face of the company itself. These icons also must greet and speak to their future, potential users in a friendly way. They must also keep their already loyal customers engaged, as if they have been friends and family for years.

Once you get them all hooked with the outstanding business icons, then it is a clear, good sign for your business to carry on from there. To make that happen, the first thing to do is to implement attraction marketing. This entails your business in a friendly manner and with a personal approach.

How To Create Business Icons?

Fundamentally, there are six (6) steps that you can do to create them here:

1.  Always begin with a grid.

For example, start with a 32 x 32 pixel grid. The outer 2 pixels are off-limits, unless you need to do something more there. Besides that are the “go-to” zones. When you draw a line around “the bounding box” (the outside edges of an icon), you may form any of these shapes – a square, a triangle, a circle, or any of these rectangles (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal).

Based on the shape of your choice, you can go from there. Icons are usually centered on the grid without crossing the edges. However, you are welcomed to be more creative if necessary. These are just the basic pointers to help you.

2.  Begin with simple, geometric shapes.

Create rough outlines of the major shapes with simple circles, rectangles, and triangles. You can use the Adobe Illustrator tools as your support. This strategy will help to turn the edges to be more precise, including along the curves. You get to adjust the relative scale of elements with the grids and form as subtle boundaries when needed.

3.  Do it by the numbers: edges, lines, corners, curves, and angles.

No need to be too strict and uptight with it, but some corners, curves, and angles might require mathematical precision. A slight inconsistency will badly affect the icon’s quality.

• Angles.

To be on the safe side, stick to 45-degree angles of multiples of them. Doing the anti-aliasing on a 45-degree angle turns the icon into a crisp, easily recognizable one. This looks more pleasing to the human eyes in general.

• Curves.

Curves are tricky, so you might want to avoid doing them manually. If you have to draw them by hand first, use Adobe Illustrator’s constraint modifier key to help you to smoothen up the curves. Other alternative tools include VectorScribe and Inkscribe by Astute Graphics.

• Corners.

To make a common-rounded corner, the value is 2 pixels. The value you choose on your icon design depends on the concept or personality that you would like to give your design. For example: more rounded corners for a “bubbly” look or sharp edges for something more rigid-looking.

• Pixel perfection.

Why is the 45-degree angle just right? The pixels to define angles are stacked or stepped and diagonally perfect from end to end.

• Line weights.

It is not just a matter of the level of thickness on the line. In most cases, very thin lines should be avoided. They look even worse in glyph and flat icons. It is a different story if you prefer creating “line style” icons. Many corporates use these business icons.

4. Be consistent in design elements and accents across icons.

Consistency is the key, especially in terms of angles, curves, shapes, and sizes. You may alter the sizes in certain occasions (like larger for your company logo on your building, but smaller online). However, make sure the logo itself stays the same.

5.  Use details and decorations sparingly.

A few makes it too plain, less is more, but  let’s not overdo it. That is how you use details on your business icons. Too many details make them unrecognizable, especially on a smaller case. However, having them not enough will not make them stand out and become easily memorable.

6.  Add something unique or authentic.

The finishing touch is up to you. What makes your icons unique or authentic among the rest?

So, these are how to create business icons. You are welcome to try.