The Icon Handbook

by John Hicks, Chris Mills (Editor)

Have you ever needed to create an icon for something and not known where to start? How do you go about crafting the right message, the tone, the line work and getting it to work in the environment it's supposed to; be it mobile, operating system, or browser. Thankfully we now have the place to go.

Jon Hicks' 'The Icon Handbook' will become the go-to book for the modern designer; for uncovering the thought processes, the skills and the reference for designing your own icons.

This book is aimed at designers who already have basic vector and bitmap drawing skills. It could be that you want to create a simple, unique favicon, or perhaps you've been asked to work on a mobile app that requires them. It starts at the basics and takes you right the way through to being able to create stunning iconography.

Genres: Design, Website Design, Reference, Nonfiction, Web

323 pages, Paperback

First published December 26, 2011

About the author

This is the disambiguation profile for otherwise unseparated authors publishing as John Hicks

Reviews

[Greg Mathews · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was mostly about the process of making an icon and not some of the more detailed techniques that could be applied when making icons. Some topics like consistency were talked about briefly but could definitely gone into deeper detail. A very beautiful book and has good interviews with people who make icons. As with some of the other five simple steps books there was not enough detail about the theory of the process or what makes something good.

[Issel · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Trying to capture the essence of an object or idea with only a few lines and at the same time maintaining its elegance is pretty much design in a nutshell. That’s what’s so great about icons, they’re tiny poems.” Kyle Tezak, The Four Icon Challenge."

Me gusto, pero mi decisión de poner 3 estrellas y no 4 se basó principalmente en que en este libro no se abordan las técnicas y/o procesos para creación de iconos, se habló brevemente sobre algunos temas, hay entrevistas e información muy interesante, pero siento que se pudo profundizar en los procesos que dan valor al nombre del libro, sin embargo se paso solo por encima.

[Joycer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of practical design advice, particularly for working at multiple / very small sizes. The tech specs are a little outdated, but that’s to be expected for any older volume.

[Lidia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is both beautiful and practical. I love seeing the history and his process—and there's plenty of inspiration too.

[Wendy Sheridan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent volume about icon design; its history, usage and techniques. I refer to the size chart almost daily in my work. Beautifully designed book with a lot of interesting historical information.

[Esteban Mulki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completísimo y atractivo libro sobre el diseño de íconos en web y aplicaciones. Varios tramos conceptuales se combinan con tramos ultra técnicos. El libro es muy abarcativo, ameno y completo.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. With any luck, I'll get far enough along with my app to put this book to use before I die.

[amarjeet sonkar]

Enjoyed reading it.

[Joey Heflich · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you design icons (even if it's just favicons), you should read this. Straight-forward and informative, with lots of color and inspirational bits.

[Chrisx · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really loved it.
Perfect for getting a wide range of information about general icon design. If you search for a book to get you into this subject I defintily recommend this one!