How do you find icons for your website?

A site icon is an image or symbol that you place on a web page. It can be used as a button, clickable link or simply as a decorative element. It’s a small custom icon that appears next to the address of your website in a browser tab. It’s usually a miniature version of your logo. But how do you find icons for your website? Follow this guide!

Why use icons for your website?

Icons play a crucial role in the user experience of a modern website. Their strategic use helps to significantly improve navigation, readability and visual appeal.

Icons are an essential part of a modern website&#8217s user experience.

Improved readability and navigation

Icons are effective visual elements for representing actions, categories or functionalities without resorting to explanatory text. By using clear, easily recognizable icons, users can quickly identify important sections of the site and navigate more efficiently.

Optimizing the user experience

Integrating well-designed icons helps make the user interface more intuitive and user-friendly. They enable visitors to visually scan a page and quickly find what they’re looking for, reducing search time and improving overall user satisfaction.

Integrating well-designed icons helps make the user interface more intuitive and user-friendly.

Strengthening visual identity and brand

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Icons can also be used to reinforce a brand’s visual identity by using styles, colors and shapes consistent with the rest of the design. They help create a harmonious and memorable visual experience for users, which is essential for standing out in a competitive online environment.

Adaptation to different devices and screen sizes

Icons are often more adaptive than text on different devices and screen sizes. They retain their clarity and legibility, whatever the device used, improving the consistency and accessibility of the user interface.

Icons are often more adaptive than text on different devices and screen sizes.

Where can you find icons for your website ?

There are many websites that offer icons, and most of them let you use high-quality icons for free or use the source code. What’s more, many photo sites are now including icons in their products. These free icon download sites include:

iconmonstr

Based in Germany, iconmonstr offers countless icons. These are pretty basic, but are free for commercial purposes. What’s more, you can freely modify their size and color.

Flaticon.com

Flaticon.com offers a vast selection of free website icons. The choice is enormous and the design of the elements is first-rate. However, if you wish to use their icons for free, you must first create an account and clearly cite their authors on your site. If you don&#8217t want to be obliged to mention the copyright, you need to subscribe to paid offers.

Flaticons.net

Flaticons.net is another site where you can find many custom icons. You can download icons free of charge and change their size, color, shape and even background color.

Note: To generate the copy of the same color, find its “color code”, a numerical value that identifies the shade and allows you to get a perfect match. Simply use an extension such as EyeDropper or ColorZilla. These tools can identify colors on any website, including yours.

On many free icon sites, you can change the color, size as well as style of the icon before downloading it.

Graphic burger

The icons on GraphicBurger stand out for their unique look. They are available in packs and unfortunately there’s no way to adjust their size or color.

Iconfinder

Iconfinder provides a large number of different styles of icon packs. Most icons are free, but the site also offers paid options if you only need a few and don&#8217t want to pay monthly or annually. You can buy an icon for just a few dollars to use immediately.

Good Stuff No Nonsense

If you’re looking for hand-drawn icons, check out Good Stuff No Nonsense. The icon designs provided by this website are more personal and authentic, and better suited to certain activities. The site has many icon packs available, both free and paid.

How to use icons correctly for your website?

To use icons correctly for your website, here are some tips to consider :

Choose icons with universal appeal

This time, we advise you not to be original. Choose icons with a clear meaning, especially directional icons. Your aim is for your visitors to understand or click on them immediately. If it’s a purely decorative element, in which case you have more room for creativity, but don&#8217t reinvent the wheel. The use of ambiguous or unrealistic icons is one of the most common UX (user experience) mistakes when creating a website.

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If the meaning of the icon is unclear, add text next to the icon

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You won’t necessarily find an appropriate icon for every piece of content on your site. That&#8217s why it&#8217s useful to accompany an icon with text if it&#8217s confusing. Text also helps to make your site more accessible to people with disabilities, who may not be able to see your icon. Don’t forget that icons are designed to complement your content, not replace it.

Test your icon with visitors to your website

The meaning of the icon may be obvious to you, but not necessarily to others. That&#8217s why we always recommend testing your site&#8217s usability. Simply ask volunteers to browse your site and observe their behavior to make sure it’s clear. You can also seek advice from a graphics expert on BeFreelancr. You can check that your icons are understandable and lead to the desired action.

Make sure your icons are consistent

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Icons are most effective when they all have the same style, a clear and professional design. When using icons on your website, make sure they’re the same size, color and style for everyone. That&#8217s why most icon libraries provide icons commonly used in packs, so you don&#8217t have to mix and match icons from many different sources. It’s also important to coordinate their placement : whether you place them to the right or left of your text, below, or underneath, always keep your icon in the same position.

Opt for simplicity

Icons are effective visual elements and very easy to use, but don’t overdo it. As a reminder, like all content, they must be used wisely or you’ll end up with an unclear, cluttered website.