Why Icons Matter in a Design System

Icons are an essential part of UI design, serving as visual cues that help users navigate and interact with digital products. A well-structured icon system ensures consistency, improves usability, and maintains a polished look across different screens and devices. Without a clear system in place, icons can easily become inconsistent in style, size, and application, making the overall design feel unbalanced.

Building an icon system isn’t just about collecting graphics. It requires clear guidelines on style, sizing, and implementation. Whether you choose an existing icon library or create a custom set, maintaining a structured approach ensures that icons integrate smoothly into your design workflow while keeping everything scalable and accessible.

Choosing the Right Icon Set

One of the first decisions in an icon system is whether to use an existing library or create a custom set. Many design teams opt for popular libraries like Font Awesome, Google Material Icons, or Feather Icons, as they provide a comprehensive collection of scalable and well-designed icons. These prebuilt sets save time and effort while maintaining consistency.

On the other hand, some companies prefer a custom icon set to align with their brand’s unique style. In these cases, the icons should follow a consistent design approach. For example, a system might include an outline style with a 1px stroke for mobile and web interfaces, a rich style with more than three colors for desktop applications, and a filled style for stronger visual emphasis. Regardless of whether you use a prebuilt or custom set, maintaining a cohesive look is key. Mixing different styles (such as combining Feather Icons with Material Icons) can lead to inconsistencies that make the design feel disconnected.

How to Structure Icons in a Design System

There are two common approaches to organizing icons: creating a single component with multiple variants or treating each icon as an individual component. The first method, where all icons are grouped under a single master component with different variations, allows designers to easily switch between icons within the same component. This works well for teams that prefer a centralized approach.

The second method involves creating individual components for each icon. This makes it easier to preview and swap icons during the design process. Having separate components also simplifies updates, as designers only need to modify a single icon instead of managing multiple variants within a single component. While both methods are effective, keeping icons as individual components often provides better visibility and flexibility.

Standard Icon Sizes for UI Design

A good icon system includes well-defined sizes that ensure clarity and usability across different interfaces. Icon sizes should be based on a structured scaling system to keep designs visually balanced.

For general UI elements, common sizes include 16x16 pixels for small icons inside buttons and toolbars, 24x24 pixels for medium-sized icons used in modals and navigation, and 32x32 pixels for larger icons found in dashboards and hero sections. These sizes often scale upwards, following a pattern of 16px, 24px, 32px, 48px, and 64px to accommodate various use cases.

In addition to general UI icons, micro-icons (such as status indicators and small toggles) typically use sizes like 12x12 pixels for very small elements and 16x16 pixels for slightly larger UI controls. Informational and graphical icons, such as those found in dashboards or infographics, tend to start at 48x48 pixels and can scale up to 64x64 pixels, 96x96 pixels, or even larger for decorative purposes.

For mobile applications, accessibility is key. Common icon sizes include 24x24 pixels for primary actions, 32x32 pixels for larger touch targets, and 48x48 pixels for high-contrast interactive elements. Ensuring icons are large enough to be tapped easily on mobile devices improves usability and accessibility.

Best Practices for Icon Implementation

A strong icon system follows clear guidelines to ensure scalability, readability, and ease of use. One of the most important factors is consistency. Icons should be designed on a square pixel grid, ensuring that strokes, shapes, and alignment remain sharp and visually uniform. Stroke width should also be consistent (whether it’s 1px or 1.5px) so that icons look cohesive across the entire interface.

Scalability is another key consideration. Using a base size, such as 16px, and scaling proportionally helps maintain balance and prevents icons from appearing disproportionate. Modular icons should be flexible enough to work across different devices and contexts without losing clarity.

Icons should also support different states, including default, hover, active, disabled, and success or error states. These variations should follow the same sizing standard, ensuring that users can easily recognize interactive elements. In addition, exporting icons in the right format is crucial. While SVG files are the preferred format due to their scalability and small file size, PNG or ICO formats may be needed for legacy compatibility in some cases.

Setting Up Icon Tokens in Figma

Managing icons efficiently in Figma can be done using design tokens. Defining icon sizes as tokens allows for easy adjustments across the system without manually resizing individual components. For example, an icon size system might include extra small at 12px, small at 16px, medium at 24px, large at 32px, and extra-large at 48px. These tokens ensure consistency and scalability, making it easy to maintain an organized and flexible icon system.

By structuring icons using design tokens, teams can quickly update sizes, maintain clear organization, and reduce inconsistencies in their designs. This approach not only streamlines the workflow but also ensures that the icon system remains scalable and adaptable over time.

Final Thought

Icons may seem like a small detail in UI design, but they play a crucial role in usability and consistency. A well-organized icon system keeps the design clean, scalable, and easy to manage across different platforms. Whether using a prebuilt icon set or developing a custom library, defining clear style guidelines, sizing rules, and state variations will help maintain a cohesive design.

If you’d like to discuss this topic further or explore how I can help you build one for your project or your team, feel free to reach out at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you!