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This will help you to sell more stock icons

This will help you to sell more stock icons

If you’re selling or planning to sell stock icons online, this article is a must read! The amazing team from Iconfinder was so incredibly kind to have shared their data to help icon designers like you and I to succeed in selling stock icons. If you have ever tried to do it, you will already know how important it is to pick the right niche. Of course, you can always try and guess what customers want, but you don’t want to spend hours creating an icon set just to see that nobody is interested in it, do you? That is a waste of time and your energy. I would get up the nerve to say that doing proper market research might be even more important than creating the set itself. Here is a practical example: A long time ago, I published a love-themed icon set prior to St. Valentine’s day on Creative Market. It was doing good for a niche topic like this, but nothing special. One day, guys from Creative Market decided to share their data with all the most popular things their customers searched for. I noticed that “wedding” was trending. That was when I got an idea to have an experiment. I changed the name of my set from “Love/Valentine icons” to “Wedding icons”, and the sales just ramped up! After that, I added a couple more icons, made the presentation more wedding-related, raised the price and published it as a new icon set. Guess, how much did the sales grow? By almost 600%! So you can see how “doing your homework” could benefit your career as an icon designer. The...
The key to success is deliberate practice

The key to success is deliberate practice

It is no secret that to get better at something, you have to practice. A lot. It, among other things, applies to iconography and design in general. Have you ever heard of the 10.000 hours rule? According to it, if you want to become an expert at anything, be ready to practice it for at least 10.000 hours. A cognitive psychology professor John Hayes wanted to examine successful composers, so he listen to thousands of musical pieces and eventually came up with a list of 500 most popular creations that were frequently played in symphonies all around the world. What he discovered was that virtually every single “masterwork” was written after the ten-year mark of the composer’s career. (Out of all 500 compositions, there were only three exceptions that had been written on years eight and nine.) This research definitely shows that in order to be great, you need to practice. I personally am a huge believer that the best way to learn something is to practice, and do it a lot. You can read thousands of articles, watch hundreds of guides, attend dozens of conferences, but never ever will you actually learn it, if you don’t practice this thing daily. You have to put a lot of hard work in it! But does that mean that if you want to become an expert in iconography or any other field, you have to put at least 10.000 hours into it? Is this some kind of a magic number after reaching which you become great in the field? 10.000 hours is a long time even if you’re working every single...
How to find your own unique style.

How to find your own unique style.

I was saving this article for my icon design guide, but eventually decided I didn’t want to wait. I’m also getting plenty of emails regarding the developing of your own style and creating unique icons, so I think it’s high time to share it with you!   So how important is it to have your own unique and recognisable style? How to discover it? And what benefits could it bring? First thing to remember is that icon design in general shouldn’t be unique. It doesn’t mean that the style shouldn’t be either, though. You can recreate the same icon in a million different styles to find the one that would fit the project perfectly. However, your icon metaphors shouldn’t be unique. Unlike the logo design, where you need to come up with a smart, catchy and interesting mark. In iconography, it’s important that a person can recognise the icon in a split second. And this can only be done by using the time-tested and well-known metaphors. So don’t be afraid to use the good old magnifying glass to indicate “search” just because it’s not unique. Your main purpose as a designer is not to be unique, but to solve problems. Tweet This!    If you manage to solve a problem by creating something unique – kudos to you! This is how the world is moving forward. But it sure is not easy.   A lot of people tend to worry about discovering their own unique style too much. To the extent where this fear stops them from creating anything at all, simply because they think it’s not unique enough. They...
Icon Design Guide Landing page is Live!

Icon Design Guide Landing page is Live!

Hey, hope you’re doing well! You probably noticed that I haven’t been posting as much as I used to. Well, that is all due to lots of work I’ve been occupied with recently, and all my remaining free time I’ve been devoting to the upcoming free icon design guide. So that you don’t think I’m making excuses, I thought I’d update you on the progress with the guide. I’m really giving it my all because I want it to be a complete and best source for everyone in icon design, regardless of whether you are only thinking about taking up designing icons or already have some experience. And believe me, the Guide is so worth waiting for! It is going to be massive. Anyways, over the last week I’ve managed to put together the landing page for my Free Icon Design Guide. Check it out! Now when you can see what it’s all about and what it will be stuffed with, I definitely encourage you to sign up to be notified when the Guide is all done and ready to be spread. I reckon it will be an amazing source for anyone who is about to start out as an icon designer as well as for those of you who want to improve their icon design skills. I’ll also be doing some giveaways on the launch day so you don’t want to miss out! Stay tuned....
Do we need a new Save Icon?!

Do we need a new Save Icon?!

There have been a lot of talks around the well-known Save icon. Every now and then another article about kids not knowing what a floppy disk is pops up in my news feed. The point of these articles is that using a floppy as a Save icon is no longer relevant, so we need to immediately change it. But do we really? I keep track of the icons that everybody suggests to replace it with, but I haven’t yet come across one that would look better than the floppy disk. Honestly, a floppy disk may be the ideal object for an icon, and here is why: It has a recognisable shape; It’s square, which means it perfectly fits into an icon grid; It doesn’t have any tiny details so it’s distinctive even in small sizes; Everybody knows its meaning already. Kids may not understand what that is, but they do know what that icon stands for; It means only one thing – save. Unlike some other icons such as a magnifying glass that can mean both ‘search’ and ‘zoom’. So why change it? If you look carefully at your desktop screen, you will notice a bunch of other antique symbols. I mean, do you remember the last time you used an actual magnifying glass? And do kids really know what that strange curvy thing we press to call somebody on a smartphone is? My daughter just asked why we say “hang up” the phone and now I feel 90. — Jason English (@EnglishJason) June 2, 2015 A Settings gear, folders, etc. There are tons of objects you would rarely...
Icon Design Guide – I Need Your Help!

Icon Design Guide – I Need Your Help!

Hey! Hope everything is going great! If you follow me, you know that I spent the last month and a half traveling around Thailand exploring its magnificent islands. I needed this time-off to evaluate what I’ve achieved with Icon Utopia thus far and think of where I should go with it next. I talked briefly about my Thailand trip in the previous article if you want to check it out. So as mentioned there, I have some big plans for the blog. I decided that weekly blog posts are not enough anymore and I want to give the people who are willing to learn icon design more value. With that in mind, I started working on a bunch of exciting stuff like interviews, videos, tutorials, and so on.   And now it is time for you to step in and help me with it! Here is the deal: I want to create an awesome, value packed from the first to the very last page “Icon Design Guide” that would contain everything you need to know to start working on your first icon set or simply to learn something new about icon design. I’ve written a good deal of blog articles about that, and I know you have learned a lot from them too considering how many positive emails I’m getting. This is fantastic and really motivating. You guys are incredible, and I don’t think I will ever stop telling you this. But also, going through your feedback I understood how extremely helpful a complete guide with all the necessary information about icon design would be. Just imagine a guide...

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