12 Best Places to Download Unique Icon Sets in 2015
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Icons communicate where language becomes a barrier!
When words are not enough, graphics are used and icons form an integral part of graphics. In today’s world, no user interface is complete without icons. They have an ability to blend seamlessly into any design or web layout and create magic. However a special consideration is required to create effective icons. They are excellent tools for graphic systems but can’t function individually despite their aesthetic value and solutions. It is up to the designer to use or implement icon designs relative to the graphic system. This article will set the pace for designers who are looking to download icon sets to start their design projects in 2015.
Let’s take a look at some of the resources to get you going.
1. Flaticon
Image: flaticon.com
The tech industry has advanced towards flat designs, and right now, it is in transition. To meet the demands of flat, scalable and accessible icons, this website featuring a powerful tool has been created. Flaticon is a credible venture of Freepik, popularly known as the search engine for web and graphic designers. Freepik helps professionals find icons relevant to any industry without the possible jargon of searching through dozens of websites. A unique feature of this icon provider is that it facilitates icon conversion into various useful formats such as PNG and SVG.
2. Iconfinder
Image: iconfinder.com
Yet another website that offers a variety of icons for all sorts of creative professionals. Apart from a stock of 340,000 icons, the website also offers a marketplace for designers and contributors who get an opportunity to earn royalty for their original submissions. Now that’s an incentive most designers are looking forward to. This passion-driven team, located in Copenhagen, Denmark, aims to become the most popular website for icons. So, in my opinion, Iconfinder is one of the best places to download creative icon sets.
3. Iconmonstr
Image: iconmonstr.com
It’s fascinating how the website manages to go by its name. Iconmonstr have an iconic layout and I mean this literally. Their web layout display is purely based on icons instead of images which is both unique and ingenious. Even without reading, the user knows that they have landed on the right platform where they can download up-to-date icons in no time. The simple browsing experience makes it very easy for designers to pick up trendy, clear and concise icons for designing mobile apps as well as desktop websites.
4. The noun project
Image: thenounproject.com
This is an icon directory that emerges with a brilliant idea to simplify communication. They intend to create a visual language through icons so that everyone can have a clear understanding of complicated designs. The noun project is perfect for visual scheming but don’t get sold out yet. There is one peculiarity that hampers user experience. You keep scrolling but the footer never appears. It takes forever and gives an impression of infinite website. Anyhow, they have managed to secure a spot in our list of most popular places to download unique icon sets for the coming year.
5. ZillionDesigns
Image: zilliondesigns.com
Everything comes with a price but the chic icons from ZillionDesigns are free for download. And that’s just the beginning, the best part is yet to come. Instead of a random assortment, the free-to-download icons are organized according to the relevant industry. Besides the simple categorizations, the icon sets are divided into subsets to simplify the search process.
6. Icondeposit
Image: icondeposit.com
Icondeposit is a platform for designers where they can post icons and gain exposure as well as clients for their work. The most commendable thing about this website is the way they have presented their icon display gallery. Take a look and be amazed because icondeposit gets a place in 2015’s hot icon websites.
7. Veryicon
Image: veryicon.com
If there was a competition for the amount of high quality web icons, then veryicon would certainly get the top spot. They have hundreds of sets and packs of over 20 K web icons. On top of that, visitors get to see the icons in a variety of file formats.
8. OpenIconic
Image: useiconic.com
OpenIconic follows a forward-thinking approach instead of just following trends. They have a combination of icons in various formats, such as, vector, raster and font. Some of these icons are created keeping in mind different industry websites and blogs and after considering their unique requirements for icon display. I would say the icon sets are reasonably priced bearing in mind that they offer stock free royalty of icon sets for commercial use.
9. Iconarchive
Image: iconarchive.com
A multitude of free icons are contributed here almost daily. You can search by entering relevant keywords or simply by selecting from the dropdown menu in categories. The reason why this website is included in the list of top 12 icon websites for 2015 is because of its timeline view. The user gets to choose from the latest updated icon sets.
10. Easyicon
Image: easyicon.net
Gorgeous icons are collected here in an endless range of styles and designs. Easyicon makes it easy for users searching for scalable vector formats of application icons and web icons. If you want futuristic looking flat icons for iOS, web interfaces and infographics, then Easyicon will come in handy.
11. Deliciousicons
Image: deliciousicons.com
The simple icon designs from deliciousicons are primed for the digital age. Deliciousicons produces professionally crafted stock icons for software, websites and print mediums. The majority of user reviews rates it as an affordable royalty-free icon resource which is why we have included it in our list of futuristic flat icon designs.
12. Icojam
Image: icojam.com
Icojam comes forward with the most amazing color schemes for different industry icons. They have more than 6,000 icons in their catalog with a wide variety of designs and styles. From a collection of vector icons, inverticons to cosmo icons, Icojam presents the most unique categorization for flat icons.
Web, blog, and app developers are always in need of new icons, and the resources mentioned in this article, will serve as the commercial solution for user interface (UI) icons.
