Writing
Notes on icons, search and retrieval.
What we measured while drawing 3000 icons to one contract and making them findable from plain prose.
· 3 min
Icon naming conventions that survive a redesign
Name an icon for what it draws, not for where you first used it. Here is the rule, the three name types to avoid, and how to keep names stable as a product changes.
· 4 minWhy icon search returns the wrong icon
One icon with a long tag list can shadow every other icon in the set. Here are the four scoring faults that cause it, and the structural fix.
· 4 minThe stroke width that keeps an SVG icon legible at 16px
A 24px icon drawn with a 2 unit stroke stays readable down to 16px. Here is why that ratio works, and the four geometry rules that matter more than the number.
· 3 minHow to find an icon without knowing its name
Most icon libraries make you guess a file name. Prose search matches what you mean instead. Here is how it works and what to check before you adopt a set.