How to best use icons in your blog graphics
When writing and finalizing blog posts, one of the most important steps you need to take is the creation of the graphics that will be shared on Social Media. You can use photographs, backgrounds and even illustrations. Have you ever tried using icons?
What is an icon?
In the world of computers and the digital age, an icon is an image that represents something in a way that can be recognized without words. Simple icons are the most impressive because with only a couple of lines they can “say” what they mean at first sight.
The first digital icons were the ones seen on the computer desktop that represented folders, hard-drives, trashcans, and other basic computing elements. As computers got more complex and included more powerful tools, more icons appeared.
With icons, users could find what they were looking for without having to read anything at all. Digital visuals have evolved so much that now you can find icons for pretty much anything that exists. All fields of study and all careers have their own icons to represent aspects of their functionality.
Different kinds of icons
Just like all sorts of visuals and illustrative images, there are different kinds of icons. The simplest ones are called line icons and are basically just a line in the shape of the form it means to represent. They are usually just one color. Flat icons are a bit more complex than line icons but are still quite simple. Less common are 3D icons which are sometimes used in fancy logos. All kinds of icons can be simple in their color scheme while others can be quite complex.
Picking the icon you want to use in your Blog Graphics depends on your branding, and your personal choice.
Using icons in your Blog Graphics
No matter the topic of your blog post, you will be able to find an icon to represent it. By simply logging into Freepik, entering your keywords in the search bar and choosing “icon” as the advanced option. The magic of icons is that they are vector graphics, meaning that they can be used tiny and also really big. You can include a few icons in a graphic or you can use a large one so the effect is more subliminal.
Do you ever make infographics for your blog? Icons are the essential elements for great infographics. Information is assimilated much faster when it’s visual and that is why icons inside infographics are so important.
Here are a few important tips when using icons in your Blog Graphics:
- Use the same style of icon when creating a set of graphics for one blog post. Most icons come in sets anyway!
- Personalize the colors using a software like Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape
- When separating the icons from the sets, make sure you are exporting them to .png format with a transparent background for greater manageability.
- Keep your icons organized by type inside your computer, you never know when you will need them again.
- No matter if the icons you want to use are free or paid, always make sure they come with a commercial license; especially if the graphics you are creating are for your business blog. You can get away with using icons for your personal blog with a personal license but if the article is business related you really need a commercial or extended license. Better to pay for the icons, or buy a subscription to an icon database like Freepik or Flaticon, where you can access icons with a commercial license whenever you need them.
Making your own icons with or without a designer
A great way to reach a higher level of branding in your blog is to have a designer create a set of icons exclusive for you. If you don’t want to take the leap and hire a designer to create a set of icons from scratch you can also find some icons on Freepik (don’t forget the commercial license!) and customize them to fit your branding.
A great way of using personalized icons is to create one icon for each category and so when you are creating your blog graphics you can include the relevant icon for the category of that blog post.
How do you use icons for your blog? Tells us in the comments!
