What tool is best for icon design
intelliArt (35 pencils) | Sun, 2007-09-16 13:43Hello,
I am sure this topic sounds pretty stupid to you people, being into this sort of stuff, but it's a whole new ball game to me.
I am into application design myself. But I design all my icons and graphics for the personal programs, - get this: using a simple paint program! yeah I know, I know, and your right they do lack luster! :(
Anyway about 8 monbths ago I started designing my program icons using PScs2, and I have to say while I may have a long way to go, I love graphic design and just wish I had started using this kind of software a long time ago.
So cut to the chase, what is this thread about.
Well I am planning on spending some dosh on a full product and want to get software that is best suited, so I would really appreciate some direction from anyone with graphics experience. .
Can you please tell me which Adobe program is best suited for icon design, by icon I mean icons yes, but also 256 PNG images for Vista and Mac.
PScs2 does well, it's easy to save as PNG, and I just convert images to icons with other software.
Ive tried a few icon specific programs, but havn't found any with layer capabilities, so I figure creating the image in an Adobe product like PScs2 and then converting the images to icons is the way to go.
Hate to sound neive - but so be it!
Any direction would be appreciated
Regards
Michael
========
Be cool! Be calm! Be human!
Commenting on this Forum topic is closed.
Great icon info site here:
iconfactory
Great icon app here for mac:
candybar
Icon app for pc:
photoshop
----
Powerpoint is not a design application
----
Dirt and Rust
Thanks for the leed natobasso. So I was on the right track using Photoshop, however since I was using Elements 2.0, is there any advantage in going to the full product or would the latest Elements do the trick.
Thanks again.
========
Be cool! Be calm! Be human!
More on icons for mac os x:
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/mac/2001/05/24/aqua_design.html
IconComposer; a good app:
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2001/05/24/aqua_design.html?page=last
----
Powerpoint is not a design application
----
Dirt and Rust
and some seem to think Illustrator is better used along with Photoshop, any thoughts?
========
Remember only true artists can be constructive!
Constructive criticism - of a COMPOSITION - belongs only to artists since
it nurtures the creative spirit others, and because they are artistic in
themselves they fear no competition.
=======
========
Be cool! Be calm! Be human!
I don't know much about designing icons specifically, but since Illustrator is a vector program you can greatly scale designs up and down without them becoming pixellated.
www.alessandraandy.com
I am thinking Illustrator may be the way to go. I've been donig searches for icon tutorials, and if I use Illustrator in the search string I get heaps of results, but when I use Photoshop in the search string the reference to icons is for free ones.
Thanks everyone for the input.
========
Remember only true artists can be constructive!
Constructive criticism - of a COMPOSITION - belongs only to artists since
it nurtures the creative spirit others, and because they are artistic in
themselves they fear no competition.
=======
========
Be cool! Be calm! Be human!
However, you still have to rasterize the illustrator art, thereby negating the vector art benefit. You also have to be aware of the actual size the icon needs to be and design it to that size.
----
Powerpoint is not a design application
----
Dirt and Rust
Like I said I don't know much about designing icons. But wouldn't it be helpful to be able to design at any size then scale it down? Wouldn't it be rasterized after completing the design? I'm probably missing something, just curious.
www.alessandraandy.com
If you design the icon in a program that allows for any size, you won't know how it will look till you resize and rasterize to 16px x 16px or 32px x 32px, which is much smaller most likely than your illustrator file will be. Aqua/OS X icons are definitely a good resolution, pre tiger you get 128x128 and with tiger you get 256x256.
You'll have to take this into account in your design. Strokes will resize, blends will band, etc. Why not use photoshop so you can see exactly how the logo will look at all times? Just my opinion, but I've never done this so I could be a bit off on this.
----
Powerpoint is not a design application
----
Dirt and Rust
I see, that makes sense. I guess one would have to take into account how simple or complicated the icon would be.
www.alessandraandy.com
As I understand it you would have to create the icon at the intended size, but icons can be anything from 16x16 to 256x256 (and I think OSX goes even larger, 512 or something?) The little bit of playing around I've done in photoshop has been with 256 PNG's and they seam to scale down ok to about 32 and some at 24 (but I havn't done anything to fancy - being new to this art thing).
I wonder if creating say at 64x64 in Illustrator would work OK, since with vectors you scale up without loosing the clarity, and may not loose a noticable amount when scaling down.
At this point I'm a tad confused.
Thanks for the input.
========
Remember only true artists can be constructive!
Constructive criticism - of a COMPOSITION - belongs only to artists since
it nurtures the creative spirit others, and because they are artistic in
themselves they fear no competition.
=======
========
Be cool! Be calm! Be human!
As I understand it you would have to create the icon at the intended size, but icons can be anything from 16x16 to 256x256 (and I think OSX goes even larger, 512 or something?) The little bit of playing around I've done in photoshop has been with 256 PNG's and they seam to scale down ok to about 32 and some at 24 (but I havn't done anything to fancy - being new to this art thing).
I wonder if creating say at 64x64 in Illustrator would work OK, since with vectors you scale up without loosing the clarity, and may not loose a noticable amount when scaling down.
At this point I'm a tad confused.
Thanks for the input.
========
Remember only true artists can be constructive!
Constructive criticism - of a COMPOSITION - belongs only to artists since
it nurtures the creative spirit others, and because they are artistic in
themselves they fear no competition.
=======
========
Be cool! Be calm! Be human!
I say do the final icon in photoshop, but you can sart in illustrator if you like. Illustrator won't show you each pixel as a raster image will.
----
Powerpoint is not a design application
----
Dirt and Rust
I advise designing your logos in Illustrator if you think there's a possibility they would ever be needed in a print medium. Use Photoshop to create the raster images you need for use online, by simply opening the Illustrator-generated design in Photoshop and sizing/formatting it as needed.
Mara
for the tips.
It seems to me that PS is a very versatile tool, and as you have pointed out natobasso it's strength is in the pixel by pixel view.
I've found a few tutorials on using PS for designing icons last night and heaps that I havn't had time to look at yet (amazing what difference the wording in a search string can make!)
Mara06 thanks for pointing out the need to consider the possible use in print, I've read that a few times now, and this sometimes is required although not at a very large size.
Decisions ..... Decisions ......
Thanks for your help (I hope this only posts once this time unlike my reply above ......!)
========
Be cool! Be calm! Be human!
Iconographer
----
Powerpoint is not a design application
----
Dirt and Rust
looks like I need that new Mac!
========
Be cool! Be calm! Be human!
Illustrator is a really cool program to draw with, it's also good to start logos in vector in case they need to be used in print in the future, it's also good for revisions it's a lot more difficult to enlarge a small graphic created in Photoshop, it's really easy to do that in illustrator
I would buy Illustrator, and also check out http://www.lynda.com for training