This is Signal vs. Noise, a weblog by 37signals about design, business, experience, simplicity, the web, culture, and more. Established 1999 in Chicago. Visit the Product Blog for more information on our products.

This is a typical question but I’ll ask it nonetheless: Where do you guys get your inspiration?

Will Vista affect icon design trend? If yes, how? If no, why?

Oh! I can’t wait for this one!

I want to know how they choose the best symbol for an abstract concept.

Does the potential for resolution independence in new OSes like Leopard encourage you to make more intricate designs or are the designs out there now as good as it gets?

Will we be using the floppy disk for “save” forever? “familiarity” aside, what’s the best representation of this function?

How critical do you think Icons are for a successful product?

When scaling an making several versions of the same icon (64×64, 32×32, 16×16) do you scale down the original and then tweak or start mostly from scratch each time?

Do you usually start with a sketch on paper or just dive into PS or Illustrator?

And somewhat off topic, but who designs the 37s app icons?

I second Matt’s question. Do they start big and get small or is it the other way around? I’m always impressed with how similar icons look great at 64×64 and 16×16.

A related question would be: Do you design in a way that ensures that an icon will look good at multiple sizes? Do you reject details in an icon that just wouldn’t work out at 16×16?

Most of Susan Kare’s icon designs are still around. Has icon design really moved forwards in the last 25 years?

Do you start with a photographic reference and then “icon-ify” it?

Do you ever wish your icons didn’t have to be so square? :D

I have participated in icon creation workshops in the past and one thing I find interesting that I would like to find out is, What is your basic method or workflow that you go through to come up with such informational yet simplistic imagery?

what’s the fastest land animal?

Why are good icons so expensive? (many webapplications would need alot of them and one needs to buy many sets to get all of them).

Why are icons so hard to make? (I tried to make, but never managed to get good ones, even if I can do very good bigger things).

Why is there no standard for the icon symbolic representation, and every set/author “re-invernts” the wheel (the abstractions).

What are your favorite non-digital icons (historical icons)?

A good article on Josh’s (Firewheel) design process: http://tinyurl.com/fhrkj

Would icon design be more photo-ish in the future?

3D interactive icons?

forgot: ICON as Interface?

With regards to icon scaling and vectors, have any of you used the Adobe Flash line tool with its stroke hinting and hairline size to create icons that require little to no touching up? In theory it sounds like it might eliminate some of the usual vector scaling problems.

My Question:

What was the process you went through to bootstrapping your way toward leaving your 9-5 and starting your own company?

Following on from SG’s comment:

Is the movement towards increasingly three-dimensional/photo-realistic iconography of any demonstrable benefit in terms of usability? It appears to be largely motivated by marketing and branding/identity (which obviously has it’s own value).

The constrains on Kare when she designed the original Mac icons forced her to abstract and simplify, much further than designers have to now. Was it this process that resulted in such effective icons?

What are some of the techniques you find yourself using a lot while creating icons?

For example, in reference to Firewheel : do you find yourself using the Edit > Transform > Perspective while making your Oslo series?

Just stuff like that… what are the techniques that seem to pop up with most icon designs…

What advances do icons offer, usability wise, over plain text links or natural html buttons?

Do you notice any trends or ‘fad styles’ in current icon design? Do you find yourself building icon sets to capitalize on these trends?

When dealing with creating Icons that already have a familiar icon for them, do you think it’s better to create an icon that a user is already familiar with via previous icons, or do you take an avant garde route, going with a new icon to represent something old (or semi-old, or new, even)?

What do you think about the new Adobe CS3 icons?

how do you create circle or curves from pixels? with software or standard drawing tools?

software, physical tools (mouse, tablet, camera, etc.)

Great topic.

I want to know when one of these terrific designers is going to write a book on icon design. Seriously. We can get a lot of information from the web, but I want a paperback version of the process, the philosophy, the technical steps, and the design styles.

Hook us up.

What features – potential or dreaming – would you like to see in a future iteration of Illustrator (or your vector program of choice)?

I’ll echo Patrick’s comment: we seriously need a book on this subject, or even a few books (I’d buy from any and all of these guys).

Suggestions for folks just getting into icon design would also be useful as hell. And I’d also be curious whether Mr. Hicks has to do anything special when designing icons due to his color-blindness.

Do you guys promote and contribute to free projects like the Tango Icon Library?

What is the worst icon EVER ?

In what ways can icons be made more dynamic for purposes of informing users about what they do? Alt tags on images display some explanatory text when the mouse hovers over them; but is that really the best that can be done? As technologies like Flash become more common, could icons become animated to better convey purpose/information?

will we ever see more sticker icons from iconfactory? i’d love to fill my dock!

The standard desktop iconset (Open, Save, Cut, Paste) remained virtually same on any platform and was easily noticeable for anyone.

But today’s icons of web apps looks innovative but yet confusing too ;)

So how about the idea of Icon designers collaborating together on making icons on a common guideline ?

Chad, 37signal’s icons were done by Ryan Singer

What to consider in developing a logo so when you come to needing a favicon, small buttons/stamps/banners, etc you can carry through the identity effectively.

What makes a good icon? And following on from Anonymous Coward – check out almost anything done in Lotus Notes. A critique of their icons around the theme, “what not to do in icon design”, would be very interesting.

+1 vote for asking their opinion on the Adobe Creative Suite 3 icons.

Past: What was the better improvement since the first icons (in tech specs)? Colors, size, design, concept?

Present: Everybody is talking about rip-offs, copywrite, etc. I remember some discussion about Transmit’s icon. How do you control it? How do you see DRM and licences in your area?

Future: Will we see rollover effects (simple animations, or just an additional image) in a near future? We saw it in the past, but it disappeared (thanks God).

For Iconfactory: When will we have another Pixelpalooza?

This one is mainly directed to Josh W (Firewheel) although all of the designers on the panel could offer insight…

I’ve always been amazed at Firewheel’s bold use of vibrant color. I find that a great eye for palettes and color can take a design from just good, to amazing. How do you select the color schemes, and do you have any advice for those that get stuck in the monochromatic black hole?

Great chat Signals…can’t wait for it!!

Mike

For Cuban Council: Can I get an invite to the k10k forum?

Since icons are usually metaphors that represent something else, how do you choose the appropriate metaphor for the icon?

How has icon design evolved since, say, the year 2000?

Also, I echo Dave Rau’s question about non-digital icons.

What define’s excessive use of icons? I see so many sites that include tools (print | bookmark | print | email to a friend | ect…) that have icons and text. What are your thoughts on this. I just noticed in CNN ’s redesign that they just use text (thumbs up).

P.S. Does any one know a good blog on icons? Perhaps all of you should collaborate on a blog on design.

Are you into iconography or the visual representations of ideas throughout history – or is it limited to stuff on the web?

How do you feel about abstract art?