The main thing is, this premium quality icon pack comes with all essential features. You can use, edit and distribute with personal or commercial projects. If you are looking for a modern icon. May 28, 2018 The main thing is, this premium quality icon pack comes with all essential features. You can use, edit and distribute with personal or commercial projects. If you are looking for a modern icon.

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Note

This design guide was created for Windows 7 and has not been updated for newer versions of Windows. Much of the guidance still applies in principle, but the presentation and examples do not reflect our current design guidance.

Icons are pictorial representations of objects, important not only for aesthetic reasons as part of the visual identity of a program, but also for utilitarian reasons as shorthand for conveying meaning that users perceive almost instantaneously. Windows Vista introduces a new style of iconography that brings a higher level of detail and sophistication to Windows.

Note: Guidelines related to standard icons are presented in a separate article.

Design concepts

Aero is the name for the user experience of Windows Vista, representing both the values embodied in the design of the aesthetics, as well as the vision behind the user interface (UI). Aero stands for: authentic, energetic, reflective, and open. Aero aims to establish a design that is both professional and beautiful. The Aero aesthetic creates a high quality and elegant experience that facilitates user productivity and even drives an emotional response.

Windows Vista icons differ from Windows XP-style icons in the following ways:

The style is more realistic than illustrative, but not quite photorealistic. Icons are symbolic images they should look better than photorealistic!
Icons have a maximum size of 256x256 pixels, making them suitable for high-dpi (dots per inch) displays. These high-resolution icons allow for high visual quality in list views with large icons.
Wherever practical, fixed document icons are replaced by thumbnails of the content, making documents easier to identify and find.
Toolbar icons have less detail and no perspective, to optimize for smaller sizes and visual distinctiveness.

Well-designed icons:

Improve the visual communication of your program.
Strongly impact users' overall impression of your program's visual design, and appreciation for its fit-and-finish.
Improve usability by making programs, objects, and actions easier to identify, learn, and find.

The following images depict what makes the Aero style of iconography in Windows Vista different from that used in Windows XP.

The Windows Vista icons (the lock and key on the left) are authentic, crisp, and detailed. They are rendered rather than drawn, but are not completely photorealistic.

The Windows Vista icons (the two on the left) are professional and beautiful, with attention to details that improve icon production quality.

These Windows Vista icons show optical balance and perceived accuracy in perspective and details. This allows them to look great big or small, up-close or from a distance. Moreover, this style of iconography works for high-resolution screens.

These examples show different types of icons, including a three-dimensional object in perspective, a front-facing (flat) icon, and a toolbar icon.

Guidelines

Perspective

Icons in Windows Vista are either three-dimensional and shown in perspective as solid objects, or two-dimensional objects shown straight-on. Use flat icons for files and for objects that are actually flat, like documents or pieces of paper.
Typical 3D and flat icons.
Three-dimensional objects are represented in perspective as solid objects, seen from a low birds-eye view with two vanishing points.
This example shows perspective and vanishing points typical of 3D icons.
In the smaller sizes, the same icon may change from perspective to straight-on. At the size of 16x16 pixels and smaller, render icons straight-on (front-facing). For larger icons, use perspective.
- Exception: Toolbar icons are always front-facing, even in larger sizes.
This example shows how the same icon is treated differently, depending on size.

Light source

The light source for objects within the perspective grid is above, slightly in front of, and slightly to the left of the object.
The light source casts shadows that are slightly to the rear and right of the object's base.
All light rays are parallel, and strike the object along the same angle (like the sun). The goal is to have a uniform lighting appearance across all icons and spotlight effects. Parallel light rays produce shadows that all have the same length and density, providing further unity across multiple icons.

Shadows

General

Use shadows to lift objects visually from the background, and to make 3D objects appear grounded, rather than awkwardly floating in space.
Use an opacity range of 30-50 percent for shadows. Sometimes a different level of shadow should be used, depending on the shape or color of an icon.
Feather or shorten the shadow if necessary, to keep it from being cropped by the icon box size.
Don't use shadows in icons at 24x24 or smaller sizes.
Typical icon shadows.

Flat icons

Flat icons are generally used for file icons and flat real-world objects, such as a document or a piece of paper.
Flat icon lighting comes from the upper-left at 130 degrees.
Smaller icons (for example, 16x16 and 32x32) are simplified for readability. However, if they contain a reflection within the icon (often simplified), they may have a tight drop shadow. The drop shadow ranges in opacity from 30-50 percent.
Layer effects can be used for flat icons, but should be compared with other flat icons. The shadows for objects will vary somewhat, according to what looks best and is most consistent within the size set and with the other icons in Windows Vista. On some occasions, it may even be necessary to modify the shadows. This will especially be true when objects are laid over others.
A subtle range of colors may be used to achieve desired outcome. Shadows help objects sit in space. Color impacts the perceived weight of the shadow, and may distort the image if it is too heavy.

The Drop Shadow option in the Layer Style dialog box, and a typical shadow for a flat icon.

Basic flat icon shadow ranges

Characteristic	Range
Color	Black
Blend mode	Multiply
Opacity	22-50 percent, depending on color of the item
Angle	120-130 (use global light)
Distance	3 for 256x256, ranging down to 1 for 32x32
Spread	0
Size	7 for 256x256, ranging down to 2 for 32x32

Three-dimensional icons

Create shadows for 3D icons on a case-by-case basis, with an effort to fit within a range of cast distance and feathering to fully transparent. Create the images in a size a bit smaller than the overall icon size demands to allow space for a drop shadow (for those sizes that will require one). Make sure the shadow doesn't end abruptly at the edge of the icon.

These examples help demonstrate variations created based on the shape and position of the object itself. The shadow sometimes needs to be feathered or shortened to keep it from being cropped by the icon box size.

Color and saturation

Colors are generally less saturated than they were Windows XP.
Use gradients to create a more realistic looking image.
Although there is no specific color palette for standard icons, remember that they need to work well together in many contexts and themes. Prefer the standard set of colors; don't re-color standard icons, such as warning icons, because this disrupts users' ability to interpret meaning

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