Online icon editors are not taken seriously by many, but in fact, such tools greatly facilitate the workflow. Just a couple of clicks can save you hours of searching, browsing, or self-development. In addition, it makes no sense to use full-fledged ones when there are special services with sharpened functions for these specific tasks.
Icon editor sites like this one are very efficient. They allow you to:
- easily and quickly create new materials;
- give existing developments a complete look;
- save the result in different formats (SVG, ICO & PNG);
- create icons for .
In this article, we have selected five of the best online free icon editors and tried to create a set in each of them for comparison.
IconsFlow
IconsFlow.com - vector icons + editor that allows you to create personalized sets and export them in good quality (SVG, ICO & PNG). The main advantage of the service is the presence of two editors:
- the main one, in which the palette, style, effects are selected;
- form editor, where you can change the current form or draw a new one.
If you've already created icons in Illustrator, just upload the SVG files and experiment with different backgrounds. IconsFlow has certain limitations when using it for free, so make sure you read them before you start. For novice users, there are lessons and a help section, in addition, it is possible to work in the icon editor in Russian.
View of IconsFlow vector editor:
Work examples:
flat icons
With FlatIcons.net you can create your own flat style icon based on pre-made templates. Set the dimensions, choose a picture and the main background (circles, rings, rectangles), change the color. This icon editor is free, but it has two drawbacks:
- First, you can only download files in PNG format.
- Secondly, you will have to create each object separately, because it is impossible to develop the whole set at once.
Despite the fact that the peak of popularity has already passed, many people use them in their designs. As an example, developers allow you to download a free set of social flat icons. The result of working in the FlatIcons editor:
Launcher Icon Generator
The Launcher Icon Generator project is free and we think it's more suitable for advanced users. This online icon editor allows you to upload images / clipart and add text. You can download one icon at a time in 5 sizes (48 x 48; 72 x 72; 96 x 96; 144 x 144; 192 x 192).
As a base clipart, a set of graphics in the style of Material Design from GitHub is used. The service contains such settings as: padding, shape, background color or transparency, scaling + additional effects. Result:
Android Material Icon Generator is another tool for creating flat icons. The feature of the service is definitely the effect in the form of a long shadow. If you need such solutions, this icon editor will be the perfect option.
Start by selecting an image from the gallery, then define a color, background shape (circle or square), shadow length, saturation, fading, and your icon is ready. Everything is extremely simple. The site is completely free for personal use.
After downloading in the archive file, you will find 6 PNGs of different sizes and a vector SVG file. In Illustrator, the SVG icon will be blurry, but luckily it looks good in the browser. The result is something like:
The Simunity site is an HTML5 based generator where you can create an icon and then copy the code to display it in your web projects. Icons from Font Awesome are used as source materials, for which different parameters are selected: color, border, size and style of shadows.
This service is useful if you need to quickly create simple original icons for the site. The result of applying Simunity:
Total. The online icon editors discussed above are excellent tools for optimizing the work of designers. It makes no sense to download some programs when everything can be done quickly and easily online. From this collection, perhaps, IconsFlow can be distinguished. It has the largest possible number of functions: icon gallery, SVG upload, embed code, preview, create your own templates, PNG, ICO and SVG export, size adaptation, fashion styles and a built-in vector editor. In addition, this is the only free icon editor in Russian, if this is important to you.
If you know of any other similar services, send options in the comments.