Easy way to design your icons with Canva, fast, efficiently and above all , free!
That’s right, it happens to everyone, we can’t find an icon exactly how we want it for our web page, banner design, brochure or just to add it to the interface of our latest mobile app.
Other times, however, it happens that the client we work for has given specific instructions not to use icons from collections found in free galleries but does not intend to shell out money to pay royalties from Alamy, Shutterstock, Freepick or Flaticon.
In short, if you have had this experience a couple of times already, or if it happened to you as it did to me, that the client was just “allergic” to the icons found on the web, partly because they are not sophisticated enough or partly because he said that all sites have them the same…
Well I solved it by designing them in a hurry, and for the occasion I had fun doing it with Canva, which honestly is really becoming an absolute convenience since I use it with a chromebook plugged in here and there when I’m out and about in the city or in some cafe by the sea.
Yes I know Canva already has its icons….but, you know the great thing about making your own is that you make them the way you want and afterwards no one can complain.
To better understand how easy this task can be, using amazing online software such as Canva, I recorded my screen while making one so just to give an idea to those who have thought about it but haven’t done it yet.
Designing an icon is a very simple thing because it’s not really like making a logo where you have to give deep or impactful messages but rather it’s a little graphic demonstration that helps the user understand what that paragraph is about or what that particular tool, button etc. does.
In short, after a couple of times you make one, you will get easier and easier and most importantly you will acquire a level where you can make dozens of them and they will all be in tune, with line sizes, curves, color tones (if you use more than one color) and all the various geometries.
In this example I made one in a hurry for a timer and used only one color shade. If I were to expand this type of article maybe I will do an even more complicated one with more colors and shadow play.
I recommend that if you make the icons in canva, or even if you make them in Inkskape, remember that it is always better to save them as SVG because you can adapt them to any size (in terms of size), on the contrary if you save them as .png or .jpg and then want to enlarge them, the quality of the icons will degrade as you will only “enlarge” the pixels. SVG uses a binary computation system, so it is not an image made of pixels.
Have fun a give it a try, let’s see how long will take you for the fist one, believe me, after the 10th you are probably going to be 5 time faster. Have fun and enjoy your time while designing.
Digital Designer, blog writer and also a tech enthusiast.
He loves to write content for blogs, podcasts, design websites, logos, brochures, banners and anything that sends a message to an audience.
You can contact Daniele at the link below:
