Creating icons

Icons are must to accompany  with any app and file. It is quite interesting procedure on creating icons.


I am back after a long break.(Sorry for being less frequent).

This post will surely be worth the wait. Enjoy reading.





What are Icons?

Any image which we see in a file or folder before opening can be termed as an icon.

An icon helps applications to differ from each other.

Basic Steps

Designing an icon comprises a few steps. First you need an image which can be converted into an icon. It should be remembered that dimensions should be kept less. An image editor such as Paint, Adobe Photoshop, Coreldraw, etc is preferred for this task. You can also take images from the following websites:-

   ·       Pixabay-For taking free images for personal and commercial use.

   ·       Pexels

Example: Saving an image from Paint

1.    Open Paint.

2.    Create an image your choice.

3.    You should keep the resolution of your image less.

4.    Then save the image in png or jpeg.

Creating Icon

After we done with our image, the next step is to convert the image format into .ico extension. There are many online websites and applications which can be used to do these images. Besides converting, these websites allow optional settings like changing shape, size, resolution, dpi, apply styles and compress images.

Note: Keep your image in square shape since .ico images are square in nature.

Online websites include:

   1.    https://image.online-convert.com/convert-to-ico

   2.    https://www.icoconverter.com/

   3.    https://icoconvert.com/

     And many more.

Final Step

After converting our image in .ico extension we are all set to change icons of folder and files.

   1.    Choose any folder of your choice and right click on it.

   2.    Click on Customize tab.

   3.    You can put an image to show on the normal folder icon by clicking Choose File…

   4.    You can also replace the default icon from a set of icons by clicking choose icon.

   5.    We can now choose our .ico image which will get displayed in the folder.

Demo

Let’s take a sample picture named Sample. To use this image visit the link: Outlook Link

   1.    Visit https://icoconvert.com/.

   2.    Upload Sample.bmp( PNG and JPG images are also supported)

   3.    Crop image according to your need. Remember that the cropped image will be square.

   4.    Apply styling according to your wish.

   5.    Select the icon format. You need to choose from PNG, ICO, Favicon and Custom. I will recommend you to choose ICO. You can also customize the size of your icon.

   6.    Click on Convert ICO. You will be able to download your own created icon.

   7.    Right click on the folder in which you want to use this icon.

   8.    Select Customize tab and go to Change Icon…

   9.    Browse and select the  location where the new icon is located.

Select your image, click on apply and it’s done. You can also Restore Default.

Here 'new' is the folder whose icon is changed.

Hope you find this article useful. Please ask your queries in the comment section.