Nexthink Iconography

We first took stock of the existing assets and identified the types of icons required. To help us determine a visual direction, we looked at the company's core values, which were at the time: "positive attitude," "one team," "continuous improvement," and "getting things done." We wanted our icons to convey a sense of friendliness and approachability without compromising on a techy and clean look.

After establishing a list of all the necessary icons, I could finally begin with the fun part! I started with rough sketches before experimenting with different options in Illustrator. During the early stages of design, I preferred using grayscale to avoid getting distracted by colors and focus on usability. Although the first drafts were not perfect, they provided a good direction for further improvements.

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A critical phase when creating progressive icons is ensuring that all the assets can scale on various materials (digital, print) without losing quality or legibility. After removing all unnecessary elements, simplifying shapes, and playing around with colors, we decided to create two sizes of icons with different levels of detail. The smaller size would be displayed at 64px on the website, while the larger (128px) and more detailed version would be used in Powerpoint presentations, print documents... etc.

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Once we finished developing our primary collection, we moved on to the project's next phase: creating a secondary set to complement the duo-tone icons. This low-detail set of icons can be used when a simpler and cleaner look is needed, such as small UI elements on the website, print documents, or presentations.

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Finally, we have created a set of guidelines to help other teams use our icons effectively. These guidelines include a color palette, spacing, and usage instructions. We have also ensured that our icons appear consistent across different materials and platforms by providing links to the relevant collection on all corporate templates.

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