Computer Icons



Luminous Folder icon inspired by Mac OS X Leopard
A computer icon is a pictogram or symbol that is used on computer monitors as well as on cell phones and other devices. The icon can symbolise a file, folder, application or device. In fact, it can symbolise anything the user wants it to represent.

Icons are found on the desktop, in the toolbars of applications, on web sites. Software toolbars display icons such as “copy” and “paste” as icons that show the user how they can interact with the software. Icons are often used to help people navigate round web sites or to identify items such as tags and categories on blogs. Smiley icons represent moods in forums and chat programmes. Weather icons indicate the weather on news sites. The list is endless.

Icons can help make the computer experience user friendly, increasing usability, by helping the user to quickly identify what they seek or clearly show how an application or web site can be used or navigated. Users can customise their icons to increase the usability of their computer experience, making files and folders easier to find and to make their desktop personal.

Today, icons and wallpapers / desktop pictures are part of the desktop environment, the graphical user interface (GUI) of most modern personal computers. The desktop metaphor helps users to interact with the computer treating the display as a desktop that you can place documents on, folders that contain documents, there is drag and drop functionality and a trash can. In 1984, the original Macintosh was the first computer to abandon the use of a command line and popularise the graphical user interface that uses the desktop as a metaphor.

As the computer systems have evolved and become more refined, the operating systems have been able to display more polished computer icons with true transparency and larger sizes. In Apples current system Mac OS X Leopard the largest size is 512x512 pixels and Microsoft’s current system Vista can display icons up to 128x128 pixels. Both Mac OS X Leopard and Windows Vista use 16x16 pixels as the smallest size for icons. Often this is the size used for displaying items in listview.

Creating good icons is an art in itself comparable to the miniature paintings by old masters. The icon has to be original, distinctive, easy to understand and work in small sizes as well as different operating systems.

Illustration with a turquoise folder icon from Luminous Blue Folder Icons. Browse icons in the Freebies section.