433: Making a Case for Icons

This week, we make the case for designing product icons and discuss what to do if your team doesn’t want to invest in great iconography. In the Sidebar, we talk about how to incorporate default typefaces into your design system.

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Follow up:

Uhl Albert pointed out that “ruinous empathy” comes from the Radical Candor Framework.

Main Topic:

This week, we make the case for designing product icons and discuss what to do if your team doesn’t want to invest in great iconography.

Priscilla Then asks on GitHub:

The Lead Developer at my work requested to remove some of the icons, because they slow down development time when having to wait for one to be created, grappling with SVGs, etc. Unfortunately, he is right as they are time-consuming to make (especially good ones) and since I'm the only UX/UI designer in the company, it slows me down and I become the bottleneck.
That said, I feel that icons give character, polish and professionalism to an otherwise extremely utilitarian UI. Icons can also be functional in that they help make certain elements stand out from an otherwise huge sea of text, but they are still seen as "fluff". I've asked for another designer to be hired, or request our graphic designer to create icons when he has time, but these suggestions didn't get any support. How would you make a case for icons when they are seen as mere decoration?

Cool Things:

Brian shared the Opal C1, a professional webcam that claims DSLR-quality images in a $300 chassis. So far: it’s definitely a beta product, but depending on your needs it might be a worthwhile upgrade!
Marshall shared the ohsnap! Snapmount 2.0, an accessory that helps you mount your phone to a wall (with MagSafe!), making it ideal for turning your phone into a mounted shower speaker.

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