Best new icons of 2023

10 selects from the community — plus: icon news

Helena Zhang

5 min readJan 5, 2024

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This time, I asked my icon friends for their favorite sets from the year. Enjoy!

Here’s last year’s roundup.

Icons by Jeff Wiggins

A set of bold icons including a skull, notification bell, and hamburger (Source)

So bold and so cute!
— Helena Zhang, co-creator of Phosphor

Lithic icons by Damian Orellana

A colorful set of icons including an open laptop, an airplane, and an island (Source)

Super unique and nostalgic style reminiscent of the first human drawings.
— Laura Reen, icon designer and illustrator

Phenom iconography by Clay

A set of line icons, colored with gradients, animate as if being drawn (Source)

These icons are open and playful and build off the brand. The animations are wonderful.
— Scott Dunlap, creator of Pixi

Squircle icons by Anna Everhart

A set of squircle icons including a pen nib, a television, and a printer (Source)

This up-and-coming set has a unique, playful personality that sets it apart. Ideal for fun and quirky brands.
— Griff L’Ecuyer, icon designer

Amazon Prime Video icons by Patswerk

A selection of black and white icons set on a blue background; a truck bounces down the road, a gem shimmers, and a paper plane takes flight (Source)

I’ve always been a sucker for well-executed multi-tone icons — the balance of emphasis and visual weight can be tough to pull off! But it’s the motion design that really puts these “iconics” over the top.
— Noah Jacobus, designer at Font Awesome & creator of Chunk

Untitled UI icons by Jordan Hughes

A set of line-style icons including a pair of hearts, a puzzle piece, and a telescope (Source)

Simple and refined icons that manage to communicate effectively without skimping on personality.
— Tobias Fried, co-creator of Phosphor

Brand icons for Spade by Josh Warren

Eight techy, isometric icons including a timer, a key, and a gear (Source)

Beautiful isometric icons with a sleek, modern feel, a well-balanced color palette, and a hint of sci-fi.
— Dmitri Litvinov, icon designer & illustrator

Polaris icons by Shopify

A selection of line and filled icons including a globe, a shopping cart, and a megaphone (Source)

This is a prime example of how to build a 1.5px-stroke icon set. Its neutral (not overly branded) style helps maintain its functionality.
— Martin David, ½ of iconists and co-creator of the central icon system

Do What You Love by Arianna Cristiano

Icons in a hand-drawn style, showing summery themes — a beach chair, waves, and wine (Source)

These nostalgic, organic icons were designed for a wine label for the “Do What You Love” project by Serafina Quota, a cultural association based in the Langhe region in Italy. They evoke memories of summer vacations in Europe.
— Jordon Cheung, icon designer & illustrator

Fantasty icons by Rado Brlit

A grid of fantasy icons showing medieval objects, buildings, and animals (Source)

Can I choose two? I have to highlight this set from Rado Brlit. They are so well-drawn and the little cuts are perfect!
— Helena Zhang, co-creator of Phosphor

Want more? Check out Streamline’s Best icons of 2023.

In icon news…

What else happened in the icon world in 2023?

New releases

Pictograms for the 2024 Paris Olympics (probably the iconographer’s dream project) were revealed: video and It’s Nice That coverage. These break from the expected approach, representing each sport with a coat of arms.

Colorful icons show Olympic sports like Wheelchair Fencing, Taekwondo, and Para Swimming (Source)

Discord rolled out a juicy icon refresh by Bonnie Kate Wolf.
Heroicons released a micro size.

New releases, large libraries (1k icons+)

More Sharp weights (Regular, Light, and Thin) from Font Awesome. And a Figma plugin. Also, some cute animals.
Nucleo, the icon management tool, launched v4 in December.
Tobias Fried
and I shipped a major release in March for Phosphor: 2.0, which included a light brand refresh, 201 new icons, and a system-wide cleanup.
Streamline rebranded, shipped a new site in August, and got some buzz for their memes set and Guidance, a set of 360 signage icons. Streamline is the the most prolific icon team I know!

Wayfinding icons from Streamline’s Guidance set are right at home in a floor map (Source)

Iconists (Andreas Storm and Martin David) launched the central icon system in March. They put the “system” in “icon system”.

New releases, app icons

Michael Flarup kickstarted a companion to The iOS App Icon Book, The macOS App Icon Book. Unboxing here. Truly a labor of love.

The macOS App Icon Book flips open, showing an array of colorful icons (Source)

Articles, podcasts, talks, courses

Bonnie Kate Wolf started an icon course on Dive. She’s a fantastic educator. Take her course.
Don’t miss Noah and Jory’s super fun and super meticulous talk at Config 2023: We Drew 30,000 icons in Figma and so can you. Lots of insight and inspiration packed inside.

Finally, a gentle reminder that icons don’t have to be clean and geometric. Look at these beauties!!