Garden in the spring

I’ve been fighting with some of these pests each spring. Some fights I can win, at least from time to time – for example, with mouses, martens, etc. – my dog and cats around the property help me day and night. With some smaller vermin, I managed to catch some of them alive in an animal trap.

But some other fights feel more like a lost battle – for example, trying to stop slugs, snails, and other smaller enemies is a never-ending struggle.

New icons in Farm set v 1.1

You can see all new icons on the Farm set microsite and here’s the list of all 20 new icons in Farm set v 1.1:

• mouse
• rat
• squirrel
• marten
• mole
• wild-boar
• scent-fence
• scent-fence-alt
• growing-irrigation
• growing-fertilization
• slug
• snail
• butterfly
• live-animal-trap
• germination-pots
• germination-pots-bigger
• germination-pots-big
• ultrasonic-repeller
• ultrasonic-repeller-indoor
• compost

How to get the update?

As always, all you have to do is download the latest version of the Farm set from your account or use the direct download link you received in your email – it always leads to the latest version ;)

I hope you like this spring update, and if you still miss any important icons, please write to me at: glyphicons@gmail.com – I promise I’ll get back to you.

These were not my first icons or illustrations made with text, but once I started to work on them, I realized that there might be a better way to add letters and numbers to GLYPHICONS icons.

Size-specific type design

I already had a full set of basic Latin characters and numbers drawn in my working AI file. This included the entire alphabet, along with numbers from 0 to 9, in an approximate size of 10 px for the capital letters. You may actually find some of these icons with letters or numbers in various GLYPHICONS sets right now.

The problem was, I always had to copy and paste each glyph manually and reposition one next to another in order to create new words or numerical values. I was always working basically from scratch, and that led me to the idea of creating a standalone font.

Monospaced numbers

The very first (testing) version contained only the basic Latin alphabet and numbers, which weren’t monospaced but proportional, just like regular letters. This meant that each number had its own defined width to match its natural shape.

But then I remembered I had read somewhere that when numbers are not monospaced, it can cause a problem when you want to animate them or simply change them dynamically as text.

Anyway, on top of this fact, even for static icon-labeling, it was more convenient to have all numbers non-proportional (monospaced), with a fixed width. In a traditional typeface, it’s usually the entire style that is either proportional or not, but in the Label font, only the numbers have exactly the same width.

Unique kerning with pixel grid in mind

In the font, each glyph has its own defined space that it occupies, including its sidebearings (empty spaces on both sides of the glyph).

But sidebearings are only enough to define the very basic space between characters, and it’s usually necessary to define and adjust spaces between certain pairs of characters – using kerning.

So I created a lot of kerning pairs that help not only with the optical balance between letters but, again, with the specific purpose of Label in mind, also keep each glyph always aligned on the pixel grid.

Of course, I was (and still am) fully aware that this approach is kind of a ‘double-edged sword.’ On one hand, it really keeps everything as sharp as possible when working with icons and illustrations, but on the other hand, when used at some atypical or larger sizes, it might be necessary to adjust the kerning between certain pairs of characters individually.

So, with all this information in mind, you can use Label for almost anything really, but you always have to keep in mind not only the advantages but also the limitations that arise from its specific purpose.

No hinting?

I found out that it’s actually better to turn off automatic hinting, and after a few experiments, I decided it might be better to not use any hinting at all, in order to keep the shape of each glyph undeformed and aligned to the pixel grid.

Multilanguage support

Once I had it working with the basic Latin alphabet, I thought it would be nice to create other missing glyphs to support more Latin-based languages. It was quite a challenge to learn which set of characters are needed for certain languages, but Hyperglot helped me tremendously in this regard.

And of course, I have to also mention the great Glyphs app, which I’ve been using before to create desktop icon fonts and which helped me the most when creating the Label font.

Extended set of basic symbols and arrows

Having spent so much time with all the alphabet characters, it became obvious that it would be great to also cover basic special characters, marks, symbols, and punctuation – just in case someone might need some of these ‘extra’ glyphs in their microcopy, wherever it may be.

Free & User-friendly license

Since the creation of the entire font took a large amount of time (much more than I originally intended), at first, I set a fair price for Label at which it should be sold, and I also added a free version with a CC BY 4.0 license.

But, it felt somehow underfair to all existing GLYPHICONS customers, so I reversed that logic and created a special ‘Label free license’ which automatically grants almost unlimited use to all GLYPHICONS customers who have bought any icon set or collection. The free version with the CC BY 4.0 license remained available for everyone else.

So, if you need a regular license, the same as it is for icons, all it takes is to buy any GLYPHICONS icon set or collection – if you already have one, you’re all set, and you can just download the Label font.

Label is an experiment, work in progress

Label was born to help ease my process of making custom icons, but I’ve already found it useful for a few applications outside of icons, so I hope it will help you too.

What do you think about Label? Let me know at: glyphicons@gmail.com.

Anyway, that’s also the main reason why there is so much poultry-related icons in a first version of the Farm set. It’s simply something I have the most experience with right now and because I needed these icons to label and distinguish chicken feed containers from others.

Some of these icons, especially all animals icons, contain a bit more details than usual – it was necessary to keep it simple as always, but also to show all main differences between different sexes of animals or their characteristics during various periods of life – it’s the most obvious with all chicken life cycle icons.

The Farm set is available now for $15 and it’s also a part of the current Comprehensive collection as well.

If you alredy bought Comprehensive collection, normally you’d have access only to sets (and of course their updates) you originally bought, but I’ve decided to give this one-time the Farm set for free to all current Comprehensive collection owners. If you like the new set and want to support me anyway, you can of course buy it as a standalone set or share a word about GLYPHICONS among your friends, any form of support would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

My personal view of home farming

Growing your food and the ability to be even partially self-sufficient seems to be trend at these days. People are finally starting to care more about their gut health and overall diet and trying to grow their own food not only outdoors in their gardens, but also on balconies or even completely indoors.

I believe that especially locally grown organic food is important – veggies, fruits and meat as well. Of course it’s not possible for everyone (especially meat), but why not try it out, at least on a small scale? All you need for is a small pot and window. I guarantee, that anything you grow by yourself will easily beats most of the vegetables or meat you can buy at the store and it will be packed with taste and nutrients.

Also it’s a fun and you’ll learn a lot during the process. Do you have kids? Let them work with you, it’s almost priceless for them to see how food grows and not just how to unpack it from its artificial plastic packaging.

How about you?

Are you planning to grow your own food? If yes, start small and enjoy your portion of healthy organic edibles, your body will thank you for that.

If you think that I should create any other new icon in one of the future updates of this set, please do write me at: glyphicons@gmail.com – I promise I’ll get back to you.

That’s it for the new Farm set, I hope it will help you not only in your design work, but maybe even inspire you to try to grow something yourself ;)

To be clear, I’m neither an expert in this field, nor the crypto enthusiast, so please, take everything in this article with a pinch of salt¹. Also the following text is not intended to be investment advice, but rather my personal opinion on the current state of affairs around this new phenomenon.

Is this article for you?

Part 1 (The basics of NFTs)
In the first part, I sum up briefly everything fundamental related to NFTs. I’m intentionally mentioning only the most important terms and facts, so people without much experience with NFTs can quickly grasp how it works. The first part contains a few personal observations, for which you may want to read it anyway, even if you know how NFTs work.

• What's what in the world of NFTs
• What sets the price of NFTs
• Create, buy and sell cryptoart

Part 2 (My personal story/opinion)
If you’re already buying, selling, or even creating NFTs, you might want to jump right to the second part of the article – it starts with: “How I thought NFTs were working”. The second part is more my personal story, how I wanted to buy and also plan to create and sell my first piece of cryptoart and how it ended up.

• How I thought NFTs were working
• NFTs and their impact
• So, is it now or never?

What's what in the world of NFTs

So, as you probably already know, NFTs are directly tied and dependent on a blockchain – not on a certain type of digital cryptocurrency, but rather on blockchain technology itself.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) represent digital certificates of authenticity powered by blockchain technology. It’s a method of tracking digital ownership. In plain words, NFTs are extra data, information, stored in various cryptocurrencies using blockchain.

Cryptocurrencies used for NFT transactions

Information about NFTs is stored in the Ethereum blockchain (through smart contracts). Other blockchain-based cryptocurrencies can implement their own version of NFTs, but as for today, the most used cryptocurrency for NFT transactions is Ethereum.

Fungible vs non-fungible

• Fungible means interchangeable

  One dollar bill, one Bitcoin or one Ethereum for that matter, is perfectly fungible because it can be replaced anytime by another piece of one dollar bill (or any other currency, fiat or crypto) and it will always have the same value, no matter what’s its origin, form or appearance.

• Non-fungible means unique, non-interchangeable

  Simply said, this can be literally anything that can't be substituted directly for something else. So, each piece has its own unique value. It can be a painting, digital picture, sound, video, you name it. But it can be just as good as a limited series of anything, it's important to remember this for later.

What all can become NFT

Apparently almost anything at the moment. From a Tweet to URL, over more traditional picture files, sound files, video files, you name it.

What's tokenized (minted) NFT

Your cryptoart (whatever it is) needs to be imprinted as an asset on the blockchain, to be traded as NFT. So, to mint an NFT means to verify and store information about the ownership of a certain cryptoart in the blockchain (for example inside the Ethereum blockchain).

Where's NFT stored

What’s the most important thing to understand here, is the fact, that your cryptoart – the file itself, is not being stored or uploaded anywhere during the minting process, just the hash of it. And that’s also the only thing you’re buying or selling (usually) when trading NFTs.

What's a hash of a file

You can think of a hash as a string of seemingly random numbers and letters, an ID, which doesn’t allow you to re-create your digital art, but serves as an identifier for that one file in the blockchain. It simply confirms its uniqueness.

What sets the price of NFTs

Did you hear about Mike Winkelmann (better known as Beeple) who sold a single piece of digital collage for $69,3 million? Or about one of the 10,000 unique pixelated faces from the CryptoPunks collection, namely CryptoPunk #7523, sold for $11,8 million? The list of the most expensive NFTs goes on and on.

NFTs can be bought for a fixed price or are often offered in form of an auction. It means that there is a floor price, upon which people bid till the moment, there is nobody else willing to pay more.

The price of NFTs and their value is formed by many factors, similarly as it is with regular art. But the most important determinants are scarcity, uniqueness, and the most overlooked aspect – the size of the audience.

Uniqueness

NFTs can be a one-of-a-kind piece of art sold as one file only or it can be a whole series of similar pieces, distinguished by their serial number, color, shape or they may differ only in slightly different appearance and or fictional characteristics. It’s actually up to the artist to create this backstory for their product.

Scarcity

The author of the cryptoart can re-sell it as many times as he wants. These NFTs are usually sold in various “editions” and “limited-series”. By intentionally setting the limit of how many pieces of the same cryptoart are available, the author is creating various levels of scarcity.

The size of the audience

This is probably the most important factor, often neglected. While you can’t calculate the price of NFTs solely based on the number of followers, it’s pretty safe to presume that the bigger the number, the bigger the support of all these people and their willingness to buy your art.

With an audience large enough, you can ask for money or even for something that would be otherwise absolutely worthless, if it came from somebody unknown. And this isn’t something new or unfair, in the world of traditional art, this has been always the case. In fact, the most famous artists did not gain their fame until after their deaths.

Art was never only about "the thing"

For example, when you’re buying a physical piece of art, you don’t buy only a nice picture in a frame or perfectly carved statue, you’re buying also a piece of the author’s soul, piece of his life, experience, emotions and a story that is imprinted in it.

You see, now we’re getting somewhere deeper. People often don’t understand, that Beeple’s opus isn’t just a collage of 5,000 images, it’s also a story of a graphic designer, Mike Winkelmann, who sat 5,000 days behind his desk, drawing every day one piece, for more than 13 years in a row. His NFT also reflected directly his story and his personal evolution as an artist.

Create, buy and sell cryptoart

You can download a picture, video, sound, a copy of almost anything that was ever sold as NFTs and “consume it” with your senses, such as, eyes or ears, but only one person on the planet can claim that he/she is the owner of its digitally signed NFT version.

Wait, so will I own the art or not?

This often causes a great deal of confusion. Firstly, do not mistake ownership of NFT with copyright ownership, as owning an NFT doesn’t mean that you own the copyright to the art, it always stays with the author.

In fact, the author will usually retain all reproduction and other rights. The owner of the NFT owns a digital certificate, that can be found and verified on a blockchain, that verifies ownership over asset.

It’s the same as if you’d go to a gallery and buy an original framed painting from your favorite artist. You’d get a receipt or a rather contract, that would prove your ownership of the original, but you couldn’t make any copies of this art or claim that nobody else can use/see its copies, photographs, etc.

Ok, get it, so why are people buying NFTs in the first place?

I think that the majority of people buying NFTs today are doing so as an investment. Simply said, they don’t want to miss their chance and want to make some money when selling it to somebody else later. Some want to support their favorite artist and that’s fantastic, as they can do that almost directly.

Size of commissions for artists and marketplaces

What’s also great about NFTs is the fact, that when you sell your art piece through the digital marketplace, it takes usually only from ten to fifteen percent, while when sold in a traditional gallery, it can be half of the price or even more. Oh, and one more thing – the artist can get even commissions, every time the art is resold.

What drives this thing

There is a ton of videos on YouTube with titles like “Flipping X NFTs for X much in X days” or a sheer amount of articles that start with: “Look, X making X figures just with NFTs”, following closely with tutorials on how to create your own NFT collection and start making money with it in no time.

So yes, in short, money is the main drive here, there is no doubt about it. While there is nothing wrong about it in general, it has its hidden side and (unnecessary) side effects, that many don’t know or just ignore – I believe it’s just an unawareness for the most. More about this in the second part that starts below.

How I thought NFTs were working

When I first read about NFTs – actually I heard about them on YouTube, I was immediately hooked. A new, more direct and fair way, how to sell or buy digital art and it’s somehow connected to the blockchain? Great, I had used cryptocurrencies before and had some experience with them, so it all seemed like the flawless method of how to buy or trade digital art.

From a regular buyer’s perspective, I thought about it as a cool, modern way how to collect digital art and maybe re-sell it later, on a secondary market. Why not, when I was young, I was collecting cards with hockey players and I remember my excitement when trading them vividly, so I was imagining it to be a similar experience.

It was time to buy my first NFT

It all seemed crystal clear. I selected a few projects that caught my attention, created an account with a recommended crypto wallet, and sent a small amount of Ethereum in it. I was set to make my first purchase.

NFTs and their impact

As I was waiting for the presale to start and was ready to mint my first cryptoart, I decided to devote some extra time to research for more information about everything underlying NFTs, as I was hyped and wanted to be as ready as possible.

I stumbled upon the article wrote by Memo Akten², who spent the last few months investigating and collecting data tied directly to NFTs and their direct impact on the environment. Reading his article, I’ve found out that there is an imaginary second side of the coin, that I was not aware of. And for me, it changed everything.

The sky's the limit

Anybody can make a cryptoart from almost anything thinkable. It’s so easy and affordable, right?

While some of these “arts” are not even meant to be taken seriously, but rather to entertain – I’m talking about Tweets, screenshots of Tweets, screenshots of the screenshot of… you get the idea – a significant number of these NFTs are being minted, tokenized as we speak and each such NFT means a transaction (or rather multiple transactions) in the blockchain, and that means mining, and mining means high energy consumption. A lot.

1. Proof of work problem

   Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum, are currently using "Proof-of-Work" (PoW) as their consensus mechanisms. Miners are competing with each other to solve complex mathematical equations to validate transactions in the network, to get the reward (cryptocurrency).

   It's probably no surprise to you, that all these calculations require an enormous amount of electricity.

   I was aware of the fact that "PoW" is made to be inefficient by default for security reasons, but what I didn't fully realize is that in connection with that, every click of the mouse, every tiny operation tied with NFTs (selling, buying, minting) means a transaction (or even multiple transactions at once) in the blockchain and every such transaction means mining and that means high energy consumption.

   How much? To get a better idea about how big a carbon footprint of an average NFT is, I'll quote from Memo Akten's article²:

   " This single NFT’s footprint is equivalent to a EU resident’s total electric power consumption for more than a month, with emissions equivalent to driving for 1000Km, or flying for 2 hours. "

   Wow, that's crazy, it can't be, right? Well, if you're amazed by this number as I was, wait for it, it's just a tip of an iceberg.

2. Proof of work problem multiplied by editions

   As we stated above, cryptoart is often offered in so-called "editions" or "limited-series", when an artist is selling either multiple numbers of the same NFT or NFTs that are just a visually pre-generated combination of multiple elements, offered for example in tens of thousands of pieces.

   Yes, you can now multiple NFT’s footprint directly with the number of the NFTs in these editions. Take a look on an example with an artist who generated for 6 months 1500 editions of 12 NFTs – I'll quote Memo Akten² again:

   " In under half a year, one artist’s multi-edition NFTs have a footprint of 260 MWh, 160 tonnes of CO2 emissions. "

   I knew that these PoW based blockchain transactions are not particularly "eco-friendly", but I imagined it's somehow 10 % less efficient than the transaction with fiat currencies. And that it's just a temporary hiccup, to be solved in a few upcoming months – or maybe it's already solved, right?

   Nah, it's not, at least not for now. Ethereum 2.0 is going (promising) to move to a new mechanism, "Proof-of-Stake" (PoS) and it promises almost zero energy consumption (in comparison to PoW), but it looks like this change is technically very difficult, still hasn't the needed support of the community and is being postponed every year.

More information about this issue

I recommend reading a few articles linked on Memo Akten’s website³ or The Environmental Cost of CryptoArt⁴ by Duncan Geere.

I bet you find other sources, but these alone were enough for me, to make me stop and think, before buying or creating NFTs just for fun or as an experiment.

Is it really now or never?

With all the buzz and literally gold rush around NFTs at the moment, you may get easily very excited as I did. You may have a feeling that it’s a really pressing matter, something you shouldn’t ignore, or you may lose the opportunity to make some money. Or maybe you’re just a tech fan as I’m and want to simply try it out.

Don't want to miss the train

Also, it might be even more tempting for you, if you believe that you somehow “missed” the last opportunity with crypto, and if you believe, that because you didn’t purchase some cryptocurrency a while ago, you might lose a fortune. Of course, reasoning like this is largely meaningless, as you can’t evaluate your decision retrospectively in such a simplified way. You’d have to consider also the infinity of other variables, that could, maybe, only potentially, lead to the result of becoming a millionaire.

So no, if you’d bought bitcoin 10 years ago⁵, it’s only a very small chance you would be rich today, at least not as rich as you think and as you imagine.

It also depends on your priorities

I’m not an environmental activist by any means, actually, I was quite ignorant of the environment for most of my life. But a few years ago, I moved out of the city with my partner and it changed us both.

At first, our trash bins were overflowing every week. But gradually, as we started to compost more, sort and recycle every piece of material which passed through our hands, grow our own food, reduce unnecessary traveling by car, flying to vacation, etc. Not only we do feel better mentally, but also physically and the environment around us is cleaner and healthier. We simply try to be more aware and minimize our carbon footprint, at least the biggest ones we’re making.

Why do I tell you all this? Because you can imagine my awe, when I found out how big the impact of a single NFT is and how much our effort (and effort of other people) would be in vain simply by buying of a few pieces of cryptoart, just for fun or as an investment for that matter. What else would I exchange for money or profit?

Will there be any GLYPHICONS NFTs?

Yes, but not right now. First, I’ll wait until I find a marketplace with NFTs with as little ecological impact as possible. Other thing is, that I don’t like how senseless and confusing the market is at the moment. With so many fraudulent projects and authors driven only by the vision of quick profit, it seems a bit dingy and shady for me to create and try to sell my own NFTs in the same marketplace.

What about you?

As I said, I’m a tech person and I’m still very excited about NFTs. I’m not trying to discourage you, on the contrary! Maybe just choose to use NFT marketplaces, that are using less energy-consuming cryptocurrencies⁶ or artists selling their art for alternative cryptocurrencies, not based on the PoW model.

Simply pause and think for a second, before you hit that Buy, Sell, or Mint button, because tomorrow it doesn’t have to cause almost anything, but today, it may have a bigger impact than you think.

At any rate, I came to the conclusion, that this time I should describe my design process and reasoning behind this set in more detail, so you’d get a better understanding of how Arrows set was made and an explanation of a few compromises I had to make when compared to standard GLYPHICONS icon sets.

Arrows set general facts

• 1030 arrows – the total number of icons (arrow symbols) in the first version of the Arrows set.
• 585 standard Unicode arrow symbols – these are making the core of the Arrows set.
• 445 custom arrows – these are complementary arrows.
• New icons later – as always, other icons will be added in the future.
• All arrows unified in one design – and all made to work with other GLYPHICONS icon sets.
• Available as s desktop font – till the Arrows set, there was no other icon set/font that would include all Unicode arrow symbols; at least I'm not aware of any such icon set/font¹.

Creating Arrows set

I’m always doing my own research before I start to work on any new icon set. I’m always trying to find as much background information about the theme and the context for the icons I’m about to create as possible. Thanks to this approach, icons have correct names, categories, tags, and their very shape, right from the start.

But there were so many arrow symbols… How to sort them out? How to group them? Categorize them? What exactly do specific arrows represent? The variety of styles and shapes of arrow symbols is staggering and I set myself the task of re-creating them all in one design – is that even possible?

A standard list of arrows

The first thing I did was to hunt for some standard list of arrows. As I mentioned above, I choose the Unicode Standard as a reference and starting point. Why? It’s currently the most used standard on and it works on all major operating systems and various platforms.

Wait, what's Unicode or UTF?

In a short, the Unicode Consortium is a nonprofit organization made up of companies and individuals and they are responsible for a standard called The Unicode Standard. What you probably know already is their Unicode Transformation Format (UTF), which is currently the most used encoding method on the internet.

Simply put, UTF is made of groups/blocks of code points, where each code represents one character. This character can be almost anything, from a letter to an emoji or… wait for it, yes, also an arrow symbol.

But nothing is perfect and as this standard wasn’t developed overnight and it has been rather evolving gradually over many years, all these arrow symbols are somehow scattered in multiple Unicode blocks, don’t have always sequential codes, and lack a strictly uniform naming logic.

One of the most important priorities for me was to keep the valid codes (and partially also names) of the symbols themselves. While I understand that this slight disunity is simply a tax for a long-term and gradual development of the standard², I have to mention this, because it’s important that you understand why and where exactly I had to make some trade-offs when re-creating arrow symbols for the Arrows set.

If you want to see all reference arrows shapes, by which I proceeded or want to explore Unicode tables yourself, here are the links to all blocks from which I drew reference names and corresponding codes:

• Arrows (Range: 2190–21FF)
• Miscellaneous Symbols and Arrows (Range: 2B00–2BFF)
• Supplemental Arrows-A (Range: 27F0–27FF)
• Supplemental Arrows-B (Range: 2900–297F)
• Supplemental Arrows-C (Range: 1F800–1F8FF)
• Dingbats (Range: 2700–27BF)

It’s possible, that there are other Arrow symbols, hidden in other blocks and I might re-create them in future updates of the Arrows set, but at the moment, I was using those above.

If you’re really curious and have some spare time, here’s the link for the all current Unicode character code charts.

Arrows set desktop font

If you didn’t skip the text above, you’ve probably figured out by now, why and how exactly is this set made around the standard Unicode arrows, so now it would seem strange to don’t have all these icons available also in one desktop font, right?

If you ever have bought any GLYPHICONS set before, you know that each set contains also all icons as a desktop font. It’s not advertised anywhere on the website, it’s a kind of hidden bonus to each GLYPHICONS set and yes, the Arrows set is no exception.

Please note, that desktop font is currently available only with the regular license and it is not included in any FREE sets (Arrows set and Contagion set).

The desktop font allows you to copy&paste glyphs directly from the website into your desktop app (there is a tutorial for this in Handbook around page #11) and to use them in literally any desktop app that supports text.

Arrows set desktop font facts

• All Unicode standard arrows symbols are using their valid character code, so you may not only copy and paste glyphs from the website into your desktop app, but this way, you can easily replace existing arrow symbols you were using before, just by setting the font to the Arrows set.
• All Non-Unicode (custom made arrows) are mapped correctly in PUA (Private Use Area). It's the reason why some Arrows have different codes and also all these custom-made icons can't be found anywhere else.
• All arrows are sorted slightly differently than they are in the original code table, so it's easier and more convenient to find similar and the most commonly used icons, in your daily work.
• I also re-created all original groups/categories, as you may already know these categories from Unicode standard, so on the website, you may display only certain group/category or even filter only all Non-Unicode arrows.
• All icons were created from scratch, cleverly rounded in the right spots, and optically balanced to work either autonomously or with any icons from other GLYPHICONS sets.

While this set is now probably the most comprehensive solution, at least arrow-wise, it has its own smaller drawbacks, which you should be aware of.

• I designed the whole Arrows set with my customers and their needs in mind, so all these arrows were carefully designed to work as icons in the first place and it all took precedence over the technical accuracy. As a result, some arrows – especially those used by default as mathematical and logical symbols, may not be always technically 100% accurate.
• Since these icons are built around the Unicode Standard, they have a slightly different naming logic than you are used to seeing with arrow icons in other GLYPHICONS sets.
• Several names had to be shortened in order to work correctly inside the font file itself. I wanted to keep the names exactly the same inside the font and in file names as well, so if you find a skipped word in the name of the veeeeery long arrow icon, that's the reason ;)

In sum, my main goal was to keep the unified look of all arrows, while keeping their main characteristics, sizes, and mutual interchangeability. It may seem simple, but boy, it was a challenge.

Arrows set free for everyone

As I was finishing the work on the first version of the Arrows set, I soon realized, that this set can be used not only with other GLYPHICONS sets, but it also works great as a standalone icon set or even in combination with completely different icons, so it would be nice to make these Arrow icons available for more people, including those who can’t afford it at the moment.

So, from today on, you may download and use Arrows set under the CC BY 4.0 license, free for personal and commercial use as well. And if you don’t want to (or can’t) give appropriate credit back to GLYPHICONS.com, you may always buy the full regular license for only 25 USD and use icons for the rest of your life, with no need of attribution.

Just a note: although Arrows set has been released as free, please do not upload it anywhere and if you want to let others know about it, simply use the link back to its microsite, with its full name: “GLYPHICONS Arrows set” – thank you 🙏.

Arrows set's place in collections

As the Arrows set has become instantly one of the most fundamental GLYPHICONS sets, it’s now also a part of every collection.

Not only that, because I wanted to say thank you to customers who bought any of the new collections released recently, I added the Arrows set to their collections retrospectively, so if you had bought any collection in the last few months, you now have an access to this set with a full regular license at no extra charge. This is a one-time gesture, please don’t take it for granted next time ;)

May you never get lost

Use them straight away in your app, website, signage, wayfinding, print design, infographic, presentation, or in any other task that involves guiding or showing direction. Use these arrows as simple icons or you can install a desktop font and copy and paste glyphs with arrow symbols with their correct UTF codes into your desktop app.

I hope that Arrows set will prove as another useful member of the GLYPHICONS family and that it will work for you again and again, as other sets do.

If you’d have any additional questions or thoughts, contact me anytime. I wish you a nice rest of the summer and we’ll see again with the upcoming updates.

• Version 2.1 released 22/06/2021
  

  * 20 new icons
  * 1 icon updated
  * new search tags and categories were added to the website
  

Filetypes set has been always a bit overlooked and neglected member of the GLYPHICONS family. I also don’t use these icons so often as other sets, but when the opportunity arises, the possibility of having even such technical icons in the same style as others are literally priceless.

This update is bringing some new icons, which most of them were on my to-do list for some time, mainly from requests I’ve got from you in the last year.

GLYPHICONS Halflings set v 2.3

• Version 2.3 released 22/06/2021
  

  * 30 new icons
  * icon fixed
  * new search tags and categories were added to the website
  

Given its important role and more universal use, it is no surprise that Halflings set had always more updates and attention. Also there were new icons made mainly based on your requests, only this time, most of the new icons fall into the category “WYSIWYG editor”. So if you’re currently designing any kind of WYSIWYG editor or a toolbar in web/mobile applications, these might come in handy.

Don't forget to check the new collections

In addition to a number of various minor changes and improvements on the website, there is now a new opportunity to get the icons for a better price, when buying in bulk – with new collections.

That’s it for these two updates. I’m already working on another new icon set, one update, and also some new functions for SVG tool. Stay tuned and enjoy this beautiful summer. Based on your location on the planet, perhaps finally without any respiratory protection, at least for now ;)

The most evident one is probably the option to buy icon sets in collections. This new “feature”, or rather buying method, is so important, that I think it deserves some detailed explanation in its own article.

So why collections?

There were many issues I needed to deal with, but two of the most burning issues were bothering me the most in the last few years and these two led me to the idea to offer icon sets collections eventually.

1. A large portion of new customers were deciding between Basic set and Halflings set as their starting point, instead of using both together.

   This is completely on my head, as I obviously didn't explained enough the purpose of the Halflings set.

   • I created Halflings icons as a complementary set to the Basic set, not as a standalone set. Of course, it works on its own or with other sets as well, but the potential of both sets (Basic and Halflings) is most fulfilled when they are used together and to complement each other.
   • My second mistake was, that I didn't offer a better price or direct option to buy these sets together, so it's no wonder that so many customers were choosing one or the other.

   Collections solve it.

   • These two sets are now included in every collection, so it's more obvious that they are making a strong core of the entire GLYPHICONS library, on which you can continue to build upon.
   • Now you can buy both at the same time, for a notably better price. It should encourage new customers to do not choose between these two sets, as they are really meant to work together, not compete one with the other.
2. I was always against the nonsense seasonal discounts or time-limited sales for digital products and I didn't change my opinion on this matter, but at the same time, I completely ignored people who wanted to buy more sets at once.

   To be more precise: I ignored the fact, that it's only fair to offer a better price to those customers, who are willing to buy more sets at once.

   • Again, it was completely my fault, as I was lazy to create these bundles and everything related to them.

   Collections straighten it out.

   • Now I can offer an advantageous price in exchange for the loyalty and trust of those, who are buying several sets in one collection at once.

What's important to know about collections

• Collections are simply pre-selected bundles of currently available icon sets and there is no difference between sets bought in collections and sets bought individually, except the price.
• You get the very same regular license as you'd get if you bought any individual set.
• If you buy any collection, each set inside can be downloaded separately, directly from your account page.
• Once any set in the collection you bought has updated files available, you get its update for free and notification about it right in your inbox – again, it's exactly the same as it works for individual sets.


• Another thing that should be obvious, but just to be clear: you're buying sets that are currently offered in a collection and you cannot claim any yet unreleased sets or other products I might create later, but of course you'll get free updates for each set that was in the collection at the time of purchase.
• This leads to another remark: it's possible that the content of the collections, or rather the selection of sets inside, might change during the time, but this doesn't affect your order. Your collection will always include all sets that were a part of the collection at the time you place your order.
• Likewise, for now, it's not possible to create your own collection, the advantageous price is really for these pre-selected combinations of sets only.
• Last but not least, it is not possible to upgrade or change purchased selection one for another, same as it is for individual sets.

That should be all for collections. I hope you like them and that I didn’t forget to mention any important facts. I’ll update this post continuously according to the questions you might send me.

So I’m closing this post with a traditional phrase: if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me ;)

Back to the current updates

GLYPHICONS Basic set v 2.4

• Version 2.4 released 04/02/2021
  

  * 30 new icons
  * 1 icon was fixed
  * new search tags and categories were added on the website
  

I’m glad I was able to finally make a decent “tongue/mouth” icon, which can also represent a sense of taste or contextually anything else related to it. While I was at it, I thought that Basic set would also deserve a long time missing symbol for “nose”, which can express everything tied to the sense of smell. These two I needed in different variations in the new Contagion set, so it was only logical to have their plain versions in Basic set, where they belong.

GLYPHICONS Halflings set v 2.2

• Version 2.2 released 04/02/2021
  

  * 30 new icons
  * new search tags and categories were added on the website
  

It’s been a while since the last Halflings set update. Smaller versions of a “car” or “truck” icon were on my to do list for a long time. Based on a number of requests for smaller “battery” icons, it’s obviously something you needed, so I made these in different variations. Last but not least, you often asked me for a tiny “man” and “woman” icons from Humans set and they are there, also as a couple.

Small changes on glyphicons.com

As you may already have noticed, there is a number of smaller changes across the website and its content.

The biggest change is probably the home page, which is now centered – thanks to this new layout, I was able to move all universal information common for all icon sets in the bottom part of the home page and make the detail pages for each icon set significantly shorter and clearer.

The information about the latest updates will remain on all pages in top announcement bar and as a small colored badge right next to the name of the set as before.

Because the new Contagion set is available also for free (under CC license), I had to somehow clearly distinguish between the two versions and that’s why each “buy button” now also contains info about the license.

I almost forgot – the contact page has undergone a big change. I added a new contact form, in hope, that it will help me to deal with constantly repeating questions. It also help you to be more organized when ordering custom icons and now you can see the rough price long before you send your inquiry ;)

Speaking of custom icons inquiries: I also wrote a blog post about my own custom icons process, which should help you to get a better idea about what to expect and for what to prepare – I dare to say, that information and process described in this post is valid for most of icon designers, so it might be worth to check it out ;]

My process in a nutshell

First of all, let’s sum up all the necessary steps as individual points, so you’ll know what to expect in general and I’ll cover each point in more detail in the next part of this article.

1. Contact me through the custom icon form.
2. I get back to you with a price quote and estimated delivery date.
3. I send you an advance invoice for 60 % of total price.
4. I start to work on your custom icons, once the payment is complete.
5. I deliver the first version of custom icons and make adjustments, based on your feedback.
6. I'm sending you an invoice for the rest of the total price.
7. I'm sending you link for all source data with your custom icons, once the payment is complete.

List above is kind of stripped to the bone and may seem too raw, but it should help you get a better idea of how the chain of events looks like. Now, let’s break down each step in more detail.

1. Contact me through the custom icon form

Actually there are few things you should consider and have ready even before you try to request the price for your custom icons. Chances are, that you may have them thought out already, but just to be sure:

1. Total number of icons you need
   It doesn't have to be an exact number, but the more accurate the number, the more accurate my quote will be. The best way is to get organized from the start and have filled a spreadsheet file, with simple list of all icons and their basic description – I made a template you can download and use. It's something that we'll need before point 4. (before I start to work on icons), but it's better to be ready from the day one, so take your time and don't try skip this, this will help you and me as well.


2. Your timeline/deadline
   How quickly do you need your custom icons? I can work pretty fast, but never overnight or in a matter of days. It's almost always 2 weeks at least, so if you expect to have results tomorrow in your inbox, it's maybe better to look for another designer.


3. Size and style of your custom icons
   Do you want to have all icons in the same style and size as regular GLYPHICONS, in Halflings size or completely different size or style? If you're not sure, you may find more info on differences between GLYPHICONS icons sizes in Handbook on page #6 and #7. If you need to test icon files beforehand, you may download GLYPHICONS Contagion set anytime for free. It contains all files as any other regular GLYPHICONS set and your custom icon set would have the very same file structure and file types.


4. A desktop font
   Chances are that you don't, but some of my customers are used to work with icons as inline text elements/glyphs, in the text fields, so if you'd want to have your custom icons also as standalone font file, it's a possibility. Web fonts are no longer part of any regular GLYPHICONS set and it is an abandoned method of embedding icons.


5. Anything else I should know about you or your project
   For the first contact and purpose of the price quote, you can be very brief, but be ready to give me more, once we start to work on your icons. I'll be most curious about the exact environment where you want to place icons (web app, mobile app, desktop app, printed, etc.) and as well about people/users who will be interacting with them.

I know it might seem like a lot for the first step, but trust me, if we have all this thought out in advance, we will avoid any chance of failure along the way.

2. I get back to you with a price quote and estimated delivery date

I’ve got all basic information from you, ideally you’ve used custom icon form and now I can set a price and offer you a time I’d need to create your custom icons. If you agree, we can continue with the next step.

There are many factors affecting the price for custom icons. Total number of icons and deadline might seem like the only two things that matter, but it can’t be further from the truth.

3. I send you an advance invoice for 60 % of total price

This payment serves also as a design sketch fee and it’s non-refundable. Now I know that you’re serious about your order and this payment will cover at least a part of the work I’ll have with creating the first version of your custom icons. Also, it allows you to discard what we did so far and leave the project, if you’d be really dissatisfied with the first version. Frankly, this has never happened to me, but you should know it’s an option, in case something goes wrong.

4. I start to work on your custom icons, once the payment is complete

This part will take most of the total time needed. At this point, I have all I need to work alone for a while.

I’ll go again through all the materials you sent me and I’m always doing a research on the area/platform where icons will be placed, on people/users that will interact with them – in a short: the context of the icons and their surroundings are equally important, are truly fundamental and has to be always considered. That’s one of the many factors making good icon or symbol.

Sometimes I have the opportunity to test icons in a live app, sometimes they are just screenshots or no such resources at all. It’s not necessary to have an access to these things, but any such thing that helps me empathize with the role of the user of your product, can have a huge impact on the outcome.

5. I deliver the first version of custom icons and make adjustments, based on your feedback.

On a date we agreed before, I send you the preview of the first version of your custom icons as a raster image. Now it’s a good time for you to take some time to digest the first impression. The best thing you can do, is to gain some distance and let them at least day or two out of your sight and attention. This will help you get rid of any expectations you may had and be more objective.

After that, we can discuss (usually via email) any changes or improvements you might want. I usually do from 0 to 5 rounds of changes, if necessary. Sometimes, it happens that all icons are ok at the first attempt, but most of the time it’s necessary to make some adjustments or at least try to create an alternative version for some of them.

6. I'm sending you an invoice for the second half of the total price.

In a moment we manage to finish the look of all your custom icons, I can finish and clean vector files, export and create all other file formats and prepare the ZIP file with your new custom icon set.

I’m making custom icons always as a custom icon set, no matter how many icons. There are multiple reasons for it, but the most important is that this way, you can still use your custom icons in combination with any current or new GLYPHICONS sets and above all, you can update and maintain your custom set separately.

7. I'm sending you a link for all source data with your custom icon set, once the payment is complete.

As soon as your payment is complete, you get a download link to your custom icon set and final invoice.

As you may have probably noticed, in the whole text above I’ve been intentionally avoiding pitching or selling the idea of custom icon design itself, because that’s not the purpose of this article. If you’re reading these lines, I presume that you’re a smart person who already know all the benefits of custom icons or symbols and also know how they can elevate your product and help your users. This article should be rather strictly informative and about custom icon design process only.

FAQ related to custom icons

As I’m getting some questions over and over again, I’ve decided to add some of them here and make a permanent list of “the most popular” questions linked to custom icons.

Can you make just one custom icon? Why is to so expensive, it's just one icon!

Can you convert our logo to icon?

Can you add our logo to your Social tool?

The price for custom icons is too much for us, can you do it cheaper, or for free?

Custom icons will be made exclusively just for us?

If you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to reach me at: glyphicons@gmail.com.

That’s why I intentionally avoided using the word Covid in the name of the set, as the next year it can be another mutation of this virus or something else entirely and I’d like this set remain universally applicable and usable anytime in the future. I don’t want this to be a one-time thing and while the name “Contagion set” might not be as popular, it will allow me to be more agile while updating this icon set in the future.

This set is available now for just $10 or for free, even for commercial purposes (with attribution). I wanted to make this set available for more people, as not everyone can afford it, but everyone should have the possibility to create a simple sign on their door or a banner for their website. Also it’s a great opportunity for newcomers to try or test GLYPHICONS for free. If you’d want to use these icons without attribution, want a regular license or simply want to support me, you can buy them as any other GLYPHICONS set, I’ll definitely appreciate it.

Contagion set should cover pretty much everything basic related to the current (or future) “virus” crisis. From protection, disinfection, symptoms, to patients in various conditions, different kinds of face masks and finally vaccination itself.

I know for sure, that now it’s not everything that should be there. I’m planning to update this set continuously, so if you miss any icon that would fit there, send me your suggestions at: glyphicons@gmail.com.

Stay strong

The following text is not related to icons directly, but given the circumstances, I think it’s worth to be said…

If I’ve learned anything in the last year that it’s a fact, that nothing will be quite the same as before. I know that now it might seem hard to adjust to this “new normal” and that many of you really struggle at the moment, but it’s really important that we try to learn to ease in to this uncertainty (although it may seem impossible now) and find a way how to be a friend with it.

I know, easier said than done, I agree, but it has been always like that, really. Nothing in the world is or ever was certain, nothing should be taken for granted, everything is interconnected, including us. It’s just us, modern society, we managed to build this false sense of superiority and separation from the world around us and it has caught us unprepared.

This period of time hasn’t been easy for anyone, but try to stay be positive and see the bright side. There is one, really. Nature all over the the planet have now a chance to catch its breath and in a sense so have many of you – when you have been given a chance to break up your daily routines and take some time to think and reflect, although I admit, a little involuntarily.

I’d like to leave you here with a positive thought and sincere wish for your firm health, that’s all what is important now.