Ask YC: Which custom icon designers do you use for your startup?

#1

Post by psaccounts » Fri, Dec 12, 2008, 10:36 PM UTC

Which custom icon design company/freelancer do you use for your startup? Not logo designs but icons.

I personally like clean icons like the Fugue set (www.pinvoke.com) or the Silk icon set (www.famfamfam.com). But neither of these designers is available for freelancing projects!

Re: Ask YC: Which custom icon designers do you use for your startup?

#2

Post by noodle » Fri, Dec 12, 2008, 10:55 PM UTC

i make use of fugue, silk, as well as aesthetica (http://dryicons.com) and function (http://www.wefunction.com) sets. all free, although i don't know if the latter two are available for work.

Re: Ask YC: Which custom icon designers do you use for your startup?

#3

Post by izaidi » Sat, Dec 13, 2008, 12:05 AM UTC

Sofa (http://www.madebysofa.com) is really good (they did that excellent Cappuccino icon), but I imagine they're pretty expensive.

Re: Ask YC: Which custom icon designers do you use for your startup?

#4

Post by silencio » Sat, Dec 13, 2008, 1:58 AM UTC

There's a friend of a friend of mine who creates some really gorgeous icons for iPhone: http://mantia.me/

He works at iconfactory (http://iconfactory.com), and their icons in general are really delicious, although probably not cheap.

Re: Ask YC: Which custom icon designers do you use for your startup?

#5

Post by auston » Sat, Dec 13, 2008, 3:04 AM UTC

I was lucky enough to get Louie Mantia (http://mantia.me/) before he left Tapulous for Icon Factory - I got charged about $900 for 4 icons (He now charges $1000 per icon due to a non-compete).

I can also recommend Emanuel Sa (http://www.emanuelsa.com/) - He's WAY cheaper and just as good.

Also I'd say David Lanham (http://dlanham.com/) & Fernando Lins (http://www.devixdesign.com/) are among the best as well.

Re: Ask YC: Which custom icon designers do you use for your startup?

#6

Post by patio11 » Sat, Dec 13, 2008, 3:13 AM UTC

I used a combination of stock icons and icons done by designers.

For my app:

http://www.icons-icons.com/roma-icons.php For my website:

I originally made my own buttons. They worked, and I gradually iterated them upwards, but I'm ultimately not a designer. When I got the site redone I had both my web designer make some concepts and paid for a dedicated designer to make some concepts and, importantly, give me the components (to allow more mix-and-match fun as I tested which converted best).

My web gal: http://www.gursimran.com My icon/logo designer: http://www.logosamurai.com/

Looks like they're having web site trouble at the moment. Ahh well, this is why I use freelancers -- if your main provider goes dark, you switch. (I would have to look up the numbers but I think I got everything done for less than $300 in total, which is a pittance next to how much I make on the conversion lift.)

Re: Ask YC: Which custom icon designers do you use for your startup?

#7

Post by zitterbewegung » Sat, Dec 13, 2008, 5:00 AM UTC

Myself what do you guys think? http://aconsapart.com/

Re: Ask YC: Which custom icon designers do you use for your startup?

#8

Post by DenisM » Sat, Dec 13, 2008, 5:29 AM UTC

zitterbewegung wrote: post #7

Myself what do you guys think? http://aconsapart.com/

I could not get anything from your web site. The only link to something and that is 404

Re: Ask YC: Which custom icon designers do you use for your startup?

#9

Post by blasdel » Sat, Dec 13, 2008, 6:12 AM UTC

The indie Mac icon designers must be really making bank from the iPhone gold rush. They were already making good money from the people releasing crappy Mac apps, but now there's a much bigger and stupider group of miners to mine!

They get paid $1000+, up-front whether the app makes money or not, for something that has no bearing on the app's functionality. Genius.

Re: Ask YC: Which custom icon designers do you use for your startup?

#10

Post by catone » Sat, Dec 13, 2008, 7:34 AM UTC

I am lucky enough to work with Kelli Shaver on my startup. She's been a friend for 10 years, and is an awesome designer -- of everything, but especially of icons.

She recently took down her icon site, but still does icon work for people. Her freelance portfolio is here: http://www.kellishaver.com/