The Impact of Consistent Iconography on User Experience

It's a subtle detail, but users notice it immediately even if they can't quite put their finger on it. A filled icon here, an outlined icon there. A 2px stroke width on the home button, but a 1.5px stroke on the settings gear.

When iconography is inconsistent, your app feels 'cheap' and unpolished. But more importantly, it actually hurts usability.

Cognitive Load and Recognition

Consistent iconography reduces cognitive load. When users learn the 'visual language' of your app—for example, that all actionable items are outlined icons—they can scan interfaces much faster. Inconsistent icons force the brain to re-process each symbol individually, slowing down interaction.

Think of icons as the punctuation of your interface. If you randomly switched between commas, semicolons, and dashes without a pattern, your writing would be exhausting to read. The same applies to UI.

Vector vs. SVG

All the icon sets listed in the Icons category on DSGN are optimized SVGs. This is critical for modern web performance. Unlike the font-icons of the past, SVGs offer real control:

• They allow for multi-color styling directly via CSS classes.

• They render perfectly crisp on high-DPI displays, no matter the size.

• They have a significantly smaller footprint than loading a generic font file just for three icons.

Lucide: The Gold Standard

You'll notice many resources on our site feature Lucide icons. This has become the de-facto standard for the shadcn ecosystem because of its clean, consistent 2px stroke and comprehensive library.

However, we also feature hand-drawn styles, solid sets, and playful 3D icons for when your brand needs a different voice. The key isn't which set you choose—it's that you commit to it fully. Explore the collection to find your perfect match.