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20+ Free And Fresh Icon Sets
August 25th, 2007 in Graphics | 212 Comments
User-friendly icon sets are always nice to look at and useful to have ready to hand. Since effective designers guide their users’ attention using visuals, icons can (and probably should) be used in almost every project you are or will be working on. Whether for an illustration, sketch, site or weblog - used moderately, icons can point users’ attention to the key-aspects of an article or specific site sections and communicate the message of the site in a more effective way.
This is why web designers need them. And this is why we look for them. Regularly.
Let’s take a look at over 20 free, beautiful and fresh icon sets as well as references to further free icon libraries. Some of the sets can be used for free only for private projects, however most of them can also be used in commercial projects. In both cases - before using icon sets please read the license agreement carefully; it can change from time to time.
- You can find over 25 further free icon sets in our previous article Freebies Round-Up: Icons, Buttons and Templates.
20+ Free And Fresh Icon Sets
iPhoneSketch (FastIcon): 4 free icons of iPhone, designed in scribbled style, for Linux, Mac OS and Windows. The FastIcon-agreement permits you to use the icons in printed materials, commercial projects, software application, websites, blogs, designs, themes or GUI. However, the author requires an operable link to the source.
iPhone icons (FastIcon): Browser, calendar, calculator, chat, clock, graphics, iPod, e-Mail, map, notes, phone, photo, sms, tools, wallpapers, weather.
Smiley Development Kit: available in .psd (Adobe Photoshop) format.
Flag Button Development Kit: it’s basically a Photoshop file with placeholders. To create a new button, just duplicate a layer group and paste the new flag into the respective layer. It’s as simple as that.
YellowIcon Crystal Set (1500 icons, 22 Mb) and dozens of further icon sets. Sizes: 128×128, 16×16, 22×22, 32×32, 48×48 and 64×64. By Everaldo Coelho.
OpenPhone Pack contains 12 high quality (256×256 pixels) icons; PNG and ICO formats. Licensed under GNU Public License.
Mac OS Boxes: realistic looking white boxes (Mac OS only). Free for personal use.
iPod Shuffle (FastIcon): iPod Shuffle Dock, iPod shuffle headphone. You can find a dozen of further icon sets on Fasticon.com.
Iconshock’s Icon Sets (7 icon sets) include Consoles Vista icons, Red Hot Chili Icons, Elm Nightmare Street Icons, NBA Web Icons, Disk Jockey Icons, Filming Vista icons and more.
RSS Feed (Fasticon): designed in 3D-look.
Adobe CS 3 Icon Pack: nine 256×256 png icons
mAqua ChronoSync: free for personal use only.
Aqua Neue (Graphite): 86 icons, a new set of system replacement icons in Aqua style.
The iconset below includes 94 pieces and was designed by the graphic artist Jonas Rask from Denmark. The 32×32-icons can be downloaded in a .zip-archive as .ico, .png, .tiff, Mac Icons and Pixadex iContainer. These fancy and professional icons (some are certainly looking familar) can be used on commercial web-sites without any charge. You’ll find the download-link at the bottom of Jonas’ startpage. His download-page may present some other icon treasures - but in this case for private use only.
Feedicons is a 34-part iconset from Zeus Box Studio. You might be willing to use them to give your “subscribe to RSS-feed”-button a fresh look.These icons are, besides some inept exceptions, variations of the well-known original, which makes sense. You may download them in a 32*32 and 16*16 format as .png (.zip-archive). Released under the Creative Commons License.
Web 2 Social Bookmarks: 12 FastIcon-freeware “iPhone-like” icons of Web 2 Social Bookmarks for use in blogs, websites, on desktop and software. The Content: Blinklist, BlogMarks, Delicious, Digg, Feeds, Flickr, Furl, Magnolia, Newsvine, Reddit, Stumbleupon, Technorati. The Linux version includes .png files sized from 512×512 to 16×16 pixels.
Emoticon: 14 smileys-icons.
104 standard PC keyboard key icons: useful for video training projects.
Circle Feeds (FastIcon): 4 variations of Feeds Icon in circle shape, for Linux, Mac OS and Windows.
Further references
- PixelGirl Icon Sets
467 icon sets for Mac OS X and 164 icon sets for Windows XP. - IconKits Free Delivery
As a Iconkits.com member you get access to the ForFree section with free stock icons you can use in both personal and commercial projects. When you sign up you will receive 2 points which means you can download 2 optional icon kits in the ForFree section. - Icon Bee
Collects gorgeous free icons. RSS feed is also available. - Vistaicons.com
is a collection of free Vista Style icon sets of over 2000 high quality icons in png and ico format. - Simple System and Windows Icons: 84 + 65 freeware “desktop” icons.
- InterfaceLift Icons
Literally thousands of icons sets - for free downoad for Mac OS, Linux and Windows. - Free Icons Pack
A collection of free icons collected from public domain resources. Available for free download as a .zip-file.
Mark Bloomfield (August 25th, 2007, 12:37 am)
I’m finding a lot of use out of Link [iconfinder.net]. There sets are being constantly added to and the search feature helps me find just the right icon. You can also filter search results to just get the right size icon.
Graphite Revolver (August 25th, 2007, 12:37 am)
I really like a lot of these icons, specifically the Mac OS box. It is really well done.
Juan Manuel Lemus (August 25th, 2007, 12:37 am)
Very good icon sets. Personally, I think that Everaldo (from YellowIcon) is a very good designer. Other packs, too are good.
JJ.Ying (August 25th, 2007, 12:43 am)
Very useful icons! cool!
Tony Green (August 25th, 2007, 1:10 am)
I’m partial to Link [famfamfam.com] which has a nice set of 1000 free mini-icons and also a nice set of mini-icons with the flag of pretty much every country in the world.
Ramil (August 25th, 2007, 1:23 am)
This is what I can call a great list *thumbs up*
I also use iconlib.info to find some icons but I doubt the copyrights on it.
Steve Jones (August 25th, 2007, 1:44 am)
I loved the Crystal set, but I wonder if it is really free? Can we just use them in our projects, or do we need to adhere to any license terms.
Cento (August 25th, 2007, 2:01 am)
I love old set’s. It’s really fantastic
Martin Ringlein (August 25th, 2007, 2:24 am)
The Crystal set is for PERSONAL use only — which sucks because it is a great set.
Halid (August 25th, 2007, 2:29 am)
Wonderful ;) …
Thanks … Very Good Icon Sets…
Halid (August 25th, 2007, 2:51 am)
Thanks Smashing Magazine…
Turkey Flag Button… Link [www.halid.org]
Andy Gongea (August 25th, 2007, 4:22 am)
Very nice set of icons.
But in my opinion these icons are desktop oriented.
All the new designs and layouts are very poor in icons.
I think that this pack is a very valuable one in DTP area and graphic design.
Sean O (August 25th, 2007, 5:14 am)
Some great links, as usual, Smashing…
So who has a good link to free, quality, general-purpose favicons?
PHP Developer (August 25th, 2007, 5:30 am)
Crystal is licensed by the GPL, meaning you can use freely. Full text Link [www.everaldo.com]
Freemind (August 25th, 2007, 5:54 am)
This is greate list, thanks!
ak (August 25th, 2007, 6:17 am)
Boring. Get yourself a job, guys.
Razvan (August 25th, 2007, 6:34 am)
Good stuff, just what I needed!
Robert (August 25th, 2007, 8:05 am)
The site I use for more exceptional icons is IconBuffet. They have sets from eclectic over queer to just beautiful. They are free for personal and commercial use and the community (to exchange icons) is fun.
Thiru (August 25th, 2007, 11:33 am)
That’s smashing good! I like the Smiley Development Kit more than anything else!
Alex Brola (August 25th, 2007, 2:55 pm)
The Adobe Creative Suite 3 icons are a rip-off of Link [www.artofadambetts.com], I believe.
malfed (August 25th, 2007, 4:02 pm)
That’s gorgeous!
Thanks
Andy (August 25th, 2007, 5:45 pm)
Great list as always, though I’m surprised the fantastic Silk icon pack from Link [www.famfamfam.com] didn’t get a mention. Cheers SM!
kalkan (August 25th, 2007, 9:29 pm)
i was looking flights icons. i found more of them but ur icons r better than others.
ty so much
Zul Azman (August 25th, 2007, 10:16 pm)
Nice.. Thanks…
Dennis Plucinik (August 26th, 2007, 12:29 am)
Nasty icons. Great job.
Chuck (August 26th, 2007, 1:00 am)
Another nice surprise. You guys just keep delivering the goods.
These will definitely get a nice workout on my system and sites.
Shaon (August 26th, 2007, 1:09 am)
WoW… Excellent Collection
DWHS (August 26th, 2007, 1:42 am)
Some are great and free is great but I would like to see better samples and download links on some.
Peter (August 26th, 2007, 3:48 am)
Nice place to find icons is: Link [guistyles.com]
I found there many great icons.
JengoPop (August 26th, 2007, 6:22 am)
Wow. The Adobe icons rule. And so do the Web 2 social bookmarks. Where is the icon for pollicious.com that new social network polling website?
Brad (August 26th, 2007, 6:55 am)
most definitely some great stuff in here. Thanks.
inBITado (August 26th, 2007, 10:22 am)
Im still being fan of the old school. What about make your own icons…
Vlad Gerasimov (August 26th, 2007, 10:52 am)
Hey, there are about 700 free icons at Link [www.orangeicons.com] too!
jane (August 26th, 2007, 2:49 pm)
Another great royalty free icon set Link [www.guimods.com]
Connie (August 26th, 2007, 6:50 pm)
Why are you publishing this stupid I… icons?
Do we need such commercial stuff and hype?
I feel pested by this.
You are publishing commercial, marketing stuff and call it essential for webdesigners
I doubt that and I think you should refrain from that stupid hypes.
k.s.reddy (August 26th, 2007, 7:20 pm)
Excellent Icon Sets. Great list
Thank You very much
g47o (August 27th, 2007, 3:59 am)
exelente listado!!, gracias
Verne (August 27th, 2007, 8:56 am)
I love the Adobe CS3 icon kit! The Web 2.0 ones are nice too, though I still think that no matter how you spin it, the del.icio.us logo is a lost cause.
Syed Balkhi (August 27th, 2007, 11:07 am)
this is just an amazing collection, personally i look around for more types of rss buttons, unique styles, which i found many here like circle ones and couple other new styles.
Good job done staff
SilverMaster (August 27th, 2007, 1:10 pm)
Amazing collection, thanks for sharing :)
Brown Baron (August 27th, 2007, 4:16 pm)
Very nice. I’m going to take my time and go through all of these heh. They all look great.
Carlos Eduardo (August 27th, 2007, 8:48 pm)
Wonderful collection!
Thank you for this nice links :)
flairpair (August 27th, 2007, 9:55 pm)
Amazing collection, thanks! :)
Johnny Wong (August 29th, 2007, 6:17 am)
add to my favories
ZERO (August 29th, 2007, 11:41 pm)
Sweet, I’m definitely gonna be using some of these in upcoming projects.
I was also pretty surprised at the absence of the famfamfam.com silk icons. Those are the bomb.
Shaon (August 30th, 2007, 5:02 pm)
Amazing!!! Thanks guy for sharing…
SA Dude (August 31st, 2007, 8:12 pm)
This is an awesome icon list. I have killed the Tango ico’s so many times it’s nice to have a fresh new set to play with.
Dan (October 3rd, 2007, 1:51 am)
IconBuffet is more than just a place to get free Icons. It’s the Icon trading ‘game’! Every month you get 10 free tokens (or get 30 for $6 a month) which you can use to get any of the 120+ sets of icons from other IconBuffet members, via Trading! Sets cost from 1 token, for the bronze, to 10 tokens for the single Diamond set! Also, once or twice a month token-free sets are given to everyone, but no one is given all the new sets, so there is always new stuff to trade with. You can download all the icons you get, or you can just download the ones you know you’ll use (recommended). Either way, it’s a blast!
Enjoy!
Neoluk (October 25th, 2007, 4:43 pm)
Hey man, thanks a lot for this list. it is always difficult to find good icons around.
Fust (October 30th, 2007, 8:10 pm)
I very much agree with the last comment, I had a hard time finding good icons when working on one of my latest projects. But I found this dryicons.com web site, and I think they had a couple icon sets with over 100 icons each. The best part is, they are giving the icons for free! These icons are available in 32-bit PNG and also PSD, and they come in these sizes: 16 x 16px; 24 x 24px; 32 x 32px; 48 x 48px and 128 x 128px .
Cheers!
codeart (November 1st, 2007, 2:24 am)
Hey Fust, great site. Thanks a lot man, they really got some good stuff there for free :)
Thomas R. Stegelmann (November 11th, 2007, 12:47 pm)
Does anybody got a copy of FastIcon? Unfortunately, the website is currently not available.
lassodeveloper (November 29th, 2007, 6:24 am)
Very nice! Thanks for the sets..
Jeetlo (December 6th, 2007, 2:26 pm)
Thanks for such good stuff!
Rob (December 7th, 2007, 10:57 pm)
found another great Mini icons page Link [icons.primail.ch] [http://icons.primail.ch] currently adding tiny mini world flags, really neat
Michael Hendrickx (January 21st, 2008, 3:50 am)
Nice set of icons, even in the comments!
Bubbila (January 24th, 2008, 10:26 am)
Sweat graphic sets, well pleased.
Kurt Geer (January 25th, 2008, 3:27 pm)
Excellent, Excellent links
Jason (February 2nd, 2008, 4:50 pm)
Excelent icons! I was looking for some new social bookmark icons and found these. Thanks!
Suhreed Sarkar (March 6th, 2008, 10:41 pm)
excellent post. very good icon sets. will be useful for programmers who designs!
John (March 7th, 2008, 5:45 am)
Excellent icon resources!
Thank you
Chad (April 13th, 2008, 9:20 am)
These are gorgeous!
Kaustav Guha (April 17th, 2008, 4:30 am)
Hi….Just wanted to know if these icons are totally free? Can I use them for templates? I found that some of these sets are fully free for any kind of use… could you please let me know which are the sets that I can use for templates?
JD (May 14th, 2008, 11:28 am)
Nice icon set thanks
shadowman (May 21st, 2008, 12:35 am)
this thing sucks! Just kidding :D
GREAT WORK! Just keep it comin’
automatic_ab (May 23rd, 2008, 10:54 am)
This is gr8! I love SM. You guys are truly a wonder weapon in my design arsenal. Thank you again so much!
Sukabumi (September 1st, 2008, 5:01 pm)
Thanks for all your kindness, finally I found icon for My Link [www.portalsukabumi.com] sites
e7art (September 9th, 2008, 11:17 pm)
wooo,thank you !
about japanese Onsen Icon in here : Link [blog.e7art.com](only picture)
R.Saravanakumar (September 29th, 2008, 5:15 am)
Its Wonderfull i like it
Nick (October 6th, 2008, 12:06 pm)
Wonderfull! There are also some cool rss icons on Link [www.freefeedicons.com][http://www.freefeedicons.com] and they have original PSD too so you can modify them.
~Nick