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Sunday. I don’t really know why, but on Sundays, I’m usually looking for beautiful and useful things. Bone-dry scripts and tools might be helpful, but they can’t impress me today. In contrast to the gigantic icon set which I just came across, and definitely wanted to recommend to you. The boys and girls behind TheSquidInk offer 1,000 concisely drawn, free icons in many different file formats. The catch? There’s none.

1,000 Free Icons Cover All Aspects of UI Design

Of course, around the web, there are more icons than you can ever use. Nonetheless, this set is something special. Not only does it come with the massive amount of 1,000 pictograms, but with that, it also covers the most important application categories that you could have in your design. What’s the point in 100 free social media icons when they don’t suit your overall layout language?

The value of an icon set is increasing with the range that it covers. This is where the “Free Mini Icons Pack” by TheSquidInk shines as if it was polished with wax. You don’t need to continue searching when straightforward, monochrome pictograms fit into your concept. These symbols are just what you need.

The license to use the icons is liberal. You can use it for private, and commercial projects alike. You’re not allowed to use the pictograms as a product’s core, however. That includes distributing them as such or simply equipping an app with the pictograms so that its users can use the icons to create images. To put it simply: You can use this set for everything that you’d usually need a set of icons for within the layout, meaning as a part of the UI.

1,000 Free Icons in Return for an Email Adress: Fair Trade

You don’t need to do much to access the set. TheSquidInk realizes the download with Gumroad. In the respective dialogue window that opens after clicking “Download now”, you enter Zero (0) as the amount of payment and click “I want this”. After that, a form field in which you need to enter an email address is up next. Afterward, click “Buy”.

As the download is not started by a link that you receive via email, you could enter an email that doesn’t really work. However, you shouldn’t do that for fairness’ sake, as an email now and then is not a too high price in return for 1,000 free icons.

Let’s go one step back. Of course, you can enter a different amount of money you’re willing to pay instead of 0 during the download process. This would not be a bad choice. However, it’s also fine to receive the symbols for free, as the people behind TheSquidInk label them “free” themselves. The process on Gumroad is simply the standard procedure and not a hidden attempt at generating profit.

Free Icons: Formats That the Heart Desires

Once you dragged and unzipped the 13 megabytes large download to your hard drive, you’ll see that TheSquidInk went the extra mile to simplify handling of the pictograms as much as possible.

The whole package is delivered in the formats Adobe Illustrator, EPS, Photoshop, SVG, and PNG. PNGs are provided in resolutions of 16 and 32 pixels from the get go. But of course, you can generate any desired resolution from one of the other formats. The availability of the vector data also allows for easy color adjustments, and of course, given the required skills, for the extension and modification of existing forms.

To make the handling of a large number of symbols comfortable, the icons are categorized in subfolders that match the application purpose. This way, you’ll find all pictograms that deal with interactions in the folder “Actions”, and so on. If you were to prefer immediate access to all symbols in one file, you’d be happy to find out that TheSquidInk has also thought and prepared for this case. Simply take a look at the folder “All”.

In the end, I can highly recommend TheSquidInk’s “1,000 Free Mini Icons” not only to spend your Sunday with, but also for your serious UI designs.

(dpe)